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Facebook says in its IPO filing that it has 845 millon users worldwide. This is up 39% from the prior year. Revenue is up 88% from the prior year. Facebook's 2011 revenue is $4.27 billion, according to eMarketer. Facebook's 2011 profit was up 65% from the prior year. Analysts say costs and expenses are growing faster than revenues. R&D costs including employee hiring and equity compensation went up to $114 million in 2011 from $9 million in 2010. Facebook had 3,200 employees in Dec. 2011, compared to 2,172 in the prior year. Revenues come from online ads. Ads on the Facebook site increased by 42% in 2011 over the prior year, and average price per ad increased by 18% in this period. Ads are generated using the information provided by users on demographic factors, age, location, gender, education, work history and specific interests- so that subsets of users can be targeted by advertiserrs of products.

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Efforts being made to convince the Spanish government of Mariano Rajoy to accept IMF aid to recapitalize its banks. The IMF released information showing Spanish banks would need to raise at least 37 billion euros or $46 billion to prevent a worsening of the banking crisis. The report was released before the meeting of EU finance ministers on June 9-10 to persuade the Spanish government to accept IMF aid. The eurozone bailout fund was given powers in 2011 to make loans to governments for the purpose of recapitalizing banks, with conditions and terms set for the financial sector not for the government's spending plans. According to people aware of the discussions taking place in the European Commission and the IMF, one option is to have the European Banking Authority and not the IMF oversee the program. This avoids the usual stigma of accepting aid coming from the IMF with strict conditions attached including restrictions on the government's fiscal plans.

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Elisa Lipsky-Karasz's fascinating account of the life Julia Roberts has built for herself on a quiet street in a modest home in Malibu, being that mom across the street no more, no less, as she raises 9 year old twins Hazel and Finn and 6 year old Henry. The actress famous for Erin Brockovich (2000) and other movies leads a simple life with the coming an going of school days and spring vacation being the key points of the year. Any movies are done on her schedule and now focuses on narrower topics such as the fight against AIDS of a doctor who is a polio survivor- The Normal Heart was done during children's summer and Thanksgiving vacations. And its a life she is grateful for, being just like anybody else on that street.

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President Obama's new rtegulatory reforms in final form as they go to Congress for passage. Exrtensive preparatory meetings with financial firms and industry participants, legislators, and consumer agencies and otehrs between Summers, Geithner and their aides and these firm's executives and leaders before the reforms were worked out.

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Kristof compares Pakistan to Bangladesh. Bangladesh he says has more girls in high school than boys, and compares this with only 3% of women in the Pakistan tribal areas who are literate. He points out that this may well be why Al Quaeda is in Pakistan and not Bangladesh. He asks if its so hard to build schools, then how is it that Greg Mortenson has built 39 schools in Afghanistan and 92 in Pakistan- and not one has been burned or closed down. The Afghan Institute for Learning he adds has 32 schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan, with noen closed by the Taliban. Afghnistan needs nutritional support, irrigation, schools, education, healtcare just as badly as the rest of South Asia where one report says about 48% of the children under age of 48 are malnourished, just more desperately so.

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Senator Schumer the Majority Leader in the Senate has shown a unique ability to bring together Republicans and Democrats in bipartisan efforts that would have been daunting to lesser men. He was a key driver of the efforts to bring Republican and Democrats together to invest in the country's aging infrastructure. This is a win-win situation for both. He did this again when at Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's suggestion at the end of October that action on the border be an essential part of aid to Ukraine, Schumer  did not say no, he struggled with it talking with his staff till he says an epiphany sort of lightning strikes. He realized it was needed to be tough on the border and to do it right was a win-win situation for both supporters of Ukraine and getting the border situation under control. Because so many Democrats were for Ukraine they would vote for a good border security bill. This report shows him making calls even on Christmas Day.  Only someone of Schumer's dedication, ability to talk and persuade others, and hard work could have done this. As in getting bipartisan support for infrastructure bills he had Democrats who had good relationships with Republicans to persuade Republicans that Democrats were sincere about taking strong action on the border. It is to the credit of president Biden and shows that his decades spent in Congress were worth it for America that he supported Schumer and worked with Republicans. It is this sincerity that made it possible for 22 Republican Senators nearly half of Republicans in the Senate to join Schumer in the new aid package for Ukraine, after a former president shut down the earlier bill that combined the border action with Ukraine. Many in the media and in the country have not grasped the meaning of the way some of the most senior members of Congress including Mr. Biden who was one of the longest serving senators in history are working together showing courage and wisdom in the face of many distractions and factional differences on the fringes of different parties. ...

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This WSJ report shows how the debt ceiling negotiation were conducted and the process that made it possible to reach an agreement since the State of the Union address by president Biden on February 7, 2023. It started with Biden getting unanimity right on the floor of Congress during his speech about protecting Medicare and Social Security. The Republican strategy was to pass the legislation on spending that did not specify where cuts were to be made yet used 2022 spending levels with a 1% increase. The deal was to be for three years and passed the spending bill with an increase inthe debt ceiling. Till that time the Democrats decided to not enter negotiations.  Biden and McCarthy then had to choose who would represent their side in the long negotiation process that lay ahead till June 5. Progressive Democrats called for invoking the 14th Amendment that allows the government to continue functioning and pay its bills. Biden chose not to take that route. Respect for the other side, a prepared script are an important point in negotiations. To get results something even more important is essential flexibility and a plan, Plan B. Trust began to develop between McCarthy and Biden. Biden and McCarthy did not any time engage in acrimonious description of the other side. At one point when Biden was in Hiroshima for the G7 meetings Ricchetti on the Biden side and Graves on the Republican side began to feel the frustration. Biden decided to fly home early from Hiroshima. He was constantly in touch with his negotiators Steve Ricchetti, a trusted aide, and a cabinet official the Budget Director Shalanda Young. Graves a long time trusted adviser of McCarthy headed the negotiations for McCarthy.  Shalanda Young and Garrett Graves are both from Louisiana and Graves says he used to work out with Young's dad in the same area. This had a positive effect. It also reduced the tensions in the negotiations so that it could be said this was the calmest negotiation from either side that has been seen in the US  for a long time and bodes well for America's future and for its people, far beyond any concessions made by either party.  Biden made clear at the outset what he could accept without leaving it hidden- he would agree to some work requirements, he would not agree to work requirements for Medicaid. Others in the Democratic party conveyed how distraught they were with efforts to impose stringent requirements for federal food aid during a cost of living crisis when the Republican positions ruled out any new taxes on the wealthiest Americans. In the end Republicans agreed to keep spending limits for 2023 for two more years into 2025 when they would be increased by 1%. Democrats offered to cut (Income Tax) Internal Revenue Service (IRS) spending to increase IRS staffing from $80 billion to $70 billion. Biden said "nobody got everything they wanted." It would have to be passed in Congress with the support of moderate Democrats and moderate Republicans, with members holding extreme positions among Republicans and Democrats opposing. The two parties coming together after a long time to meet the real challenges ahead for the American people. ...

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The $125 billion rescue package adds 10% to Spain's debt, increasing it to 90% of GDP, say analysts. Fitch Ratings says, Spain's debt would reach 95% of GDP in 2015 even if it uses only 60 billion euros of the rescue package to recapitalize banks. An earlier forecast by finance minister Luis de Guindos put the debt to GDP ratio at 78% for 2012. The lack of the architectural underpinnings for a common euro currency such as deposit insurance and guarantees for deposits at eurozone banks, and the fiscal supervision of banks by a European financial authority that goes with it, has resulted in the continued lack of confidence in financial markets after the rescue package.

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How high gas prices affect the elderly as volunteers cut back on the miles they drive and make providing services to the elderly difficult.