Obama and the Democratic National Committee had their strongest fundraising month of the campaign in June, reeling in a combined $71 million from more than 706,000 individual donors.
But that wasn't enough to surpass Romney, who, along with the Republican National Committee and several state parties, pulled in $106.1 million, marking the second consecutive month the presumptive GOP nominee's combined fundraising efforts have outpaced those of the president. (In May, Romney's joint fundraising pulled in $76.8 million, topping Obama's combined take of $60 million.)
The nine-figure haul propelled Romney to his best fundraising month yet, as the former Massachusetts governor continued to capitalize on the large checks, up to $75,800, he can solicit through joint fundraising with the Republican Party and affiliated committees.
The total was also boosted by the Supreme Court's decision to uphold President Obama's healthcare law; a Romney spokesperson claimed $4.6 million — mostly in small donations — came into the joint fundraising effort in the 24 hours following the decision. The Obama campaign has said it too received a flood of donations after the healthcare ruling, but it has not specified the amount.
The Obama campaign's chief operating officer, Ann Marie Habershaw, acknowledged the widening money gap in an email that pressed donors to give more.
"We still got beat — and not by a little bit. Romney and Republicans raised more than $106 million, not even including money to pro-Romney super PACs," Habershaw wrote.
"If we lose this election, it will be because we didn't close the gap enough when we had the chance," Habershaw continued, directing donors to the campaign's online donations page.
The Romney campaign credited its June bounty to donors' enthusiasm for ousting Obama from the White House.
"Mitt Romney's message of restoring economic security and rebuilding our middle class is clearly resonating across the country," said Spencer Zwick, Romney's national finance chairman. "In the months to come, these resources will be crucial to highlighting the difference between President Obama's broken promises and Mitt Romney's plan to get America on the right track again."
The Romney campaign said the tally of individual donors who gave last month was not yet available.
For weeks, Obama campaign officials had anticipated a lopsided financial advantage in Romney's favor, and were publicly speculating that the Romney campaign would have a more lucrative month.
In an email to supporters in the last week of June, with the subject line "I will be outspent," the Obama campaign sought to use Romney's fundraising prowess as a rallying point for Democrats.
"I will be the first president in modern history to be outspent in his reelection campaign, if things continue as they have so far," said the email signed by the president.
The prospect of a cash disadvantage is a notable reversal of fortune for Obama, who in 2008 smashed fundraising records in his race against Republican Sen. John McCain. The Obama campaign raised $745 million that cycle — more than double what McCain raised, including the $84 million in public financing the Republican received — and used that financial upper hand to flood the airwaves and build an extensive ground game.
This cycle, Obama got a leg up in the money chase because he was able to raise money jointly with the DNC from the start, which allowed him to collect five-figure checks while Romney was limited to $2,500 donations from individuals during his primary race. With his limits now raised to equal Obama's, Romney has steadily chipped into the president's advantage.
The former Massachusetts governor and the RNC ended June with $160 million in the bank. The Obama campaign declined to release its cash-on-hand figures.
More information on the campaigns' war chests, and how they've been spending those resources, will be available later this month, when the financial reports are due to the Federal Election Commission.
Farepak customers to receive half of money owed - BBC News
Customers and agents of Farepak, the Christmas savings firm, will ultimately receive half of the money they lost when the company collapsed.
Swindon-based Farepak collapsed in 2006, leaving 114,000 people with total losses of £37m.
Now liquidators BDO have confirmed that final payments will be made to those who lost out at the end of August.
Customers have waited for the end of court cases to see a final settlement reached.
'Hardball' attitudeThe government's Insolvency Service had argued that the high-profile collapse of Farepak had been the fault of nine former directors of the company.
At a recent High Court hearing, the service had to admit that its case did not stand up, and the action was dropped.
However, the judge argued that HBOS bank had taken a "hardball" attitude in dealing with the company and was partially to blame for the collapse.
“Start Quote
End Quote Suzy Hall Unfairpak campaign groupNever in my wildest imagination did I think we would get back 50p in the pound”
This led to Lloyds Banking Group, which now owns HBOS, to make an £8m payment to the Farepak compensation fund.
Total paymentThis has allowed the joint liquidators to bring their investigations to an end, and finalise payment levels.
Farepak collapsed leaving no money available to creditors. However, BDO has confirmed that a payment of about 32p in the pound will be made, which includes a share of the £8m from Lloyds Banking Group.
When added to the 17.5p in the pound given by the Farepak Response Fund charity, set up by the government in 2006, customers will have received a total of approximately 50p in the pound, BDO said.
Former customers and agents who have changed their address since they made their original claim should inform the Farepak claims management team of the alteration.
Suzy Hall, who co-ordinated the Unfairpak campaign, a group set up to support victims in the wake of the crisis, said she was delighted with the final figure, describing it as a "fantastic result".
"Never in my wildest imagination did I think we would get back 50p in the pound. Unfairpak believe we have won."
She also praised the liquidators, who have waived some of their fees and been "very mindful" of costs.
"The demographic of Farepak savers is low-income women so this is absolutely wonderful," she said.
Germany's finance minister warns a delay in approving the EU bailout fund could send world markets crashing - Daily Mail
By Allan Hall
|
Wolfgang Schaeuble said a delay in approving the EU's bailout fund could fuel financial turbulence
Germany's Finance Minister has told the country's top court that a delay in approving the European Union's permanent bailout fund could send world markets crashing.
The Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe has begun a hearing into whether the EU bailout scheme and budget rules are compatible with German law.
Wolfgang Schaeuble told the court a delay of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) bailout fund could cause uncertainty.
'Considerable postponement of the ESM which was foreseen for July this year could cause considerable further uncertainty on markets beyond Germany and a considerable loss of trust in the euro zone’s ability to make necessary decisions in an appropriate time-frame,' he said.
The court is to determine whether complaints lodged by an alliance of academics, MPs, economists and ordinary people against the bailout fund are valid.
But the court will not make a decision until the end of the month or possibly a later date.
The plaintiffs argue the ESM coupled with new budget rules undermine German democracy in place since 1945.
German central bank chief Jens Weidmann was among the nation’s power elite in court and is expected to address the hearing.
'Doubts in the constitutional possibility or the readiness of Germany to stem dangers for the financial stability of the euro zone could lead to the current crisis symptoms being exacerbated considerably,' added Schaeuble.
'Some member states of the euro zone would end up having further big problems financing themselves, which could raise questions over the stability of the euro zone as a whole.'
Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel is also said to be critical of the delay in approving the EU's bailout fund
Germany’s Constitutional Court was set up after the war as part of an elaborate system of checks and balances to prevent the concentration of power that allowed the Nazis to thrive.
But critics accuse it of wanting to preserve its own powers in the euro showdown with the government.
Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel is also said to be among those annoyed at the lengthy process.
Legal experts in the country have warned the courts not to delay the ruling and said Europe's failing economy meant politicians were faced with making difficult decisions quickly.
Euro finance ministers agree on bailout for Spain - The Guardian
DON MELVIN
Associated Press= BRUSSELS (AP) — Euro area finance ministers agreed early Tuesday on the terms of a bailout for Spain's troubled banks, saying that €30 billion ($36.88 billion) can be ready by the end of this month.
The finance ministers for the 17 countries that use the euro as their official currency will return to Brussels on July 20 to finalize the agreement, having first obtained the approval of their governments or parliaments, eurozone chief Jean-Claude Juncker said.
As part of the agreement with Spain, finance ministers from all 27 European Union countries are expected Tuesday to approve a one-year extension, until 2014, of Spain's deadline for achieving a budget deficit of 3 percent.
There will be specific conditions for specific banks, and the supervision of the financial sector overall will be strengthened, Juncker said.
"We are convinced that this conditionality will succeed in addressing the remaining weakness in the Spanish banking sector," he said.
Dutch Finance Minister Jan Kees de Jager said the agreement should be finalized soon.
"We have a tentative deal on the bailout conditions for a bailout of Spanish banks," De Jager said. "The total will likely be 100 billion euros. Some countries like the Netherlands, Germany and Finland need to get parliamentary approval. We hope this can be wrapped up within a week."
The exact amount of the bailout will likely not be known until September, when individual examinations of different Spanish banks have been completed.
De Jager said Madrid's partners agree that "financial sector reforms in Spain must be ruthlessly implemented. These reforms include, notably, a cap on salaries of bank executives and a ban on bonuses."
However, he said a system of EU-wide banking supervision still needs to be worked out.
"There are still differences over this," he said. "The details will be worked out by the end of the year."
But on Monday, before the eurogroup meeting began, Mario Draghi, the chief of the European Central Bank, said he was confident that a banking union in the European Union would be achieved.
"The first thing to be created will be the supervision," Draghi told a committee of the European Parliament. "We are talking about the long-term sustainability of the European monetary union. We are going as fast as we can. It is better to do things right than in a hurried fashion. We certainly want to see this thing wrapped up by the end of the year," he said, referring to banking oversight.
"By the end of this year we will have something that is not perfect, but achievable."
Officials also announced that Klaus Regling, a German economist who currently heads the temporary EU bailout fund, had been chosen to head the European Stability Mechanism — the permanent bailout fund meant to head off instability in the eurozone.
Regling, 61, will take charge of a bailout fund meant to reassure markets that the European Union will stand behind its weaker members.
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Slobodan Lekic and Robert Wielaard in Brussels, Toby Sterling in Amsterdam and Daniel Woolls in Madrid contributed to this report. Don Melvin can be reached at http://twitter.com/Don-Melvin
Your Money - Spa parties and money-smart daughters - Reuters
NEW YORK, July 11 Reuters) - My seven-year-old daughter, Annabelle, recently attended her third spa party in the last 18 months. She put cucumbers on her eyes, wore a chocolate mask on her face and got her toenails polished by adult attendants.
In contrast, her 8-year-old friend Aleksandar had a birthday party in which he asked for donations for a $400 Lego "Death Star" puzzle, rather than individual gifts.
Is it any wonder that Annabelle and her girlfriends want to spend their allowance on nail polish, while Aleksandar, having raised the money to buy his Lego set, has begun saving for a sports car?
Perhaps pressured by subtle social cues to value appearance over saving, many girls still grow up without adequate money and investing skills despite their success in the classroom and a proliferation of programs designed to teach kids about money.
Young women are "substantially" less financially literate than their male counterparts and less likely to correctly answer questions about interest rates, inflation and risk diversification, according to a 2010 study of more than 7,400 young adults by researchers at Harvard, Dartmouth and the University of Pennsylvania.
Make no mistake: all parents need to teach their children - boys and girls - about money. But girls encounter different social and environmental messages, and those messages can be financially crippling. It's now common to find girls' clothing with slogans like "I (heart) shopping," something that never appears in the boys' department.
"(My boys) don't get invited to spa parties," says Mary Blanusa, a vice president at the Council for Economic Education in New York and Aleksandar's mother. "If I had girls, I'm sure it would be different. There's a lot of pressure on girls to have certain things and look a certain way."
But there are some ways parents can subvert subtle spa-party messages to raise money-smart women. And it's never too early to start.
EMBRACE THE LEMONADE STAND
Annabelle has been begging for a lemonade stand for three years. I wasn't initially thrilled with the idea but now plan to help her budget, price, produce and sell homemade lemonade to nurture her entrepreneurial and financial skills.
How valuable is this lesson? Some 61 percent of 301 people responsible for hiring at their companies said it is important for an employee to be "entrepreneurial," according to a 2008 Junior Achievement survey, conducted by Gallup. A lemonade stand is one way to teach math skills and encourage entrepreneurship.
JOIN THE GIRL SCOUTS
The Girl Scouts have come a long way from cookie sales. The organization, known for community service projects, field trips and those cookies, now awards badges for "money manager," "financing my future" and "budgeting."
That's intentional. "We are trying to teach girls how to have courage, confidence and character, and that includes entrepreneurship, good saving and spending habits," says Davia Temin, vice chair of the Girl Scouts of the USA and chief executive of crisis management firm Temin and Co.
"If women see money as only to be used to acquire stuff, they're missing out on the power that money brings you, which is safety, security, power and influence," says Temin.
MODEL APPROPRIATE SPENDING
Some 86 percent of teens learn about money management from their parents, rather than school, online or friends, according to the 2012 Junior Achievement USA/Allstate Foundation "Teens and Personal Finance" survey.
Create a budget before you go to the mall or the grocery, and tell your girls how much you have to spend. They'll soon see how quickly it disappears. Encourage them to write their own budget and let them suffer the consequences of not having money for a favorite toy after blowing it on a impulse purchase.
NEEDS VS. WANTS
Parents say their girls feel more pressure than boys to use their money on the latest trendy clothing. That means girls need extra guidance in making appropriate purchases, says Katherine Nixon, chief investment officer for the personal financial services business of Northern Trust Corp.
"I try to keep my girls very grounded in separating needs versus wants," says Nixon, the mother of two girls (nine and 16 years old) and a boy, 13. "I find myself not having to do that with my son. You're fighting an uphill battle with that social pressure."
To help girls establish priorities, share household bills.
"Go over the charges and show her, 'this is what we've spent on clothing, this is what it costs to go on vacation,'" says Nixon.
To help you help your kids, there are a host of free online tools, including Edward Jones' money-smart kid program ().
RETHINK THE BIRTHDAY, AND THE PARTY
What to do for the birthday girl who asks for makeup, the latest boots or a spa party?
Ignore her.
Consider hosting an active party such as bowling, or give non-appearance gifts such as a colorful piggy bank with separate money slots for "save," "spend," "donate" and "invest," found on toy retailer websites such as Amazon.com.
Check out classic games, like Hasbro Inc's Monopoly or The Game of Life. Buy her shares in companies that make products that are catnip for kids. Is she a fan of natural macaroni and cheese maker Annie's Inc? How about cereal from Kellogg Co or toys from Mattel Inc?
Or you can follow the lead of Ganesh Subramanian, a director of business development finance for Sanofi Pharmaceuticals and a father of four. He gave his son Anik, then nine, the option of having a birthday party or having $300 to put into a bank account.
Anik chose the deposit, then bought shares of SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF.
Subramanian plans to make the same offer to his younger son and twin daughters when they turn nine.
Will his girls, now six, accept the cash over a party? Probably, since they have their brother's example, says Subramanian.
"I'm hoping (the desire for big parties) is just a phase and they'll grow out of it," he says.
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Forex Flash: Sell AUD/USD, target 0.9850 – Nomura - NASDAQ
FXstreet.com (Barcelona) - The Aussie dollar is trading in the upper end of today's range so far, circling around the 1.0230 region despite increasing risk-off trade.
G.Kendrick, Strategist at Nomura, emphasizes the stubborness of AUD amidst decreasing commodity prices, explaining that "…non-resident buying of Australian government bonds has fully accounted for Australia‟s positive basic balance since mid-2009…". The expert insists "…However, with net planned issuance for fiscal-year 2012/13 (July-June) only AUD9bn the basic balance is set to fall to zero. The removal of this AUD support will occur no matter what happens to global risk appetite, commodity prices and the domestic economy…."
"We sell $20mn AUD/USD at 1.0225, with a relatively tight stop at 1.0350, and target 0.9850"
Money markets at risk from SEC shake-up - Financial Times
July 10, 2012 6:18 pm
Forex Flash: FOMC minutes unlikely to provide much support for the greenback - K.Lien - FXStreet.com
Kathy expands: "The only problem is that concern about the outlook for the U.S. economy and a general sense of dovishness is what the market currently expects from the Fed. Therefore if the central bank sounds even the slight bit wishy-washy about QE3, the dollar could rise against the Japanese Yen. Yet don’t expect the rally to last for long because at the end of the day, the simultaneous weakness of the U.S., Eurozone and Chinese economies will eventually force the Fed to spring into action. In other words, we don’t believe the FOMC minutes will provide much support for the greenback."
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