Obama shines stimulus spotlight on urban economy

President Obama met Friday with 85 mayors from across the country to discuss the implementation of city-related funding from the $787 billion stimulus package. “You shouldn’t have to succeed despite Washington; you should be succeeding with a hand from Washington, and that’s what you’re getting now,” Obama said at a White House reception. “This plan does more to lay a new foundation for our cities’ growth and opportunity than anything Washington has done in generations.” The economic stimulus package sets aside billions of dollars for highway construction, transit improvements, school modernization and community development block grants

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Harley Davidson Faces Recession — and Aging Riders

In a Facebook video, the screen is filled with a sea of 20-something men and women cruising on sleek black motorbikes, all of them Harley-Davidson’s Sportster Iron 883. It’s part of marketing campaign to generate buzz around the newest Sportster. “That’s hot!” one woman declares on Harley-Davidson’s Facebook page, where other mini-documentaries promoting the bike are posted

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Indian hepatitis outbreak leaves 19 dead

Health officials in India’s Gujarat state are investigating a hepatitis outbreak that has left 19 people dead in less than two weeks, authorities said Wednesday. A statement on the official Web site of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) www.ecb-co.uk confirmed that joint talks with the West Indies Cricket Board over a “new sponsorship deal” had been called off. Stanford backed a much-criticized $20 million winner takes all Twenty20 match between his all-star team and England in Antigua last November.

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The Case for Nationalizing the Entire Economy

The advocates for nationalizing U.S. banks have been out in force recently. Senator Lindsay Graham, who almost certainly does not have a PhD in economics or finance told ABC News that banks were in such deep trouble that government ownership of the institutions may be the only way to save the financial system

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Will Beijing Respond to Clinton’s Wish List?

North Korea has a long history of communicating with the United States through provocation and brinksmanship, and it has played to type ahead of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s four-nation trip to Asia that began Sunday. In recent weeks, Pyongyang has annulled its maritime border with South Korea, renounced the nonaggression agreement between the two countries, and moved missiles and equipment around in ways that could signal preparations for a launch, according to U.S. officials.

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U.S.: Financial crisis spread to emerging markets

Making his international debut at the Group of Seven meetings in Rome, new U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said swift and decisive action is needed on several levels to address the global financial crisis. “Although this crisis began in the major economies, it’s now spread to emerging markets around the world,” Geithner said

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Obama planning ambitious road ahead

Fresh off victory on President Obama’s signature $787 billion economic recovery plan, several top White House aides say they’re planning an ambitious agenda for the rest of February. The Senate had waited for the return of Democrat Sherrod Brown, who was returning from his mother’s wake in his home state of Ohio, to close the voting late Friday. For the rest of the month, the White House agenda will focus on addressing the housing crisis, cleaning up the banking mess and laying the groundwork for reform of the health care system and entitlement programs like Medicare.

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