Signals Obama Said to Reprise Deficit, Tax Proposals for 2013 Budget

Signals Obama Said to Reprise Deficit, Tax Proposals for 2013 Budget President Barack Obama will reprise previously rejected deficit-reduction plans and tax increases on the wealthy while proposing new incentives for companies to return jobs to the U.S., as part of his fiscal 2013 budget, administration officials said. The election-year spending plan, due to be presented to Congress Feb. 6, is intended to demonstrate the administration's intent to chip away at the nation's long-term deficits. The nation is at a turning point, Obama told business leaders yesterday at a White House event, where he promised to seek tax breaks for companies that make new investments in the U.S. or bring jobs back from overseas. He didn't give details. 'After shedding jobs for more than a decade, American manufacturers have now added jobs for two years in a row,' Obama said. 'But when a lot of folks are still looking for work, now is the time for us to step on the gas.' Economic growth and job creation are expected to be the main issues in the presidential campaign this year. Mitt Romney, a former Massachusetts governor and the front-runner for the Republican nomination, is making criticism of Obama's stewardship of the economy a prime focus of his stump speeches. The unemployment rate has declined for four straight months to 8.5 percent in December, and the Labor Department has reported six consecutive months of job gains of 100,000 or more. Still, the rate has been above 8 percent for almost two years, and little headway has been made in recovering the 8.75 million jobs lost as a result of the recession that ended in June 2009. Election Issue Only one U.S. president, Ronald Reagan, has been re-elected since World War II with a jobless rate above 6 percent. Reagan won a second term with the rate on Election Day 1984 at 7.2 percent, having dropped almost three percentage points in the previous 18 months. Obama also is seeking to make headway on the deficit, which hit $1.3 trillion in fiscal 2011, the third highest as a percentage of gross domestic product since 1945. The president will offer a plan for deficit reduction along the lines of the $4 trillion proposal that he outlined last September. Two administration officials confirmed the plan on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss it before it's announced. The previous plan called for $1.5 trillion in tax increases over the next decade, including the expiration of Bush-era tax cuts for families earning $250,000 or more a year. It also would make changes in mandatory spending programs, cutting Medicare and Medicaid and farm subsidies, selling government assets and reducing federal worker benefits. Republican Reaction A spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner said Congress would reject the deficit plan, just as it did last September. 'The president isn't serious if all he's offering are the same job-killing tax hikes that even Democrats in the Senate have already rejected,' Brendan Buck, the spokesman for the Republican leader, said in an e-mailed statement. 'Our debt is threatening the economy as well important programs many seniors rely on. We cannot afford another punt by the president.' Obama's last budget said the deficit in the current fiscal year would be $1.1 trillion, or 7 percent of GDP. By 2015 it would decline to $607 billion, or 3.2 percent of GDP, according to the administration's forecast. Because a 12-member so-called supercommittee of lawmakers failed to agree on a deficit-reduction plan in November, the agreement between the White House and Congress requires more than $1 trillion in automatic, across-the-board cuts in discretionary spending beginning in January 2013. Obama has threatened to veto any attempts to get around the spending cuts and blamed Republicans for refusing to compromise. One Budget One official dismissed speculation Obama would offer two budgets next month: a conventional version and a second one reflecting automatic cuts, known as sequestration. The Budget Control Act of last August doesn't require the Obama administration to submit a budget that includes specific details from a sequester, should it occur. Stan Collender, a budget expert and managing partner at Qorvis Communications LLC in Washington, told reporters at a Jan. 9 seminar that Congress will spend weeks after the elections trying to avoid automatic budget cuts. 'This will be the year of avoiding the sequester,' he said. Many of the tax and spending proposals in Obama's $3.7 trillion budget last year were ignored or rejected by Congress. His fiscal 2013 spending plan probably will encounter even more resistance in an election year when the presidency, every seat in the U.S. House and one-third of those in the Senate will be decided. To contact the reporter on this story: Roger Runningen in Washington at rrunningen@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Silva at msilva34@bloomberg.net

Earn SANT - Stock Waking Up Soon?

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This is a stock I gave to my subscribers as a chart to watch.  The stock sits at lows with very little interest on both sides.  The buyers are waiting for cheaper prices and the sellers looks to have finished their jobs for now.

The company continues to update the investing public about their operations and I think the stock could see a recovery of some of its losses this year.  A move from today's $.004 price to over $.01 is what I think will happen in the short term.

Add SANT to your watchlist.


Santeon Teams Up With Sage to Deliver Cloud-Based Carrier Connections
RESTON, VA, Aug 22, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- Santeon Group, Inc. (OTCBB: SANT) today announced that it has partnered with Sage North America to deliver Sage HRMS Benefits Messenger, a cloud-based automated benefits communications system, to the Sage HRMS client base. Sage HRMS Benefits Messenger simplifies benefits administration processes by securely automating the delivery of employee benefits enrollment data to health insurance carriers. Through the Santeon eBenefits Network (eBN), the leading independent provider of automated benefits carrier connectivity services in the U.S., Sage HRMS users gain the benefits of on-time and error-free enrollment updates, including elimination of error-related premium costs, improved employee benefit usage experience, and reduction of HR and IT workloads. eBN's innovative cloud-based transactional BPA (business process automation) approach integrates with virtually any employer system and provides immediate employer access to eBN's ever-growing network of over 200 group benefits providers, including health plans, group voluntary benefits, 401K, FSA, COBRA administrators and others.

'There is significant and increasing interest by employers of all sizes in having seamless interfaces between their own benefits systems and carrier systems,' said Tom Tillman, general manager of Santeon eBenefits Network. 'The Sage HRMS Benefits Messenger is a straight-forward and cost-effective solution to meet this demand in the Sage client community.'

Johnny Laurent, vice president and general manager of Sage Employer Solutions, said, 'Sage HRMS is an industry-leading, customizable HRMS solution that helps companies optimize their HR business processes. The tightly integrated Sage HRMS Benefits Messenger provides the key functionality to help employers efficiently and accurately automate the end-to-end benefits admin process.'

About Sage North America Sage is a world-leading supplier of accounting and business management software to small and midsized businesses. Our purpose is to help our customers run their businesses more effectively -- helping them gain greater insight into their business activities and providing them with lasting benefits by automating their business processes. Our applications cover a wide range of business requirements, including accounting, customer relationship management, contact management, human resources, warehouse management, and specialized products for specific industries.

Our brand, Sage, is used by all operating entities of The Sage Group, plc. The Sage Group, plc is the parent company of Sage North America and is located in the United Kingdom. With more than 6 million customers, Sage has offices in 23 countries worldwide.

Sage North America has more than 3.2 million customers with offices across the U.S. and Canada. Our corporate office is located in Irvine, California.

About Santeon Group, Inc. Santeon Group is a technology company headquartered in Northern Virginia with offices in Reston, VA, Tampa, FL, Cairo, Egypt and Pune, India. Santeon offers products and services in Agile training and transformation, healthcare, energy and media. Santeon's goal is to serve emerging markets by providing technically superior products and solutions while reducing the cost of ownership and deployment of these solutions through a strong channel partner and distribution model. For more information please visit our web site athttp://www.santeon.com.

Safe Harbor Statement: The preceding press release may include statements that include, among others, forward-looking statements about our beliefs, plans, objectives, goals, expectations, estimates and intentions that are subject to significant risks and uncertainties and are subject to change based on various factors, many of which are beyond our control. The words 'may', 'could', 'should', 'would', 'believe', 'anticipate', 'estimate', 'expect', 'intend', 'plan', 'target', 'goal' and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements, by their nature, are subject to risks and uncertainties. Our actual future results may differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. Our ability to achieve our financial objectives could be adversely affected by many factors, including, without limitation, the following factors: The strength of the United States economy, changes in the securities markets legislative or regulatory changes, the loss of key personnel, technological changes, changes in customer habits, our ability to manage these and other risks, and our ability to deliver products and services on time. However, other factors besides those listed above could adversely affect our results, and you should not consider any such list of factors to be a complete set of all potential risks or uncertainties. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, but reflect the present expectations of future events by our management and are subject to a number of factors and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statements made by us speak only as of the date they are made. We do not undertake to update any forward-looking statement, except as required by applicable law. For additional information about Santeon's future business and financial results, refer to Santeon's Annual Report on Form 10-K that may be found at sec.gov or on http://santeon.com/Sec_Filings.html. Santeon undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements that may be made from time to time by the company, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Earn September 4th Penny Stock Winners and Losers

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Today's Winners and Losers

Today's Bottom Scan

Oil Europe downgrade fears make Treasurys a hot buy

Oil Investors are snapping up Treasurys and ditching European debt after news reports that France's credit rating could be downgraded on Friday. Several news outlets, citing unnamed sources, said Standard & Poor's was about to cut the credit rating of France and other European countries. In another fretful sign, U.S. exports to Europe plunged nearly 6 percent in November. Traders dumped higher-risk investments such as stocks and debt issued by European nations, causing borrowing costs for Italy and others to rise. If Italy risks defaulting on its debts, the crisis throughout Europe would worsen dramatically. The price of the 10-year Treasury note leaped 66 cents per $100 invested, pushing its yield down to 1.86 percent at 11 a.m. Eastern time. The yield peaked at 1.94 percent earlier Friday.

Forex Five Sub-Penny Charts To Watch

Forex At the start of 2012 I posted charts to watch heading into the year.  All of them rose 150% or more:  http://pennystockgurus.blogspot.com/2012/02/150-or-bust.html

With the year 67% over I have five charts to watch.  I think all five will at some point post an over 100% gain from their current prices.  The stocks are UYMG at $.001, ERBB at $.0021, STKO at $.001, ELRA at $.0012 and MCVE at $.03.

Earn September 6th Penny Stock Winners, Losers, and Bottom Scan

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Today's Winners and Losers

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Earn Europe hit by downgrade speculation

Earn ROME (AP) -- Europe's ability to fight off its debt crisis was again thrown into doubt Friday when the euro hit its lowest level in over a year and borrowing costs rose on expectations that the debt of several countries would be downgraded by rating agency Standard & Poor's. Stock markets in Europe and the U.S. plunged late Friday when reports of an imminent downgrade first appeared and the euro fell to a 17-month low. The fears of a downgrade brought a sour end to a mildly encouraging week for Europe's heavily indebted nations and were a stark reminder that the 17-country eurozone's debt crisis is far from over. Earlier Friday, Italy had capped a strong week for government debt auctions, seeing its borrowing costs drop for a second day in a row as it successfully raised as much as €4.75 billion ($6.05 billion). Spain and Italy completed successful bond auctions on Thursday, and European Central Bank president Mario Draghi noted 'tentative signs of stabilization' in the region's economy. A credit downgrade would escalate the threats to Europe's fragile financial system, as the costs at which the affected countries — some of which are already struggling with heavy debt loads and low growth — could borrow money would be driven even higher. The downgrade could drive up the cost of European government debt as investors demand more compensation for holding bonds deemed to be riskier than they had been. Higher borrowing costs would put more financial pressure on countries already contending with heavy debt burdens. In Greece, negotiations Friday to get investors to take a voluntary cut on their Greek bond holdings appeared close to collapse, raising the specter of a potentially disastrous default by the country that kicked off Europe's financial troubles more than two years ago. The deal, known as the Private Sector Involvement, aims to reduce Greece's debt by €100 billion ($127.8 billion) by swapping private creditors' bonds with new ones with a lower value, and is a key part of a €130 billion ($166 billion) international bailout. Without it, the country could suffer a catastrophic bankruptcy that would send shock waves through the global economy. Prime Minister Lucas Papademos and Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos met on Thursday and Friday with representatives of the Institute of International Finance, a global body representing the private bondholders. Finance ministry officials from the eurozone also met in Brussels Thursday night. 'Unfortunately, despite the efforts of Greece's leadership, the proposal put forward ... which involves an unprecedented 50 percent nominal reduction of Greece's sovereign bonds in private investors' hands and up to €100 billion of debt forgiveness — has not produced a constructive consolidated response by all parties, consistent with a voluntary exchange of Greek sovereign debt,' the IIF said in a statement. 'Under the circumstances, discussions with Greece and the official sector are paused for reflection on the benefits of a voluntary approach,' it said. Friday's Italian auction saw investors demanding an interest rate of 4.83 percent to lend Italy three-year money, down from an average rate of 5.62 percent in the previous auction and far lower than the 7.89 percent in November, when the country's financial crisis was most acute. While Italy paid a slightly higher rate for bonds maturing in 2018, which were also sold in Friday's auction, demand was between 1.2 percent and 2.2 percent higher than what was on offer. The results were not as strong as those of bond auctions the previous day, when Italy raised €12 billion ($15 billion) and Spain saw huge demand for its own debt sale. 'Overall, it underscores that while all the auctions in the eurozone have been battle victories, the war is a long way from being resolved (either way),' said Marc Ostwald, strategist at Monument Securities. 'These euro area auctions will continue to present themselves as market risk events for a very protracted period.' Italy's €1.9 trillion ($2.42 trillion) in government debt and heavy borrowing needs this year have made it a focal point of the European debt crisis. Italy has passed austerity measures and is on a structural reform course that Premier Mario Monti claims should bring down Italy's high bond yields, which he says are no longer warranted. Analysts have said the successful recent bond auctions were at least in part the work of the ECB, which has inundated banks with cheap loans, giving them ready cash that at least some appear to be using to buy higher-yielding short-term government bonds. Some 523 banks took €489 billion in credit for up to three years at a current interest cost of 1 percent.