Bill Clinton energized RNC tempo and electrified it with show-cases acknowledging and confirming the arithmetic of Fact checkers on President Obama's leadership the reason why Obama should get 4 more years. Last night I watched zealously and very keenly with ease as his words flow from the podium of RNC…..From my view, those words came out powerfully, tearing me apart and stuffing me into captivity for Unity cause; and in agreement, for the sake of common shared values where all have available access to share their ideas aiming at shared prosperity on a level playing field. Bill Clinton reiterated that the mess President Obama found when he took office, no President, not him not his predecessors, would have found it possible to repair the amount of damage in four years. Instead Obama in no time, turned the situation around, put slab of layers for Recovery in the Recovery Act which, through the Government system, President Obama was able to stabilized the economy in a short term and created a record of 4.5 million in private sector jobs where, millions of other jobs are saved for sustainability in the future long term prospects; and although we are not there yet (at full recovery), we are on the right path, on track to full recovery. On the short term, Auto jobs created 250 thousand jobs, student loan reformed, education sector has more science and technical increased job opportunities for engineering and manufacturing innovation and prospects; what more can you question about President Obama's leadership on track record other than vote to add 4 more years to complete work started? Bill Clinton said that because of fact checks, he now trust and believes in President Obama version of good leadership and approach to job creation touching on Healthcare and Medicaid and confirmed that those are the same values of American Dreams. This shows that Democracy works. Without second guess, Bill Clinton said the truth. Last night's statement had me reconsider my options (have options open) to dialogue for purposes of cooperation for shared sacrifice so to move forward. I am thrilled.........and to get the arithmetic right, and in Pythagoras theorem, we have work to do. To all who get it, we must speed up to solicit for more swing votes for President Obama to win next election by landslide......... We cannot afford Mitt Romney's knit-and-tied-lies to capture the Presidency........it is all lies the GOP perpetuate in order to transfer public wealth to the 1% rich and where shall that put the rest of the population? This we cannot sit pretty.........we must make it our concern that things must be done differently to benefit all fairly.........The middle class and the poor must join hands to secure our future and our future are those savings we plant today......People must be afraid with Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan ticket. We must all go vote President Obama......!!! Connect the dots and get the arithmetic......... Cheers everybody....... Bill Clinton speaks at the 2012 DNC (C-SPAN) - Full Speech Published on Sep 5, 2012 by CSPAN Former President Bill Clinton addresses the 2012 Democratic National Convention. He is joined on stage following his speech by President Barack Obama. Bill Clinton's math lesson for the DNC: Why Obama adds up to a good president Political ReporteThe Ticket – 9 hrs ago CHARLOTTE -- Former President Bill Clinton, once a political foe of President Barack Obama, made a strong case that he's one of the nominee's best surrogates Wednesday, especially when it comes to bringing independents into the Democratic re-election effort. In a speech that was repeatedly interrupted by standing ovations and often veered from the prepared remarks on his Teleprompter, Clinton took on nearly every criticism that Republicans leveled at Obama last week at their party convention in Tampa. Clinton's wide-ranging speech defended several aspects of Obama's record, including his health care law, the controversial Recovery Act, the restructuring of cash-strapped American auto companies and even his choice of Joe Biden as vice president. "We believe 'we're all in this together' is a far better philosophy than 'you're on your own,'" Clinton said in a speech that went on for nearly an hour. "I want to nominate a man who's cool on the outside but burns for America on the inside." Clinton even took on the question that Republicans have used in their convention counter-programming this week, arguing that the country is better off than it was when Obama first took office. "Are we better off than we were when he took office? Listen to this, listen to this," he said, clearly enjoying an audience hanging on his every word. "When President Obama took office, the economy was in a free fall, we were losing 750,000 jobs a month. Are we doing better than that today? The answer is yes." Speaking from experience, Clinton defended Obama from critics who blame him for overseeing what many have felt is a painstakingly slow recovery from the 2008 recession. "No president, not me or any of my predecessors, could have repaired all the damage in just four years," he said, going on to suggest that Obama's work was only half finished. The theme--that electing Republicans would stall the progress of an administration still struggling to turn around the economy--is one that has been repeated throughout the week. On Wednesday, Clinton hammered the point home. "He inherited a deeply damaged economy," Clinton said of Obama, "put a floor under the crash, began the long, hard road to recovery and laid the foundation for a more modern, more well-balanced economy that will produce millions of good new jobs, vibrant new businesses, and lots of new wealth for the innovators." The biggest problem for Democrats, Republicans point out, is that the country is still on that road--and looking for a fast way off. But during a Democratic convention that up until this point appeared to be geared toward the liberal wing of the party, Clinton's remarks were tailored to independents who might tune in during prime time. He made his arguments comprehensively, weaving personal stories in and out of his pitch for the president. "Conditions are improving, and if you'll renew the president's contract you will feel it," Clinton said. "Whether the American people believe that or not might decide the whole election. I just want you to know that I believe it." When Clinton finished, he bowed to Obama, who joined him on the stage. The two embraced before walking offstage together. Fact check: 4.5 million new jobs created under Obama? ReporteThe Ticket – 19 hrs ago President Obama "HE SAVED OUR JOBS" "HE SAVED OUR INDUSTRY" ![](http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/VdZgTk_rXvO7MZW5gtVnLQ--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NTt3PTYzMA--/http://media.zenfs.com/en/blogs/theticket/ObamaJobs.jpg "Three women attending the DNC wear Obama T-shirts stating, "He saved our jobs." (Mladen Antonov/AFP)") Three women attending the DNC wear Obama T-shirts stating, "He saved our jobs." (Mladen Antonov/AFP)With the Democratic National Convention in full swing, a number of party leaders are attempting to boost President Barack Obama's re-election effort by asserting that 4.5 million new jobs have been created during his term. Obama himself has recently claimed more job growth in the past 27 months than President George W. Bush created "during the entire seven years before this crisis." "Despite incredible odds and united Republican opposition, our president took action, and now we've seen 4.5 million new jobs," San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro said in his keynote address at the DNC on Tuesday night. That statistic was echoed by virtually all of Tuesday night's speakers, including first lady Michelle Obama, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who previously served as Obama's chief of staff. When Democrats use the 4.5 million jobs number, they're referring to jobs created after the economy bottomed out in January 2010, one year after Obama took office. That time frame excludes the worst job losses, which took place in 2009, and which many Democrats argue were the result of Bush policies. CNN concludes: "The figure of 4.5 million jobs is accurate if you look at the most favorable period and category for the administration. But overall, there are still fewer people working now than when Obama took office at the height of the recession."
Still, a historical analysis of job growth percentages shows that Obama still fares better than some recent presidents. As of July, Obama is averaging +0.84 percent annual job growth in his term. That places him ahead of Bush, who saw +0.51 percent growth in his first term and -0.84 percent in his second term. Obama is also tracking better than George H.W. Bush, who presided over +0.69 percent growth during his one term in the White House. However, Obama's job growth percentages trail far behind those of some other recent presidents, including Bill Clinton (+2.60 percent and +1.60 percent), Ronald Reagan (+1.75 percent and +2.53 percent) and even Jimmy Carter (+2.30 percent). Bill Clinton's math lesson for the DNC: Why Obama adds up to a good president Political ReporterThe Ticket – 9 hrs ago CHARLOTTE -- Former President Bill Clinton, once a political foe of President Barack Obama, made a strong case that he's one of the nominee's best surrogates Wednesday, especially when it comes to bringing independents into the Democratic re-election effort. In a speech that was repeatedly interrupted by standing ovations and often veered from the prepared remarks on his Teleprompter, Clinton took on nearly every criticism that Republicans leveled at Obama last week at their party convention in Tampa. Clinton's wide-ranging speech defended several aspects of Obama's record, including his health care law, the controversial Recovery Act, the restructuring of cash-strapped American auto companies and even his choice of Joe Biden as vice president. "We believe 'we're all in this together' is a far better philosophy than 'you're on your own,'" Clinton said in a speech that went on for nearly an hour. "I want to nominate a man who's cool on the outside but burns for America on the inside." Clinton even took on the question that Republicans have used in their convention counter-programming this week, arguing that the country is better off than it was when Obama first took office. "Are we better off than we were when he took office? Listen to this, listen to this," he said, clearly enjoying an audience hanging on his every word. "When President Obama took office, the economy was in a free fall, we were losing 750,000 jobs a month. Are we doing better than that today? The answer is yes." Speaking from experience, Clinton defended Obama from critics who blame him for overseeing what many have felt is a painstakingly slow recovery from the 2008 recession. "No president, not me or any of my predecessors, could have repaired all the damage in just four years," he said, going on to suggest that Obama's work was only half finished. The theme--that electing Republicans would stall the progress of an administration still struggling to turn around the economy--is one that has been repeated throughout the week. On Wednesday, Clinton hammered the point home. "He inherited a deeply damaged economy," Clinton said of Obama, "put a floor under the crash, began the long, hard road to recovery and laid the foundation for a more modern, more well-balanced economy that will produce millions of good new jobs, vibrant new businesses, and lots of new wealth for the innovators." The biggest problem for Democrats, Republicans point out, is that the country is still on that road--and looking for a fast way off. But during a Democratic convention that up until this point appeared to be geared toward the liberal wing of the party, Clinton's remarks were tailored to independents who might tune in during prime time. He made his arguments comprehensively, weaving personal stories in and out of his pitch for the president. "Conditions are improving, and if you'll renew the president's contract you will feel it," Clinton said. "Whether the American people believe that or not might decide the whole election. I just want you to know that I believe it." When Clinton finished, he bowed to Obama, who joined him on the stage. The two embraced before walking offstage together. Elizabeth Warren to DNC: The 'system is rigged' against you CHARLOTTE, N.C.--In her speech to the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday, Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren said that the American system of government is "rigged" against the middle class. "People feel like the system is rigged against them. And here's the painful part: they're right," Warren said in her first address to a party convention. "The system is rigged. Look around. Oil companies guzzle down billions in subsidies. Billionaires pay lower tax rates than their secretaries. Wall Street CEOs—the same ones who wrecked our economy and destroyed millions of jobs—still strut around Congress, no shame, demanding favors, and acting like we should thank them. Anyone here have a problem with that? Well I do." Warren is running against Republican Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown, who won the seat in a 2010 special election following the death of former Sen. Edward Kennedy. Her full remarks:
Thank you! I'm Elizabeth Warren, and this is my first Democratic Convention. Never thought I'd run for senate. And I sure never dreamed that I'd get to be the warm-up act for President Bill Clinton—an amazing man, who had the good sense to marry one of the coolest women on the planet. I want to give a special shout out to the Massachusetts delegation. I'm counting on you to help me win and to help President Obama win. I'm here tonight to talk about hard-working people: people who get up early, stay up late, cook dinner and help out with homework; people who can be counted on to help their kids, their parents, their neighbors, and the lady down the street whose car broke down; people who work their hearts out but are up against a hard truth—the game is rigged against them. It wasn't always this way. Like a lot of you, I grew up in a family on the ragged edge of the middle class. My daddy sold carpeting and ended up as a maintenance man. After he had a heart attack, my mom worked the phones at Sears so we could hang on to our house. My three brothers all served in the military. One was career. The second worked a good union job in construction. The third started a small business. Me, I was waiting tables at 13 and married at 19. I graduated from public schools and taught elementary school. I have a wonderful husband, two great children, and three beautiful grandchildren. And I'm grateful, down to my toes, for every opportunity that America gave me. This is a great country. I grew up in an America that invested in its kids and built a strong middle class; that allowed millions of children to rise from poverty and establish secure lives. An America that created Social Security and Medicare so that seniors could live with dignity; an America in which each generation built something solid so that the next generation could build something better. But for many years now, our middle class has been chipped, squeezed, and hammered. Talk to the construction worker I met from Malden, Massachusetts, who went nine months without finding work. Talk to the head of a manufacturing company in Franklin trying to protect jobs but worried about rising costs. Talk to the student in Worcester who worked hard to finish his college degree, and now he's drowning in debt. Their fight is my fight, and it's Barack Obama's fight too. People feel like the system is rigged against them. And here's the painful part: they're right. The system is rigged. Look around. Oil companies guzzle down billions in subsidies. Billionaires pay lower tax rates than their secretaries. Wall Street CEOs—the same ones who wrecked our economy and destroyed millions of jobs—still strut around Congress, no shame, demanding favors, and acting like we should thank them. Anyone here have a problem with that? Well I do. I talk to small business owners all across Massachusetts. Not one of them—not one—made big bucks from the risky Wall Street bets that brought down our economy. I talk to nurses and programmers, salespeople and firefighters—people who bust their tails every day. Not one of them—not one—stashes their money in the Cayman Islands to avoid paying their fair share of taxes. These folks don't resent that someone else makes more money. We're Americans. We celebrate success. We just don't want the game to be rigged. We've fought to level the playing field before. About a century ago, when corrosive greed threatened our economy and our way of life, the American people came together under the leadership of Teddy Roosevelt and other progressives, to bring our nation back from the brink. We started to take children out of factories and put them in schools. We began to give meaning to the words "consumer protection" by making our food and medicine safe. And we gave the little guys a better chance to compete by preventing the big guys from rigging the markets. We turned adversity into progress because that's what we do. Americans are fighters. We are tough, resourceful and creative. If we have the chance to fight on a level playing field—where everyone pays a fair share and everyone has a real shot—then no one can stop us. President Obama gets it because he's spent his life fighting for the middle class. And now he's fighting to level that playing field—because we know that the economy doesn't grow from the top down, but from the middle class out and the bottom up. That's how we create jobs and reduce the debt. And Mitt Romney? He wants to give tax cuts to millionaires and billionaires. But for middle-class families who are hanging on by their fingernails? His plans will hammer them with a new tax hike of up to 2,000 dollars. Mitt Romney wants to give billions in breaks to big corporations—but he and Paul Ryan would pulverize financial reform, voucher-ize Medicare, and vaporize Obamacare. The Republican vision is clear: "I've got mine, the rest of you are on your own." Republicans say they don't believe in government. Sure they do. They believe in government to help themselves and their powerful friends. After all, Mitt Romney's the guy who said corporations are people. No, Governor Romney, corporations are not people. People have hearts, they have kids, they get jobs, they get sick, they cry, they dance. They live, they love, and they die. And that matters. That matters because we don't run this country for corporations, we run it for people. And that's why we need Barack Obama. After the financial crisis, President Obama knew that we had to clean up Wall Street. For years, families had been tricked by credit cards, fooled by student loans and cheated on mortgages. I had an idea for a consumer financial protection agency to stop the rip-offs. The big banks sure didn't like it, and they marshaled one of the biggest lobbying forces on earth to destroy the agency before it ever saw the light of day. American families didn't have an army of lobbyists on our side, but what we had was a president—President Obama leading the way. And when the lobbyists were closing in for the kill, Barack Obama squared his shoulders, planted his feet, and stood firm. And that's how we won. By the way, just a few weeks ago, that little agency caught one of the biggest credit card companies cheating its customers and made it give people back every penny it took, plus millions of dollars in fines. That's what happens when you have a president on the side of the middle class. President Obama believes in a level playing field. He believes in a country where nobody gets a free ride or a golden parachute. A country where anyone who has a great idea and rolls up their sleeves has a chance to build a business, and anyone who works hard can build some security and raise a family. President Obama believes in a country where billionaires pay their taxes just like their secretaries do, and—I can't believe I have to say this in 2012—a country where women get equal pay for equal work. He believes in a country where everyone is held accountable. Where no one can steal your purse on Main Street or your pension on Wall Street. President Obama believes in a country where we invest in education, in roads and bridges, in science, and in the future, so we can create new opportunities, so the next kid can make it big, and the kid after that, and the kid after that. That's what president Obama believes. And that's how we build the economy of the future. An economy with more jobs and less debt. We root it in fairness. We grow it with opportunity. And we build it together. I grew up in the Methodist Church and taught Sunday school. One of my favorite passages of scripture is: "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." Matthew 25:40. The passage teaches about God in each of us, that we are bound to each other and called to act. Not to sit, not to wait, but to act—all of us together. Senator Kennedy understood that call. Four years ago, he addressed our convention for the last time. He said, "We have never lost our belief that we are all called to a better country and a newer world." Generation after generation, Americans have answered that call. And now we are called again. We are called to restore opportunity for every American. We are called to give America's working families a fighting chance. We are called to build something solid so the next generation can build something better. So let me ask you—let me ask you, America: are you ready to answer this call? Are you ready to fight for good jobs and a strong middle class? Are you ready to work for a level playing field? Are you ready to prove to another generation of Americans that we can build a better country and a newer world? Joe Biden is ready. Barack Obama is ready. I'm ready. You're ready. America's ready. Thank you! And God bless America! AP Sources: Obama intervened on platformBy JULIE PACE and STEVE PEOPLES | Associated Press – 14 hrs ago CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — President Barack Obama personally intervened to order Democrats to change language in their party platform to add a mention of God and declare that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, campaign officials said Wednesday. Scrambling to end the furor, Democrats abruptly changed the platform early Wednesday evening to reinstate language from the 2008 platform that said "we need a government that stands up for the hopes, values and interests of working people and gives everyone willing to work hard the chance to make the most of their God-given potential." Mitt Romney and other Republicans had seized on the omission to criticize the Democrats. Democrats also restored 2008 language on Jerusalem, declaring the city "is and will remain the capital of Israel. The parties have agreed that Jerusalem is a matter for final status negotiations. It should remain an undivided city accessible to people of all faiths." Campaign officials said Obama's reaction on the omission of God from the platform was to wonder why it was removed in the first place. The officials requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about private discussions. The platform changes did not sit well with some Democratic delegates gathered in Charlotte, N.C., for the party's three-day convention. Many in the audience booed after the convention chairman, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, ruled that the amendments had been approved despite the fact that a large group of delegates had objected. He called for a vote three times before ruling. The revisions came as Obama struggles to win support from white working-class voters, many of whom have strong religious beliefs, and as Republicans try to woo Jewish voters and contributors away from the Democratic Party. Republicans claimed the platform omissions suggested Obama was weak in his defense of Israel and out of touch with mainstream Americans. Democrats had approved a platform on Tuesday that made no mention of God or Jerusalem. Instead, it expressed "unshakable commitment to Israel's security." Republicans quickly pounced. GOP officials argued that not taking a position on Jerusalem's status in the party platform raised questions about Obama's support for the Mideast ally. Romney said omitting God "suggests a party that is increasingly out of touch with the mainstream of the American people." "I think this party is veering further and further away into an extreme wing that American's don't recognize," Romney said. The Democratic Party's decision to restore the mention of Jerusalem reflected what advisers said was the president's personal view, if not the policy of his administration. The administration has long said determining Jerusalem's status was an issue that should be decided by Israelis and Palestinians in peace talks, but has been careful not to state that Jerusalem is Israel's capital. Romney's campaign quickly sought to capitalize on the slight, but important difference. "Mitt Romney has consistently stated his belief that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel," said Andrea Saul, Romney's spokeswoman. "President Obama has repeatedly refused to say the same himself. Now is the time for President Obama to state in unequivocal terms whether or not he believes Jerusalem is Israel's capital." The White House wouldn't say whether the change in the Democratic platform language reflected a change in administration policy. Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said the reinstated party language reflected "the policy of both Republican and Democratic administrations for decades." Following the decision, former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland told reporters, "It was an effort to bring clarification." Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., said the move was a "reasonable adjustment" because many Democrats felt the platform should reflect the party's belief that Jerusalem should be capital of Israel. "I felt pretty frustrated that a lot of us who have a very strong point of view on this weren't given a heads up, weren't given a briefing on this, it was just kind of sailing along," Casey said. But the decision to amend the platform upset some delegates. Noor Ul-Hasan, a Muslim delegate from Salt Lake City, Utah, said she felt it went against the principle of the separation of church and state. "There are people who don't believe in God and you have to respect that as well," Ul-Hasan said. She also questioned whether the convention had enough of a quorum to even amend the platform. "There was no discussion. We didn't even see it coming. We were blindsided by it." Angela Urrea, a delegate from Roy, Utah, said she felt it was sprung on the convention without any discussion. "The majority spoke last night," Urrea said, referring to Tuesday's vote. "We shouldn't be declaring Jerusalem as the capital of Israel." Republicans declared Jerusalem the capital of Israel in the platform the party approved last week at its convention in Tampa, Fla. ___ Peoples reported from Utah. Associated Press writer Ken Thomas in Charlotte, N.C., contributed to this report. Feds probe alleged hacking theft of Romney's tax returnsBy Elinor Mills and Greg Sandoval | CNET.com – 13 hrs ago The U.S. Secret Service is looking into claims that someone stole presidential nominee Mitt Romney's income tax returns and is threatening to release them if he doesn't pay up.
Secret Service spokesman George Ogilvie told CNET today that the agency is investigating, but had no further comment.
The claim was made in a post on the Pastebin site on Sunday that alleged that Romney's federal tax returns were taken from the offices of PriceWaterhouse Coopers in Frankin, Tenn., on August 25 by someone who snuck into the building and made copies of the document. The message author threatened to release the files publicly on September 28 and said copies of the files had been given to Democratic and Republican leaders in that county. Democrats have made Romney's refusal to release his tax returns a key point in their criticism that he is not in touch with working class voters.
Part of the message, which was not signed, reads:
Romney's 1040 tax returns were taken from the PWC office 8/25/2012 by gaining access to the third floor via a gentleman working on the 3rd floor of the building. Once on the 3rd floor, the team moved down the stairs to the 2nd floor and setup shop in an empty office room. During the night, suite 260 was entered, and all available 1040 tax forms for Romney were copied. A package was sent to the PWC on suite 260 with a flash drive containing a copy of the 1040 files, plus copies were sent to the Democratic office in the county and copies were sent to the GOP office in the county at the beginning of the week also containing flash drives with copies of Romney's tax returns before 2010. A scanned signature image for Mitt Romney from the 1040 forms were scanned and included with the packages, taken from earlier 1040 tax forms gathered and stored on the flash drives.
A follow up message posted yesterday said the files were accessed from the PWC network file servers and would be released in encrypted form to major news media outlets. The encrypted key to open the files would be released publicly unless Romney paid the hackers $1 million by transferring that amount -- in the virtual currency called Bitcoins -- to a specific account. However, if someone else wants the information to be released publicly sooner than that, they would need to transfer the same amount to a different Bitcoin account, the message said.
Pricewaterhouse Coopers released a statement saying it had not found evidence of a system breach.
"We are aware of the allegations that have been made regarding improper access to our systems," statement said. "We are working closely with the United States Secret Service, and at this time there is no evidence that our systems have been compromised or that there was any unauthorized access to the data in question."
Romney's campaign headquarters in Fairfax, Va., did not respond to a CNET request for comment.
Small, manila envelope with 4 GB thumb drive
Meanwhile, the offices of the Democratic and Republican parties in Williamson County where the PWC office is located received packages late last week with thumb drives, but it is unknown what was on the storage devices.
A package containing a sheet of paper with the hackers' message and a thumb drive arrived at the offices of the Williamson County Democratic Party in Franklin, Tennessee, last Thursday afternoon or early evening, Peter Burr, chairman of the county Democratic Party, told CNET today.
"The letter was pretty much the same as the original Pastebin post of Sunday but it also included a rubber stamp of what looked like Romney's signature at the bottom, according to Burr.
"We had an executive committee meeting at headquarters on Thursday night. When we arrived for the meeting we found this envelope on the floor, dropped through the mail slot," he said. "It was a small, manila envelope with bubble wrap lining." Handwritten in thick green marker was "Dem Party Ldrs" or something to that effect, he added.
"I opened it and found inside a piece of paper folded into quarters and a black Cruzer 4 gig thumb drive," Burr said. He said he handed over the package, letter and thumb drive to the Secret Service without making any copies or looking to see what was on the thumb drive.
"Unfortunately, I have nothing in the way of evidence that I can give you other than a representation of what the letter said," he added. "We almost threw the letter away. We passed it around and it drew some laughs."
Even if he suspected it was legit, Burr said he wouldn't have shared the contents of the thumb drive with the public.
"We considered this probably a scam and didn't really think much of it until these inquiries began happening today," he said. "Obviously, we would have no interest in obtaining information like this from a source like this as the Democratic Party. We're very interested in knowing what Mitt Romney's tax returns look like, but we would only be interested if it came from official sources."
Jean Barwick, executive director of the Williamson County Republican party, similarly described the package and contents that workers in her office found on the ground outside the front door last Friday morning.
"It didn't look credible," she said, explaining why she didn't report it to authorities until today. "It was handwritten with magic marker." The 10 Investments That Made Paul Ryan a MillionaireBy Walter Hickey | Business Insider – 7 hours ago  Republican vice presidential candidate, Rep. Paul Ryan (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) Thanks to the personal finance disclosure that members of congress are required to submit — and the folks at the Center for Responsive Politics who maintain a database of the documents — we were able to look into the investment decisions of Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan, who as of last week, is now the official Republican vice presidential nominee. According to the documents, Ryan has benefited from a number of trusts and inheritances that make up most of his wealth, but his investments over the years have cemented his net worth somewhere between $927,000 and $3.2 million.  We think that this is one of the rental properties Ryan bought. (Google Streetview)1. A brief stint as a landlord made Ryan some early cash.As a freshman representative, Ryan bought three rental properties in his hometown of Janesville, Wisc., in Feb. 1998 He paid between $100,000 and $250,000 for the properties, financing them with a mortgage from Anchorbank SSB. He collected between $15,000 and $50,000 per year in rent from tenants, and in 2000 bought a fourth rental property. By that point the properties were worth between $250,000 and $500,000. He flipped the real estate in 2001. 2. Ryan Limited Partnership, an investment group, has made Ryan a lot of money.Ryan owned a 21.37% stake in RLP well before he joined Congress, and the asset has grown from a worth of $45,358 in 1998 to somewhere between $100,000 and $250,000 in 2011. That partnership has diversified its portfolio over the years, and has made a brisk trade in stocks and mutual funds. Dividends alone were worth $5,000 to $15,000 last year, although they were higher prior to the recession. Current RLP assets include Altria Group, Amazon.com, Apple, Google, McDonald's, Philip Morris, Starbucks and Visa.  Wikimedia Commons3. One of his best moves was striking gold on Home Depot stocks.Ryan owns a one-fifth stake in Ryan-Hutter Investment Partnership, and that group made huge gains on Home Depot. We know that RHIP owned between $100,000 and $250,000 worth of the stock in 1998. Over the course of 2002 — when the stock sold between $50 and $24 per share — RHIP unloaded 4,000 shares of the stock, grossing between $96,000 and $200,000. Then, on December 9, 2002, RHIP sold 5,000 shares of the stock, gaining around $120,000. They also sold between $15,000 and $50,000 worth of shares in 2005. Altogether, Ryan — with his 20% stake — has grossed between $46,200 and $74,000 from sales of Home Depot stock alone. 4. Ryan made a ton of money from Ryan-Hutter's other investments too.Ryan-Hutter is an investment partnership that Ryan has held a stake in for two decades, and its from this, plus Ryan Limited Partnership, that Ryan has earned most of his personal wealth. In 1998, the partnership was worth at least $168,000 but only paid out between $1,600 and $7,000 to Ryan annually. But now, the vast portfolio has gained a lot of value. It's worth between $250,000 and $500,000 and pays out $5,000 to $15,000 annually to Ryan. Even more, at the height of the economy, just before the economic crisis, Ryan was pulling between $15,000 and $50,000 annually from it.  Jamie Q Photography5. Ryan's real money comes from steep investments in his wife's family's businesses.Ryan's wife is an heiress to a family that is very powerful in the Oklahoma area. After getting married, Ryan's net worth soared compared to his bachelor days. One investment he and his wife share is a 10% stake in the Blondie & Brownie gravel company. He and his wife made between $5,000 and $15,000 from that investment in 2009, and the stake was most recently estimated to be worth between $100,000 and $250,000. 6. One of his other investments is in Red River Pine LLC, a company with timber interests.Ryan has loaded up on natural resource investments, like Red River Pine LLC. Despite the fact that the national economy has been down in the past few years, the worth of these interests has only gone up. In 2001, the stake in Red River Pine was worth only $15,000 to $50,000. Now, according to his 2011 filings, it could be worth up to $100,000.  7. Paul Ryan also has a stake in the oil industryRyan's wife's family has a substantial interest in the Little Land Company, formerly known as the LOCL Land Oil Company. Ryan's stake is worth 0.08%. But don't let that tiny number fool you — the Ryan family stake in the firm is worth up to $100,000. 8. The Ava O Ltd mineral and mining company is another big investment for Ryan.Ryan retains a 7.69% share in the Ava O Ltd company, a company with mining rights and other enterprises. In 2001, Ryan's share was worth only around $15,000 to $50,000. By now, it's worth somewhere between $100,000 and $250,000. And in 2011 Ryan accumulated between $15,000 and $50,000 in royalties from mineral rights in Oklahoma alone.  9. He's also made a large amount of money from an investment in the Fidelity Contrafund.In 2001, Ryan saw the tech bubble collapsing firsthand with a portfolio that was luckily shielded largely from that crash. As the market was going down in 2001, Ryan and his wife made an investment worth more than $15,000 in the Fidelity Contrafund, which tries to identify underperforming blue-chips and other stocks. It was a really good call. Now, Ryan's stake in the Contrafund is worth $50,000 to $100,000. The fund has consistently outperformed the market over the past ten years. According to his disclosures, Ryan also has money in the PIMCO RealReturn Fund, a Schwab Government Money Mart account and a number of funds with T. Rowe Price. 10. Ryan is also heavily invested in a bunch of tech companies.He's personally got between $2,000 and $30,000 tied up in Apple, and is involved in several mutual funds that are also heavily invested in the company. According to his disclosures, Ryan's also got up to $15,000 worth of Google stock, and similar amounts in Oracle and IBM. Ryan also sold a bunch of HP stock — worth up to $15,000 — around the time it peaked in 2010, and sold off a bunch of Intel stocks that same year. Romney's Bain Capital invested in companies that moved jobs overseas Mitt Romney's financial company, Bain Capital, invested in a series of firms that specialized in relocating jobs done by American workers to new facilities in low-wage countries like China and India. During the nearly 15 years that Romney was actively involved in running Bain, a private equity firm that he founded, it owned companies that were pioneers in the practice of shipping work from the United States to overseas call centers and factories making computer components, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Mitt Romney must face his Bain past Mitt Romney's White House credentials rest on a simple foundation – he has the business nous to turn the US economy around. It is awkward therefore that he keeps backing away from his chief qualification. As the founder of Bain Capital, Mr Romney helped to pioneer the private equity business with which we are now familiar. It has its plus and minus points. By trying to wish away the latter Mr Romney is playing into the hands of the Obama campaign. Time is short. But it is not too late for the Republican candidate to reclaim what he has implicitly disowned. Indeed, his viability depends on it. Mr Romney's biggest error is to pretend Bain had nothing to do with outsourcing– a term conflated with offshoring – while he was in charge. Some of the most notable acts of offshoring by Bain-controlled companies took place after 1999 when Mr Romney moved to Utah to resuscitate the 2002 Winter Olympics. By insisting on 1999 as the cut-off point for his tenure at Bain, Mr Romney has made two missteps. First, as the Boston Globe showed last week, he continued as chairman, chief executive and sole owner of Bain Capital until 2002. His role may have been titular. But the fact his name is included on 62 separate Bain filings to the SEC after 1999 is uncomfortable. In politics if you are explaining, you are losing. More seriously, by drawing the line at 1999, Mr Romney has made it clear he disowns any subsequent Bain investment involving offshoring. To be sure, he also thereby escapes association with the 2001 bankruptcy of a steel company in which he had originally invested – an episode highlighted by the Obama campaign. But Mr Romney is embarrassed by any hint of offshoring. A candidate can run but he cannot hide. If Mr Romney had painted a target on his back that said "shipping jobs overseas" he could not have helped his opponent more. Unless Mr Romney embraces the logic of the global economy he will be condemned to the losing side of a mercantilist argument. If offshoring is a bad thing, so is onshoring – and indeed, so by extension is globalisation. By accepting this logic, Mr Romney betrays his integrity and the basis of his agenda, which assumes globalisation is a good thing that America can better exploit. It is an argument worth owning. Alas his campaign has embraced the reverse by accusing Mr Obama of being "outsourcer-in-chief". Finally, Mr Romney continues to resist calls to release his tax returns. To date, he has published only one year (2010) and estimates for another (2011). His secretiveness contrasts with most candidates, including his father, George Romney, who released more than a decade's worth. Perhaps the years after 2000 would show how much Romney junior profited from companies with global operations. All the more reason then to tout, rather than run away from, his experience of a cross-border world. Either Mr Romney has the business savvy and character to be president or he does not. At the moment the doubts linger. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2012. You may share using our article tools.
Please don't cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web. The Gateway To Africa - Friday, 04 March 2011 07:20
 Leah Scott of Appleby discusses how to structure investments into Africa so they are tax-efficient and safe When a foreign multinational decides to expand its foreign investments into Africa, it often considers using an offshore holding company in a jurisdiction with a good tax treaty network with African countries, in order to help reduce withholding taxes on dividends, interest and royalties, and in some instances, gains subject to tax, in the counterparty territories. Mauritius, with its modern democracy and its established track record of political stability, is a proven route for international investors wanting to do business in Africa. Mauritius has business friendly legislation, a diversified economy with good growth rates, successful fiscal and monetary policies and no exchange regulations. There are specific advantages for setting up investment vehicles in Mauritius for foreign direct investment in Africa, some of which are discussed below. Treaties and other Agreements Mauritius currently has double taxation agreements (DTAs) with Botswana, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Swaziland, Uganda and Zimbabwe. It has also has signed DTAs with Malawi, Nigeria, Tunisia and Zambia, with a further eight treaties awaiting ratification. Mauritius also boasts access to a number of bilateral agreements with several African countries. In addition to the DTAs and bilateral agreements, Mauritius has signed Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements (IPPA) with 15 African member states. It is also of note that Mauritius is the only international financial services center that is a member of all the major African regional organizations such as the African Union, the South African Development Community (SADC), The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, (COMESA) and the Indian Ocean Rim-Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC). Its membership in these regional organizations, and being a signatory to all the major African conventions, can make Mauritius the best offshore financial service centre for establishing any Africa fund or holding company. Tax Minimizaton Capital gains tax, where imposed in Africa, is generally levied at a rate ranging from between 30 to 35%. However, with the DTAs in force, Mauritius restricts taxing rights of capital gains to the country of residence of the seller of the assets. Since there is no capital gains tax in Mauritius, the potential tax savings for the Mauritius incorporated entity are significant. The majority of African states impose some withholding tax on dividends paid out to non-residents. These rates vary from between 10% to 20%. The DTAs in force in Mauritius limit withholding tax on dividends. The treaty rates are generally 0%, 5% or 10%, thereby creating a potential tax savings of between 5% to 20% depending on the investee country. In respect to capital gains tax, the DTAs guarantee the maximum effective withholding tax rate should changes occur in the fiscal policy in the countries on investment. Mauritius GBCs Mauritius now has in place a new simplified regulatory regime that distinguishes between Mauritian companies conducting business in Mauritius and those conducting business outside Mauritius. These companies are known as Global Business Company 1 (GBC1), and Global Business Company 2 (GBC2). The focus of this article will be on the GBC1 company. The substantial advantage offered by the GBC 1 Company is that it may be structured to be tax resident in Mauritius, and may thereby access the multiple DTAs that Mauritius has. This makes it extremely attractive to invest in one of these countries through a Mauritius GBC1 Company as taxation treaties provide that profits can then be withdrawn from that country either without the imposition of withholding tax or subject to a substantially reduced rate of withholding tax. A GBC1 company is liable to corporate tax at a rate of 15%; however, it may claim a foreign tax credit in respect of the actual foreign tax paid or 80% presumed foreign tax credit, whichever is higher. As such, a GBC1 company has a maximum effective corporate tax rate of 3%. Capital gains are exempted from tax in Mauritius. A GBC1 company is the best vehicle to use when overseas income is predominantly in the form of interest and capital gains, royalties and dividends,and when the benefits that arise from the double taxation agreements are required.GBC1 companies can only conduct business with Mauritian residents with the consent of the Financial Services Commission. All business activities must be conducted in a currency other than the Mauritian rupee. These companies are subject to compliance and reporting regimes similar to those of Hong Kong or UK companies.Licenses are granted on a case by case basis by the regulatory authorities in Mauritius, in respect of companies seeking to benefit from GBC1 status.This application process requires,among other things, the submission of a detailed business plan and disclosure of ultimate beneficial ownership. GBC1 companies have commonly been used by foreign investors to structure investments and projects with those countries that have DTAs with Mauritius. It is clearly a viable structuring option that should be considered when contemplating investing in the more high risk jurisdictions.
MAP: Here Are All Of The Big Chinese Investments In Africa Since 2010 Chinese investments in Africa have raised many eyebrows, as competitors like the U.S. argue that it's motivated by Beijing's desire to exploit the continent's resources. Earlier this year China promised $20 billion in investments to various African countries, and U.S. secretary of state Hilary Clinton said in a speech that African countries should consider partnerships with more responsible countries as against countries that exploit resources, in an unmistakable reference to China. This prompted Chinese state news-agency Xinhua (via the Guardian) to write, "Whether Clinton was ignorant of the facts on the ground or chose to disregard them, her implication that China has been extracting Africa's wealth for itself is utterly wide of the truth." Given the recent debate we drew on this map from Stratfor to highlight Chinese investments offers in Africa since 2010. From Stratfor: "While China has proposed $750 million for agriculture and general development aid and about $50 million to support small- and medium-sized business development in addition to the aforementioned projects, it has been criticized for the extractive nature of its relationship with many African countries, as well as the poor quality of some of its construction work. However, since many African countries lack the indigenous engineering capability to construct these large-scale projects or the capital to undertake them, African governments with limited resources welcome Chinese investments enthusiastically. These foreign investment projects are also a boon for Beijing, since China needs African resources to sustain its domestic economy, and the projects in Africa provide a destination for excess Chinese labor." China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) Industry:Oil and Gas Stock Code: -- -- China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), founded in 1982, is the third-largest oil company in China after China National Petroleum Corporation and Sinopec. It is also the largest offshore oil and gas producer, focusing on the exploitation, exploration and development of offshore crude oil and natural gas. CNOOC mainly engages in oil and natural gas exploration, development, production, and sales. It has four major production areas in China: Bohai Bay, Western South China Sea, Eastern South China Sea and East China Sea. It is authorized to cooperate with foreign partners for oil and gas exploitation in China's offshore areas. CNOOC also has certain upstream assets in other regions in the world, such as Africa and Australia. CNOOC's crude oil produced overseas is sold on the international market through its wholly owned subsidiary, China Offshore Oil (Singapore) International Pte. Ltd. Headquartered in Beijing, CNOOC has a total staff of 51,000 and a registered capital of 94.9 billion yuan. CNOOC is a state-owned oil company with 70 percent of its shares owned by the government. Headquarter Address: No.25, Chaoyangmen Beidajie, Dongcheng District, Beijing, China Main Telephone: (86-10)84521010 Website: http://en.cnooc.com.cn The Chinese in Africa Trying to pull together Africans are asking whether China is making their lunch or eating it Apr 20th 2011 | NAIROBI | from the print edition ZHU LIANGXIU gulps down Kenyan lager in a bar in Nairobi and recites a Chinese aphorism: "One cannot step into the same river twice." Mr Zhu, a shoemaker from Foshan, near Hong Kong, is on his second trip to Africa. Though he says he has come to love the place, you can hear disappointment in his voice. On his first trip three years ago Mr Zhu filled a whole notebook with orders and was surprised that Africans not only wanted to trade with him but also enjoyed his company. "I have been to many continents and nowhere was the welcome as warm," he says. Strangers congratulated him on his homeland's high-octane engagement with developing countries. China is Africa's biggest trading partner and buys more than one-third of its oil from the continent. Its money has paid for countless new schools and hospitals. Locals proudly told Mr Zhu that China had done more to end poverty than any other country. He still finds business is good, perhaps even better than last time. But African attitudes have changed. His partners say he is ripping them off. Chinese goods are held up as examples of shoddy work. Politics has crept into encounters. The word "colonial" is bandied about. Children jeer and their parents whisper about street dogs disappearing into cooking pots. Once feted as saviours in much of Africa, Chinese have come to be viewed with mixed feelings—especially in smaller countries where China's weight is felt all the more. To blame, in part, are poor business practices imported alongside goods and services. Chinese construction work can be slapdash and buildings erected by mainland firms have on occasion fallen apart. A hospital in Luanda, the capital of Angola, was opened with great fanfare but cracks appeared in the walls within a few months and it soon closed. The Chinese-built road from Lusaka, Zambia's capital, to Chirundu, 130km (81 miles) to the south-east, was quickly swept away by rains. Chinese expatriates in Africa come from a rough-and-tumble, anything-goes business culture that cares little about rules and regulations. Local sensitivities are routinely ignored at home, and so abroad. Sinopec, an oil firm, has explored in a Gabonese national park. Another state oil company has created lakes of spilled crude in Sudan. Zimbabwe's environment minister said Chinese multinationals were "operating like makorokoza miners", a scornful term for illegal gold-panners. Employees at times fare little better than the environment. At Chinese-run mines in Zambia's copper belt they must work for two years before they get safety helmets. Ventilation below ground is poor and deadly accidents occur almost daily. To avoid censure, Chinese managers bribe union bosses and take them on "study tours" to massage parlours in China. Obstructionist shop stewards are sacked and workers who assemble in groups are violently dispersed. When cases end up in court, witnesses are intimidated. Tensions came to a head last year when miners in Sinazongwe, a town in southern Zambia, protested against poor conditions. Two Chinese managers fired shotguns at a crowd, injuring at least a dozen. Some still have pellets under healed skin. Patson Mangunje, a local councillor, says, "People are angry like rabid dogs." There is anger and disappointment on the Chinese side too. In the South African town of Newcastle, Chinese-run textile factories pay salaries of about $200 per month, much more than they would pay in China but less than the local minimum wage. Unions have tried to shut the factories down. The Chinese owners ignore the unions or pretend to speak no English. They point out that many South African firms also undercut the minimum wage, which is too high to make production pay. Without the Chinese, unemployment in Newcastle would be even higher than the current 60%. Workers say a poorly paid job is better than none. Some of them recently stopped police closing their factory after a union won an injunction. "Look at us," says Wang Jinfu, a young factory-owner. "We are not slave drivers." He and his wife came four years ago from Fujian province in southern China with just $3,000. They sleep on a dirty mattress on the factory floor. While their 160 employees work 40 hours a week, the couple pack boxes, check inventory and dispatch orders from first light until midnight every day of the year. "Why do people hate us for that?" says Mr Wang. Indeed, China has boosted employment in Africa and made basic goods like shoes and radios more affordable. Trade surpassed $120 billion last year (see chart 1). In the past two years China has given more loans to poor countries, mainly in Africa, than the World Bank. The Heritage Foundation, an American think-tank, estimates that in 2005-10 about 14% of China's investment abroad found its way to sub-Saharan Africa (see chart 2). Most goes in the first place to Hong Kong. The Heritage Foundation has tried to trace its final destination. One answer to Mr Wang's question is that competition, especially from foreigners, is rarely popular. Hundreds of textile factories across Nigeria collapsed in recent years because they could not compete with cheap Chinese garments. Many thousands of jobs were lost. Quite a bit of criticism of China is disguised protectionism. Established businesses try to maintain privileged positions—at the expense of consumers. The recent arrival of Chinese traders in the grimy alleys of Soweto market in Lusaka halved the cost of chicken. Cabbage prices dropped by 65%. Local traders soon marched their wire-mesh cages filled with livestock to the local competition commission to complain. "How dare the Chinese disturb our market," says Justin Muchindu, a seller. In Dar es Salaam, the commercial capital of Tanzania, Chinese are banned from selling in markets. The government earlier this year said Chinese were welcome as investors but not as "vendors or shoe-shiners". Another answer, according to China's critics, is that the Chinese are bringing bad habits as well as trade, investment, jobs and skills. The mainland economy is riddled with corruption, even by African standards. International rankings of bribe-payers list Chinese managers near the top. When these managers go abroad they carry on bribing and undermine good governance in host countries. The World Bank has banned some mainland companies from bidding for tenders in Africa. China's defenders reply that its detrimental impact on governance is limited. African leaders find it surprisingly hard to embezzle development funds. Usually money is put into escrow accounts in Beijing; then a list of infrastructure projects is drawn up, Chinese companies are given contracts to build them and funds are transferred to company accounts. Africa, for better and worse, gets roads and ports but no cash. At least that is the theory. A third answer is that China is seen as hoarding African resources. China clearly would like to lock up sources of fuel, but for the moment its main concern is increasing global supply. Its state-owned companies often sell oil and ore on spot markets. Furthermore, its interest in Africa is not limited to resources. It is building railways and bridges far from mines and oilfields, because it pays. China is not a conventional aid donor, but nor is it a colonialist interested only in looting the land. The ambiguities in China's relationship with Africa have created fertile ground for politicians. Opposition parties, especially in southern Africa, frequently campaign on anti-China platforms. Every country south of Rwanda has had acrimonious debates about Chinese "exploitation". Even in normally calm places like Namibia, antipathy is stirring. Workers on Chinese building sites in Windhoek, the capital, are said to get a "raw deal". In Zambia the opposition leader, Michael Sata, has made Sino-scepticism his trademark.  Keeping an eye on the investmentMuch of this is wide of the mark. Critics claim that China has acquired ownership of natural resources, although service contracts and other concessions are the norm. China is also often accused of bringing prison labour to Africa—locals assume the highly disciplined Chinese workers in identical boiler suits they see toiling day and night must be doing so under duress. Even so, the backlash is perhaps unsurprising. Africans say they feel under siege. Tens of thousands of entrepreneurs from one of the most successful modern economies have fanned out across the continent. Sanou Mbaye, a former senior official at the African Development Bank, says more Chinese have come to Africa in the past ten years than Europeans in the past 400. First came Chinese from state-owned companies, but more and more arrive solo or stay behind after finishing contract work. Many dream of a new life. Miners and builders see business opportunities in Africa, and greater freedom (to be their own bosses and speak their minds, but also to pollute). A Chinese government survey of 1,600 companies shows the growing use of Africa as an industrial base. Manufacturing's share of total Chinese investment (22%) is catching up fast with mining (29%). In part this spread is happening because Africans have asked for it. Some countries made industrial investments a precondition for resource deals. In Ethiopia two out of three resident Chinese firms are manufacturers. Yet the Chinese did not need much pushing. They have always wanted to do more than dig up fuel when investing abroad. They hope to build skyscrapers in Tokyo, run banks in London and make films in Hollywood. In Africa they can learn the ropes in a region where competition is weak. The continent—soon to be ringed with Chinese free-trade ports—is a stepping stone to a commercial presence around the globe. To this end, the government in Beijing is encouraging all sorts of activity in Africa. Construction is a favourite, accounting for three-quarters of recent private Chinese investment in Africa. The commerce ministry says Chinese companies are signing infrastructure deals worth more than $50 billion a year. For investment in African farming, China has earmarked $5 billion. A lot of Africans view this anxiously. Perhaps the most significant Chinese push has been in finance. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China has bought 20% of Standard Bank, a South African lender and the continent's biggest bank by assets, and now offers renminbi accounts to expatriate traders. Other mainland banks have opened offices too, and from their sleek towers they make collateral-free loans to Chinese companies. In theory Africans are eligible to borrow on the same terms, but this rarely happens. The government in Beijing, which controls the banks, is alert to such criticism. China's image in Africa is sullied by more than just cowboy entrepreneurs, admits an official. Many of the government's own practices could be improved. Suspect above all is the type of transfer that China offers to African countries. Most loans and payments are "tied"—ie, the recipient must spend the money with Chinese companies. (Japan, Spain and others followed a similar model until fairly recently.) But tied aid leads to shoddy work. With no competition, favoured firms get away with delivering bad roads and overpriced hospitals. Creditors and donors often set the wrong priorities. Worse, the Chinese government is anything but transparent about its money. Aid figures are treated as state secrets. China Exim Bank and China Development Bank, the main lenders, publish no figures about their vast loans to poor countries. The Democratic Republic of Congo was persuaded at the last minute by international advisers to scale back a Chinese lending facility from $9 billion to $6 billion. Politics can be even murkier than finance. For years China has been chummy with African despots who seem to be reliable partners. Publicly, China presents its support for odious incumbents as "non-interference" and tries to make a virtue of it. Africans are less and less convinced. Relations get especially tricky for the Chinese when strongmen fail to maintain stability. In Zimbabwe in 2008 Robert Mugabe's sabotage of elections set off civil upheaval. Chinese investors fled, yet the ascendant opposition still linked them to the dictator. In Sudan Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court on genocide charges, has long been a Chinese stalwart. But following a referendum in January, the oil-rich south of his country has seceded. Rulers in Beijing are belatedly trying to befriend his enemies. Africans are not helpless in their business relations with the Chinese. Some, admittedly, have not been strong in their dealings: a usually bossy Rwanda lets Chinese investors run riot. But African governments by and large get reasonable deals; and some, like Angola, are masterful negotiators. Its president publicly told his Chinese counterpart, "You are not our only friend." Brazilians and Portuguese are numerous in Luanda, the capital, and Angolans frequently play them off against the Chinese. Angola once banished a Chinese state oil company after a disagreement over a refinery. The company came crawling back a year later, offering more money.  China tries to lead the way in AfricaIncreasingly, however, it is the Chinese who play Africans off against each other. Growing policy co-ordination between African embassies in Beijing is a useful first step in improving African bargaining power. The World Bank and the IMF are valuable advisers. But no matter how hard African governments try, they cannot cope with the sheer volume of new enterprises. Rules exist to protect employees and the environment, but institutions are too weak to enforce them. Labour inspectors in Lusaka, who monitor sweatshops, have use of only one car and recently it was broken for four months. In the meantime Chinese engineers built an entire cluster of garment factories from scratch. For aeons the prospect of China and Africa coming closer together had seemed otherworldly. W.H. Auden wrote: I'll love you, dear, I'll love you
Till China and Africa meet,
And the river jumps over the mountain
And the salmon sing in the street. Sweet-and-sour salmon now regularly croon in sub-Saharan streets. Africans are embracing new opportunities made in China yet remain wary of all the pitfalls. Western countries too will want to observe the progress of Chinese privateers who cross the Indian Ocean: men like Danny Lau, a 31-year-old from Shanghai, who a year ago followed a group of friends to Zambia, where he is now a successful coal trader and dabbles in property. In a few years, he says, they will move on to a richer continent. What they learn in Accra and Brazzaville will travel with them to Vancouver and Zagreb. Climate change and food systems resilence in Sub-Saharan Africa
This volume explores the linkages between resiliency to climate disasters and farm biodiversity - practices that enhance biodiversity allow farms to mimic natural ecological processes, enabling them to better respond to change and reduce risk. It demonstrates the possibility of harmonizing agricultural production with the well-being of the biosphere – and that this can be achieved in Africa, our biosphere's least developed continent, and the continent which is likely to suffer most from climate change.
The work presented in this volume stems from a Conference on Ecological Agriculture held in Ethiopia in 2008. The different chapters capitalize on assessments and experiences such as: lessons learned from Asia's Green Revolution on agricultural communities; trends in African agricultural knowledge, science and technology; trade policy impacts on food production; conditions for success of water interventions for the African rural poor; and climate change implications for agriculture and food systems. Case studies share the practical experiences, lessons and successes from across Africa, demonstrating that it is possible to produce food sufficiently and at the same time, care for the biosphere. 01/20/2011 High-Speed Geology Violent Seismic Activity Tearing Africa in Two By Axel Bojanowski Erta Ale, a volcano in the deserts of Ethiopia's Afar Triangle in northeastern Africa, erupts. The volcano's crater had always had a bubbling soup of silver-black lava. But, in November 2010, it started erupting again after decades of lying dormant. University of Bristol / Lorraine Field The fissures began appearing years ago. But in recent months, seismic activity has accelerated in northeastern Africa as the continent breaks apart in slow motion. Researchers say that lava in the region is consistent with magma normally seen on the sea floor -- and that water will ultimately cover the desert. Cynthia Ebinger, a geologist from the University of Rochester in New York, could hardly believe what the caller from the deserts of Ethiopia was saying. It was an employee at a mineralogy company -- and he reported that the famous Erta Ale volcano in northeastern Ethiopia was erupting. Ebinger, who has studied the volcano for years, was taken aback. The volcano's crater had always been filled with a bubbling soup of silver-black lava, but it had been decades since its last eruption.
The call came last November. And Ebinger immediately flew to Ethiopia with some fellow researchers. "The volcano was bubbling over; flaming-red lava was shooting up into the sky," Ebinger told SPIEGEL ONLINE. The earth is in upheaval in northeastern Africa, and the region is changing quickly. The desert floor is quaking and splitting open, volcanoes are boiling over, and seawaters are encroaching upon the land. Africa, researchers are certain, is splitting apart at a rate rarely seen in geology. The first fracture appeared millions of years ago, resulting in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. The second fracture, stretching south from Ethiopia to Mozambique, is known as the Great Rift Valley, and it is lined with several volcanoes. Millions of years from now, it too will be filled with seawater. Could Go Quickly But in the Danakil Depression, in the northern part of the valley, the ocean could arrive much sooner. There, low, 25 meter (82 foot) hills are the only thing holding back the waters of the Red Sea. The land behind them has already dropped dozens of meters from previous levels and white salt deposits on the desert floor testify to past encroachments of the sea. But lava soon choked off its access. For now, no one can really say when the sea will finally flood the desert. But when it does, it could go quickly. "The hills could sink in a matter of days," Tim Wright, a fellow at the University of Leeds' School of Earth and Environment, said at a recent conference hosted by the American Geophysical Union (AGU) in San Francisco. In the last five years, the geologic transformation of northeastern Africa has "accelerated dramatically," says Wright. Indeed, the process is going much faster than many had anticipated. In recent years, geologists had measured just a few millimeters of movement each year. "But now the earth is opening up by the meter," says Lorraine Field, a scholar at the University of Bristol who also attended the conference. Earth tremors cause deep fissures to form in the desert floor and the ground in East Africa is shattering like broken glass. Researchers in the Gulf of Tadjoura, which juts into Djibouti from the Gulf of Aden, have recently registered a barrage of seismic shocks. "The quakes are happening on the mid-ocean ridge," Ebinger reports. Shifting Tectonic Plates Lava gushes out of fissures in these underwater mountain ranges to constantly create new earth crust -- when it hardens, it becomes part of the sea floor. As the magma surges upward, it spreads the ocean floor on both sides, shifting tectonic plates and causing tremors. In recent months, the quaking in the Gulf of Tadjoura has been getting closer and closer to the coastline. As Ebinger explains, the splitting of the ocean floor will gradually extend to dry land. This is already the case along some fault lines in the Ethiopian desert, creating a geological spectacle that can otherwise only be witnessed deep below the surface of the ocean. Even the pattern of earthquakes supports the conclusion that the desert landscape is transforming into a deep seafloor, according to a recent article in the Journal of Geophysical Research published by Zhaohui Yang and Wang-Ping Chen, two geologists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The researchers have recorded several strong earthquakes at a shallow depth in northeastern Africa similar to ones that are otherwise only seen on mid-ocean ridges far out at sea. In recent months, researchers have also recorded an up-tick in volcanic activity. Indeed, geologists have discovered volcanic eruptions near the earth's surface at 22 places in the Afar Triangle in northeastern Africa. Magma has caused fissures up to eight meters (26 feet) wide to open up in the ground, reports Derek Keir from the University of Leeds. While most of the magma remains beneath the surface, in places like Erta Ale it has made its way above ground. An Ocean Without Water Scientists have also noted that the kind of magma bubbling up in the region is the type otherwise only seen spewing forth from mid-ocean ridges deep below the water's surface. One of its signature characteristics is a low proportion of silicic acid. The magma coming out of Erta Ale has the same chemical composition as the kind that emerges from deep-sea volcanoes. The entire region increasingly resembles an ocean floor -- one without water. The new burst in activity began in 2005 , when a 60-kilometer-long fissure suddenly formed in the Afar Depression. Since then, roughly 3.5 cubic kilometers of magma have gushed forth, according to Tim Wright -- enough to cover the entire area of London to an average person's height. From a geological perspective, the speed with which the magma is pushing forth is astonishing. It has been channeling its way through the rock below the earth's surface at speeds of up to 30 meters per minute, reports Eric Jacques from the Institute of Earth Physics of Paris. Satellite measurements attest to the consequences: In one 200-kilometer stretch welling up with magma, the ground looks like asphalt on a hot summer day. Magma is also pooling up under the Dabbahu Volcano in northern Ethiopia, Lorraine Field reported in San Francisco. Continuing to Expand
The satellite data has also shown that a much larger area has been scarred by fissures than previously assumed, says Keir. Subterranean currents of magma are also causing ground temperatures to spike in eastern Egypt, a team of geologists from Egypt's National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics recently reported in Seismological Research Letters. At the AGU conference, Columbia University's James Gaherty reported that magma eruptions have ripped a 17-kilometer gash into the desert floor in the northern part of Malawi and that the lateral pressure they have exerted has even lifted the surrounding earth up to 50 centimeters (20 inches) in places. The most violent upsurge of magma in recent years, though, happened in an unexpected place. In May 2009, a subterranean volcano erupted in Saudi Arabia. A strong earthquake with a magnitude of 5.7 accompanied by tens of thousands of milder tremors forced 30,000 to seek shelter. Magma spewed out of the ground in an area about the size of Berlin and Hamburg combined, Sigurjon Jonsson from the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology reported at the AGU meeting. The fact that the eruption took place almost 200 kilometers (124 miles) away from the fault line in North Africa "surprised all of us," says Cynthia Ebinger. And the world's largest geological construction site continues to expand. Lorraine Field confirms that more and more magna is pushing its way to the earth's surface, adding that: "The magma chamber is reloading." Oxford University's David Ferguson predicts a considerable increase in volcanic eruptions and earthquakes in the region over the next decade. They will, he says, "become of increasingly large magnitude." 03/15/2006 |
![](http://l2.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/m2BgVA.fetplIgs1aSffiw--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NQ--/http://media.zenfs.com/en/blogs/theticket/ObamaJobs.jpg "Three women attending the DNC wear Obama T-shirts stating, "He saved our jobs." (Mladen Antonov/AFP)")
Three women attending the DNC wear Obama T-shirts stating, "He saved our jobs." (Mladen Antonov/AFP)
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