How they fared
Summary of how property tax measures fared in Tuesdays election, courtesy of the League of Oregon Cities.
CITIES (7)
Albany: Levy for public safety, 54 percent yes
Bay City: Levy for fire protection, 84 percent yes
Dundee: Bond for fire station, 59 percent yes
Forest Grove: Levy for public safety and community services, 61 percent yes
Hillsboro: Levy for police, fire and parks, 78 percent yes
Stayton: Levy for library, pool and parks, 66 percent yes
Union: Levy for library, 65 percent yes
COUNTIES (7)
Benton County: Levy for proposed Alsea human services district, 65 percent yes
Clatsop County: Bond for jail improvements, 56 percent no
Josephine County: Levy for criminal justice operations, 57 percent no
Malheur County: Levy for extension service district, 56 percent yes
Multnomah County: Levy for library operations, 85 percent yes
Tillamook County: Levy for library operations, 53 percent yes
Tillamook County: Levy for veterans office, 82 percent yes
FIRE DISTRICTS (12)
Dexter: Levy for equipment and operations, 62 percent yes
Dundee: Bond for fire station, 58 percent yes
Estacada: Bond for fire station, 50 percent no
Illinois Valley: Levy for equipment, 55 percent yes
Junction City: Levy for operations, 60 percent yes
Knappa-Svensen-Burnside: Bond for equipment and improvements, 55 percent no
Lookingglass: New district with tax rate, 77 percent no
Lyons: Bond for equipment, 52 percent no
Marion County 1: Levy for operations, 58 percent yes
Pleasant Hill: Bond for fire station and equipment, 51 percent no
Sheridan: Levy for operations, 62 percent yes
Sublimity: Bond for equipment, 64 percent yes
SCHOOLS (9)
Banks: Bond for maintenance, 50 percent yes
Canby: Levy for operations, 59 percent no
Central Curry: Levy for operations, 56 percent no
David Douglas: Bond for construction, 65 percent yes
Jefferson County: Bond for construction, 55 percent yes
Klamath Falls: Levy for operations, 57 percent yes
Myrtle Point: Bond for maintenance, 51 percent yes
North Douglas: Bond for upgrades, 67 percent yes
Sweet Home: Levy for pool operations, 51 percent yes
OTHERS (5)
Deschutes County: Levy for proposed 911 district, 52 percent no
Josephine Soil & Water Conservation: Levy for operations. 55 percent no
Umpqua Community College: Bond for construction, 71 percent no
Union County Vector Control: Levy for operations, 76 percent yes
Western Lane Ambulance: Levy for operations, 54 percent yes
Casino money ready to flow - Columbus Dispatch
Guards await the arrival of the first players at the downtown Horseshoe Casino Cleveland before its opening on Monday.
Pro-gambling interests have invested heavily on a simple bet: There is money to be made in Ohio.
Construction costs alone for four casinos will approach $1.5 billion. Millions more were spent convincing Ohioans that casino gambling would give the state a much-needed economic jolt — a campaign debt that as of January was still being paid off.
As the state’s first casino opened in Cleveland on Monday, a review by the Dayton Daily News showed that as of January, subsidiaries of Penn National Gaming Inc. and Rock Gaming were still making contributions to the group that led the 2009 campaign to amend the Ohio constitution and allow casinos in Ohio.
Penn National and Rock each will develop two of the Ohio casinos, which will open in stages through the spring of 2013.
“I don’t know the casino business, but I do know a lot of money flows through it,” state Sen. Bill Beagle, R-Tipp City, said. “I don’t know if they would have invested all that money into a campaign if they felt the risks outweighed the benefits.”
The opening of the $350 million Horseshoe Casino Cleveland will be followed by the $320 million Hollywood Casino Toledo, the $400 million Hollywood Casino Columbus and the $400 million Horseshoe Casino Cincinnati.
The building bonanza follows one of the most-expensive issue campaigns in the history of Ohio, as gambling companies sold voters on a promise of jobs if allowed to open casinos in Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Toledo.
According to campaign-finance reports filed in January with the Ohio secretary of state, Rock and Penn subsidiaries made $1.8 million in in-kind contributions to the Ohio Jobs and Growth Committee, the political-action committee that led the 2009 Ohio Issue 3 campaign effort. The donation of anything of value is considered an in-kind contribution, such as if a donor pays a consultant’s fee or a printing bill for services provided to a campaign.
Bob Tenenbaum, spokesman for the PAC and for Penn National, which is building the casinos in Toledo and Columbus, said the contributions are paying off obligations incurred during the campaign. State records show those contributions funded campaign strategy, voter outreach and consulting fees.
“This is a significant amount of money, but Ohio is a large state,” said Tenenbaum, whose company also is considering relocating a harness-racing track to Dayton.
Supporters of the ballot issue overall contributed a little more than $47 million in cash and $18 million for in-kind services to the PAC from 2009 through December 2011.
State Rep. Clayton Luckie, D-Dayton, who supported the casino ballot issue and favors allowing slot machines at Ohio’s seven horse-racing tracks, said the campaign contributions were private funds, and the companies’ prerogative to make.
“It was their money. I’m glad they chose to spend it in Ohio,” Luckie said. “Our constituents were gambling anyway in other states. Now, we have more control over it.”
No magic bullet
The billion-dollar bet that gambling companies placed on bringing casinos to Ohio shows how convinced they are there is money to be made here. But, state officials and economists say gambling alone won’t create the economic windfall some expect.
Overall, Ohio’s four casinos and video lottery terminals proposed for the state’s horse tracks are expected to generate revenue of about $2.7 billion a year, said Rob Nichols, spokesman for Gov. John Kasich. The state’s estimated annual take: $475 million a year from the casinos and $425 million from the slot machines, once all are operational.
“It’s helpful. Is it a magic bullet? Absolutely not,” Nichols said. “Ohio can’t expect gaming to lead the state back to prosperity. It’s going to take more than that.”
Peter Vanderhart, a professor of economics at Bowling Green State University, said he doesn’t think the casinos will have a dramatic impact on the state’s economy, although they will keep some Ohioans from spending their entertainment dollars at out-of-state casinos.
“I wouldn’t call it a bold new era,” Vanderhart said. “At the end of the day, these are service and entertainment jobs. It’s not like manufacturing, where you export a product that brings money back.”
Beagle said he thinks Ohioans have reason to be optimistic, as it appears the state is turning an economic corner. While it remains an unknown whether casinos will be the economic engine that supporters predicted, Beagle said the industry is creating jobs.
It was that prospect that drove many voters to support the casino issue in 2009, which was the state’s fifth major gambling referendum in two decades. A telephone survey of 687 voters, conducted a month before the election by the University of Cincinnati’s Institute for Policy Research for Ohio’s major newspapers, found a majority (53 percent) of casino backers cited the prospect of new jobs as the most important reason for their support of the issue.
The promise to voters made by the Issue 3 campaign: the casinos would create 34,000 jobs — 19,000 construction jobs and 15,000 permanent jobs.
Last week, Nichols said the state did not have an updated jobs number for the casinos, and Tenenbaum said it still is too early to tell how many jobs will be created.
But, he added, “We said 1,200 permanent jobs at the Toledo (casino), and we’ve already surpassed that and we’re not even open.”
Social consequences
Beagle said that voters made it clear they were ready for casinos in Ohio when they passed Issue 3.
“I have hope for great success for the casinos,” he said. “I’m optimistic for the economic benefits, but I also understand there are social costs.”
Ohio lawmakers are preparing for the potential social impact of gambling on communities by earmarking funds for addiction services, Beagle said. The version of HB 386, an overhaul of state gambling laws passed by the state Senate on Wednesday, would give the Ohio Lottery Commission discretion on how much video-slot-machine revenue to earmark — up to 1 percent — for gambling-addiction services.
A conference committee of House and Senate members will meet to reconcile differences between the two versions of the bill.
Sen. Peggy Lehner, R-Kettering, said she’s concerned about the proliferation of gambling in Ohio, beyond the four casinos.
“My sense is that every time we turn around, we’re discussing another venue: video lottery terminals at racetracks, charity card rooms,” Lehner said. “My concern is that we’re seeing an explosion of gambling without paying any real attention to the consequences.”
She said the state needs to pay more attention to gambling addictions and crime related to gaming.
Robert Walgate of the American Policy Roundtable, a conservative, anti-gambling group, has been making the case for three decades that casino gambling and good government don’t mix. Currently, the Roundtable leads a number of plaintiffs in a suit filed to enforce the constitutional language of Ohio Ballot Issue 3.
“Once voters say yes to ‘limited’ casino gambling, the industry takes yes to never mean no,” Walgate said. “Sadly, the governor and Statehouse politicians are only too willing to please the new casino overlords. The voters have been kicked to the curb along with the constitution.”
josmith@DaytonDailyNews.com
Current Report no 14 - of Series G Shares in ROBYG S.A. with the NDS - 4-traders (press release)
Current Report no. 14/2012
Number and Date of the Current Report:
Current Report no. 14/2012 dated 18 May 2012. Subject of the Current Report:
ROBYG S.A. - Registration of Series G Shares in ROBYG S.A. with the NDS
Legal basis:
Article 34, section 1.1 of the regulation of the Minister of Finance dated 19 February 2009 regarding current and interim reports published by issuers of securities and the terms of considering information required by any non-member state as equivalent.
Contents of the Current Report:
The Management Board of ROBYG S.A. with its registered office in Warsaw (the "Company") hereby announces that the Management Board of the National Depository for Securities S.A. (the "NDS") resolved on the basis of the resolution no. 364/12 dated 18 May 2012 to accept as of 18 May
2012 it the NDS 545,500 series G ordinary bearer shares of the Company with a nominal value of PLN 0.10 each issued within the framework of the conditional increase of the share capital of the Company on the basis of the resolution no. 21 of the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders and to mark such shares with the code: PLROBYG00016.
The resolution has been adopted under a condition that the company operating the regulated market on which other shares of the Company are listed under the above-mentioned code issues a resolution on introduction of series G shares of the Company to trading on such regulated market. The final registration of series G shares of the Company shall take place within three days after receipt by the NDS of the said resolution, however in any case not earlier than on the introduction date indicated in such resolution.
Information on registration of Series G Shares will be given by an operational announcement of NDS
and the Company shall inform about such in the form of a current report.
Signatures of the Management Board:
Zbigniew Oko
Finance panel to discuss police officers - Marion Star
MARION - An ordinance to appropriate funds to reinstate two police officers is among several items to be addressed by Marion City Council committees on Tuesday.
In addition to the police appropriation legislation, the finance committee, which will meet at 6:30 p.m., will consider ordinances that would:
authorize entering into an agreement for one year, with an option year, with Dave's Carpet Sales for janitorial services at City Hall;
make an appropriation to the police supply line item in the general fund and law enforcement trust fund, trust expense line item for this year;
make an additional appropriation in the indigent drive alcohol monitoring fund for this year.
Scheduled to meet at 6:45 p.m., the jobs and economic development committee will hear quarterly reviews from Downtown Marion Inc. and Marion CAN DO! and a presentation of Community Development Block Grant formula projects.
Lincoln Park Family Aquatic Center Director Jeannie Brewer will provide an update on the center to the municipal services, parks and recreation committee, which is scheduled to meet at 7 p.m.
The panel also will discuss Councilman Ayers Ratliff's proposal to combine the safety and service director positions.
An ordinance regarding geographic information system mapping related to resubdividing of the city's wards will receive the attention of the legislation, codes and regulations committee, which is to meet at 7:15 p.m.
Scheduled to follow at 7:30 p.m., the streets and sewers committee will consider awarding a contract for Robinson Street improvements.
Council committees meet in council chambers on the second floor of City Hall, 233 W. Center St.
Manappuram Finance Q4 net profit up 83% at Rs 187 cr - MoneyControl.com
Published on Sat, May 19, 2012 at 12:59 | Source : Moneycontrol.com
Updated at Sat, May 19, 2012 at 13:00
Money and the American election - Stabroek News
Within two days of its Initial Public Offering, the social network Facebook was worth more than US$100 billion – making it, at a stroke, more valuable than such iconic brands as online bookseller Amazon, banking giant Citigroup, and global fast-food empire McDonald’s. In other news, stock analysts speculated that Apple’s dominance of online music sales, smartphones and tablet computers, could make it the first company valued at a trillion dollars.
Meanwhile, the American economy struggles to recover jobs lost in the financial crisis. Surprisingly, there has been only a muted backlash against the cozy arrangements which hedge funds and private equity firms have with the US tax code, exploiting a loophole that allows them to report profits as “carried interest” and thus be taxed at 15 per cent (as capital gains) rather than the standard 35 per cent most Americans pay on their income. President Obama tried to highlight the resulting absurdities by citing the example of the billionaire Warren Buffett’s secretary bearing a tax burden that was, proportionally, double what her boss paid. (Forbes subsequently estimated that the secretary earned a salary between $200-$500, 000 and so was not an ideal example of the American middle-class.)
The interaction between vast, lightly-taxed corporate wealth and American politics has become increasingly problematic, and not just for Americans. For one thing the rise of the internet has vastly expanded the impact of corporate decision-making, into countries with poor records on human rights and free expression. Rebecca MacKinnon, founder of the blogging network Global Voices, notes that “When citizens depend on online platforms like Google, Twitter, and Facebook … legislators and regulators in the world’s largest markets make decisions that ultimately shape global technical standards and business norms. Thus governments are exerting power over the freedoms and rights of people who did not vote for them, who do not live under their jurisdiction and have no meaningful way of holding them accountable.”
Control of American legislators and regulators now lies within the grasp of a handful of extremely wealthy corporations and individuals, few with agendas that clearly serve the public interest. A case in point is the surge in use of the tax-exempt “Super Political Action Committee (PAC).” Shielded by a Supreme Court decision that treats political donations as a form of free expression, Super PACs allow candidates to bypass former campaign finance restrictions with impunity, opening the floodgates to extravagant donations from wealthy citizens. The candidacy of Newt Gingrich, for example, was possible mainly because of the support of the Winning Our Future Super PAC financed by the Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson and his wife Miriam, who donated $10 million. The money helped Gingrich remain in the Republican primaries long after he was a viable candidate.
With the general election looming, there is anxious speculation about the role of PACs funded by Charles and David Koch – reputedly worth $25 billion each – longtime backers of libertarian organizations. The Kochs have already lavished huge sums of money on the Tea Party movement and look set to increase their donations significantly in the forthcoming campaign. It may be worth recalling that Obama’s entire 2008 presidential campaign – which shattered all previous records – cost US$1 billion. The funding mechanisms now available to both parties in the next campaign will likely dwarf this figure.
But concerns about the rise of well-funded right-wing groups in American politics miss the point. The whole system has been corrupted by money. US taxpayers have shouldered the burden of bailing out Wall Street and huge corporations like General Motors only to find themselves, effectively, sidelined in the political conversation. As for the citizens in other countries who must live with the consequences of decisions made at US companies like Facebook and Twitter, they have no say whatsoever. Yet the US political system meanders along, tinkering with defunct campaign finance legislation, allowing the influx of ever larger sums of money into a process designed to produce leaders that will curb wasteful spending and mismanagement. This contradiction is central to much of what has gone wrong in US politics during the last two decades, and unless the root cause is confronted directly, there is little prospect of either political party delivering much hope or change in the next general election.
Xpress Money may use the UAE as trial market for transaction service - Zawya.com
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Gulf News
Dubai The UAE could be one of two trial markets as the UK-headquartered payment services company Xpress Money makes a move into the individual to business (or business to individual as the case may be) transaction space. Its home market could be the other test market with the trials expected to start post-summer.
“There are very few payments facilitators who are already offering such a service capability and those who are got into it quite recently,” said Sudhesh Giriyan, who heads the regional operations at Xpress Money. “By getting in ourselves at the earliest we expect to narrow any advantage the others may have.
“As of now, we are trying to feel the market out by talking to institutional clients.”
Sources at local remittance houses reckon this is the way forward for the industry. Having institutional clients readily translates into substantial funds flowing through the remittance pipeline and that can only be a good thing for all industry players.
Xpress Money — which came into being in 1999 — only services individual to individual payments, with the UAE — where it has 350 locations operated by various exchange houses — and the GCC being one of its top transactional markets globally. Last year it entered the US and more recently Australia. The plans are to extend coverage to Latin America.
Widely rated
That is why the company wants to get into payment settlements involving individual to business and vice-versa. This category is widely rated within the industry as the next big thing.
Such services could be utilised to make an airline booking, whereby a customer can do the needful at a physical location where the Xpress Money service is available, or for a business to send salary contributions to outstation employees.
“We are formulating the systems and will also require having in place strict compliance practices,” said Giriyan. “Also, future corporate clients would need to be assured that we can provide optimum coverage through physical locations and that’s being addressed. We will also need to maintain bank accounts.
“It’s different to the typical compliance requirements for individual to individual and quite exhaustive.”
Not that remittance volumes involving individuals are showing any signs of slacking off. The estimated volumes last year through the GCC corridor were estimated at $76 billion (Dh278.9 billion). Saudi Arabia alone would account for more than $25 billion, enough to place it among the Top Three worldwide.
“But it’s still the US that is the biggest remittance market by far and the recession does not seem to have had any impact,” said Giriyan. “Last year it was estimated at $51.6 billion and it’s not difficult to see why — the whole of Latin America depends on individual remittances coming out of the US and so are many markets in Asia.
“China, India and Mexico remain the biggest recipients of remittance transactions, which goes to show that customer to customer volumes are not saturated. But customer to business opens up a whole new stream of opportunities.”
By Manoj Nair?Associate Editor
© Gulf News 2012. All rights reserved.
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