Small Talk: BofA executive says small business is coming back | The ...

In this Friday, June 14, 2013 photo, Robb Hilson, small business executive for Bank of America, poses for photos in his Coral Gables, Fla., office. Hilson?s job is to convince small business owners that Bank of America does want to do business with them. (AP Photo/J Pat Carter)

Robb Hilson?s job as head of small business banking at Bank of America is to convince small business owners that the bank wants to do business with them.

That?s not easy when small businesses have consistently said in surveys that they find it hard to get loans from banks, and when banks have become more cautious about lending to small companies following the recession. But in the 18 months Hilson has been on the job at the nation?s second-largest bank it has had some success with its 3.2 million small business customers. Last year, Bank of America made $8.7 billion in new loans to small businesses, up 28 percent from 2011.

"I feel really good about the momentum. There?s obviously more work to do, but we?ve made a lot of progress," Hilson says.

Hilson, 54, took the job as small business executive in November 2011 soon after Bank of America started placing 1,000 bankers in cities and communities around the country to serve small companies. Bank of America and other big banks began bolstering their small business outreach after they were criticized by company owners and lawmakers for stringent lending standards that prevented many companies from getting loans. Bank of America was also one of the banks that pledged to the Small Business Administration that it would increase its loans to small business.

Hilson previously served larger companies during more than two decades at the bank. This job is very different from anything he has done before.

"It?s a bigger challenge because we?re building a business," Hilson says. "It?s a different conversation with small business owners. So many of these folks are wearing a bunch of hats. It?s just a different environment than meeting with the CEO."

Hilson?s role puts him in a position to hear about, and gain understanding, of the problems small business owners face. He recently spoke with The Associated Press about his work and small businesses. Here are excerpts, edited for brevity and clarity:

Q. How do you size up the state of small business today?

A. This most recent downturn by almost any account, if not all accounts, was the steepest, the most dramatic, severe, however you want to characterize it, since the Great Depression. I think it?s also fair to say that small businesses relative to other businesses were particularly hard hit. I think it really speaks to the remarkable resilience of American small business owners that they have come back as far as they have. The economy isn?t perfect, but it continues to slowly but surely get better. We saw small business owners doing a great job of rightsizing their businesses when sales dropped off so dramatically in 2008 and 2009, and they?ve come back. Surveys have told us that despite all the challenges and the recession that they endured, very few of them have second thoughts about getting into business for themselves. They are very confident and optimistic about their own capabilities, less so about things that they don?t have as much control over.

Q. What will it take for small business owners to be more confident?

story continues below

A. You probably see a little more confidence today than what you saw in November or even last May. I think there were things leading up to the election and all that (that contributed to some pessimism).

I think they?re dealing with this new reality of sluggish growth, very low interest rates and not taking as much risk as they were in 2005. What is it going to take to go back to 2005? I don?t know if we?re going to see that, maybe ever. Certainly not in the near term.

I think we?ll see more optimism than what we?ve seen today. In our survey, we did a subset around the millennials (people age 18-34). The numbers were off the chart versus any other age groups we looked at. They were very optimistic, more likely to hire, more optimistic about where the economy is going and prospects for the near term. As that group becomes a bigger part of the small business owner population, maybe you?ll see some lift there as well.

Q. Suppose a business owner doesn?t qualify for a loan at Bank of America? What do you do?

A. We would give them a pretty good sense of what it would need for them to look like for them to qualify. But we also work with some nonprofit organizations in the community that might be able to work with them. Community development financial institutions ? these are by and large nonprofit financial institutions, and we?ve been one of the biggest supporters of these. They?re smaller organizations that aren?t subject to the same regulations as Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. banks. We extended a $110 million grant a couple of years ago to some CDFIs that turned around and leveraged that to the tune of more than 10 times. So they were able to leverage that to more than $100 million that they could then invest or lend directly to small businesses.

If we?re not able to help a client today from a credit standpoint, our goal would be to give them a pretty good sense of, what were the gaps, and what they would need to work on to make the answer a positive one the next time around.

There are other opportunities for us to help them, not just with credit. There are opportunities for us to help improve their cash flow by helping them collect payments, for instance.

Q. What results are you seeing from the 1,000 bankers you?ve placed around the country?

A. We have a lot of nice charts with impressive trend lines. Let?s talk business lending. I think it?s safe to say that small business owners, their health continues to improve, so balance sheets and cash flows are getting stronger, interest rates are at an all-time low. So it?s a good environment to borrow in. The economy, while not robust, continues to grow. Translated, that equals greater loan demand, and our bankers have a lot to do with that. We?re excited that we were up 28 percent in new loan originations in 2012 over 2011. And through the first four months of this year, we?re ahead of that pace. I feel really good about how we?re delivering credit. But we know we can do more.

We know that the bankers are focused on credit but they?re also focusing on delivering all of our capabilities, not just meeting the needs of the business. They?re also working with other experts, pairing up with financial solutions advisers who will work with small businesses on the personal side ? investing solutions, preparing small business owners for retirement or for taking care of their children?s education.

Q. But small business owners are known for plowing every penny they can into their companies. How do you convince them that their personal finances should be more of a priority?

Next Page >

Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/money/56521434-79/business-bank-owners-america.html.csp

Wimbledon 2012 TV Schedule fourth of july IFE Fireworks 2012 4th Of July independence day BET Awards 2012 declaration of independence

Now It's Fungus--Hawaii's Threatened Coral Reefs Take another Hit

Along with invasive cyanobacterial fungus and algae, poisonous runoff, rising ocean levels, acidic waters and overfishing are taking their toll on the reefs and the marine life they support

REEF BADNESS: Biologists are working hard to stem the problem but must now deal with invasive fungus and algae that are compromising the whole reef system. Image: iStockPhoto

• 

  Showcasing more than fifty of the most provocative, original, and significant online essays from 2011, The Best Science Writing Online 2012 will change the way...

  Read More??

Dear EarthTalk: What?s the prognosis for Hawaii?s coral reefs in the face of global warming, invasive algae and other environmental threats??Bill Weston, San Francisco

Despite sweeping protections put in place near the end of George W. Bush?s presidency for large swaths of marine ecosystems around the Hawaiian Islands, things are not looking good for Hawaii?s coral reefs. Poisonous runoff, rising ocean levels, increasingly acidic waters and overfishing are taking their toll on the reefs and the marine life they support. Biologists are trying to remain optimistic that there is still time to turn things around, but new threats to Hawaii?s corals are only aggravating the situation.

To wit, a previously undocumented cyanobacterial fungus that grows through photosynthesis is spreading by as much as three inches per week on corals along the otherwise pristine North Shore of Kauai. ?There is nowhere we know of in the entire world where an entire reef system for 60 miles has been compromised in one fell swoop,? biologist Terry Lilley told The Los Angeles Times. ?This bacteria has been killing some of these 50- to 100-year-old corals in less than eight weeks.? He adds that the strange green fungus affects upwards of five percent of the corals in famed Hanalei Bay and up to 40 percent of the coral in nearby Anini Bay, with neighboring areas ?just as bad, if not worse.? Lilly worries that the entire reef system surrounding Kauai may be losing its ability to fend off pathogens.

Meanwhile, some 60 miles to the east across the blue Pacific, an invasive algae introduced for aquaculture three decades ago in Oahu's K?ne?ohe Bay is also spreading quickly. Biologists are concerned because it forms thick tangled mats that soak up oxygen in the water needed by other plants and animals, in turn converting coral reefs there into smothering wastelands.

?This and other invasive algal species...don?t belong in Hawai?i,? says Eric Conklin, Hawaii director of marine services for The Nature Conservancy, which works to protect ecologically important lands and waters worldwide. He adds that there are not enough plant-eating fish to keep them under control.

Biologists are working hard to battle the algae in and around K?ne?ohe Bay. Conklin and his colleagues from the Conservancy have joined forces with researchers from the state of Hawaii to develop an inexpensive new technology, dubbed the Super Sucker, which uses barge-based hoses and pumps to vacuum the invasive algae away without disturbing the underlying coral. Once divers clear a given reef of algae, they then stock it with native sea urchins raised in the state?s marine lab that can help keep new algal outbreaks in check. The system has been so successful at reducing invasive algae at K?ne?ohe Bay that the state has begun producing tens of thousands of sea urchins for similar ?outplanting? projects on other coral reefs around Oahu and beyond that are threatened by invasive algae.

Fast-growing algae and pathogens are only part of the problem. Decades of overfishing have reduced the biodiversity on and around coral reefs, reducing their ecological integrity and making them more vulnerable to climate change. Higher water temperatures and rising sea levels, two of the more dramatic symptoms of global warming, are hastening the bleaching of some particularly vulnerable reefs that have evolved over thousands of years.

CONTACT: The Nature Conservancy, www.nature.org.

EarthTalk? is written and edited by Roddy Scheer and Doug Moss and is a registered trademark of E - The Environmental Magazine (www.emagazine.com). Send questions to: earthtalk@emagazine.com. Subscribe: www.emagazine.com/subscribe. Free Trial Issue: www.emagazine.com/trial.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/~r/sciam/chemistry/~3/DJGLizwExA8/article.cfm

sugarland 16 and pregnant ludwig mies van der rohe jamie lynn sigler mega millions jackpot black panther party frank martin

Fed's Stein puts focus on September as time to assess QE3

By Jonathan Spicer and Alister Bull

NEW YORK/WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, West Virginia (Reuters) - September could be an opportune time for the Federal Reserve to consider scaling back its assets purchase, an influential official of the U.S. central bank said on Friday, as he stressed that the Fed must take a long view of economic progress and not be blinded by the most recent data.

The remarks by Fed Governor Jeremy Stein drew the attention of economists and investors after he ticked off several examples of improvement in the labor market since the Fed launched its bond-buying program last September.

Stein's speech, and a separate one on Friday by Jeffrey Lacker, president of the Richmond Fed, had some parallels to efforts by other Fed officials earlier this week to soothe market anxieties about a pullback in the bond purchases.

Nonetheless, Stein and Lacker took a more aggressive tone on when the central bank's unprecedented policy accommodation might be reduced.

Even so, differences within the Fed over the strength of the economy were in view as a third policymaker, John Williams, president of the San Francisco Fed, shelved his earlier view that the Fed could stop buying bonds by late 2013, saying, "It's too early to cut back on our programs right now."

The Fed's purchase of Treasuries and mortgage bonds at a monthly pace of $85 billion has provided a huge flow of liquidity into financial markets, driving up assets from stocks to bonds.

Yields on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose after Stein's remarks, a sharp reversal of stabilization in the market earlier in the day.

Markets had dropped hard in the days after Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke last week said the Fed expected to pare back on its bond purchases, known as quantitative easing, later this year and to halt it altogether by mid-2014, as long as the economy progresses as expected. Unemployment will likely have fallen to about 7 percent by then, he said.

But Stein on Friday, in an unusual move, trained investors' attention on the Fed's September policy meeting, though the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee next meets in July.

"The best approach is for the committee to be clear that in making a decision in, say, September, it will give primary weight to the large stock of news that has accumulated since the inception of the program and will not be unduly influenced by whatever data releases arrive in the few weeks before the meeting," said Stein, a voting member of the policy committee.

Data from early September "will remain relevant for future decisions," even if it does not play a primary role in any policy decision in September, he said, in a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.

"If the news is bad, and it is confirmed by further bad news in October and November, this would suggest that the 7 percent unemployment goal is likely to be further away, and the remainder of the program would be extended accordingly," he said.

Stein's comments drew a sharp reaction on expectations of the Fed's policy path.

"Stein's remarks cannot be lightly dismissed and raise risks that some on the committee may have already essentially decided on September," said Michael Feroli, chief U.S. economist at JP Morgan in New York.

Lacker also put September in focus, saying the Fed meeting that month "is certainly a candidate" for when the Fed could first reduce its pace of buying, though he said that economic data would be key.

Nearly half of the economists polled by Reuters this month expect the Fed to start reducing the pace of asset purchases in September.

Video of Stein's speech: http://reut.rs/14zOITm

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>

EXPECT MORE VOLATILITY

Williams, who is a voter on Fed policy this year, gave no preferred timeline for reducing bond purchases, saying only that doing so would be appropriate "at some point." If inflation continues to come in below expectations, that could point to the need for more stimulus, not less, he said.

He called the recent rise in Treasury rates a "healthy" development because it suggests markets no longer assume the Fed will keep rates low forever.

Lacker, one of the central bank's most hawkish officials and a persistent critic of the latest round of bond buying, said it was "wise" for Bernanke to clarify the Fed's views on future bond buying, but he stressed policy would still be loose as the Fed reduces "the pace at which it is adding accommodation." Lacker is not a voter on policy this year.

Financial markets should brace for more volatility as they digest news of a reduction in quantitative easing, Lacker told a judicial conference in West Virginia, adding that it "should not interfere with the moderate-growth scenario that I have presented."

Williams said that the sudden rise in rates suggests some investors had become complacent about low rates and that froth had been building in some areas of financial markets.

"It's healthy to get some froth out of the market," he told reporters after his speech.

On the labor market, where unemployment remains high at 7.6 percent, Stein noted the rate was 8.1 percent when the bond purchase program was launched last year. Monthly job growth has jumped dramatically since then, he said, adding Fed forecasts are also more optimistic.

Stein said the Fed can be more specific about its plans for QE3 as it approaches its policy goals. The timeline Bernanke articulated illustrates a "greater willingness to spell out what the committee is looking for, as opposed to a 'we'll know it when we see it' approach," he said.

Still, Stein stressed that reducing the pace of QE3 is highly conditional on the economy. He added it did not mark a change in policy and was meant only to clarify things for investors.

Stein, a relatively new but highly respected member of the powerful Fed board, turned some heads back in February when he warned the massive asset purchases were showing signs of inflating price bubbles in junk bonds and other markets.

But on Friday he said while financial stability should play a roll in monetary policy decisions, the benefits of QE3 have surpassed the costs of the program, including such stability risks.

(Additional reporting by Ann Saphir in Rohnert Park, Calif., and Richard Leong in New York; Editing by Leslie Adler)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/feds-stein-puts-focus-september-time-assess-qe3-161413098.html

bronx zoo bronx zoo crash grizzlies april 30 wwe extreme rules 2012 vontaze burfict jimmy kimmel

Mobile Miscellany: week of June 24th, 2013

If you didn't get enough mobile news during the week, not to worry, because we've opened the firehose for the truly hardcore. This week, the Galaxy S 4 was spotted in purple garb, a new Windows Phone was outed for AT&T and US Cellular officially welcomed a budget handset from ZTE into its ranks. These stories and more await after the break. So buy the ticket and take the ride as we explore all that's happening in the mobile world for this week of June 24th, 2013.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

Comments

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/oJogARE_JAY/

Chinua Achebe The Croods ashley greene marquette university Chris Porco cbs sports ncaa tournament

Sanofi's MS drugs get double boost in Europe

LONDON (Reuters) - Sanofi's hopes in the multiple sclerosis market received a double boost on Friday as the European regulator backed an injectable treatment and adopted a more positive stance toward a pill for the neurodegenerative disease.

The European Medicines Agency said it was recommending Lemtrada, Sanofi's biggest MS drug hope, for relapsing-remitting MS, ending a quarter-century development saga for the injectable treatment.

The European regulator also reversed an earlier decision not to give pill-administered Aubagio a "new active substance" (NAS) designation because it is very similar to a much older drug.

Without this designation, Aubagio, which received the regulator's green light in March, could have faced generic copies in Europe in as little as three years - the time required for brief clinical studies of generics and to review applications for approval.

The news sent the stock over 1 percent higher. Sanofi's shares, which have risen around 13 percent since the start of 2013, were trading 0.8 percent higher at 80.65 euros at 1225 GMT, outperforming Paris' CAC40 bluechip index, down 0.7 percent.

LENGHTY DEVELOPMENT

EMA decisions are usually endorsed by the European Commission within a couple of months.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to rule on Lemtrada in late 2013. The regulator recently extended its review timeline by three months but did not request any further clinical data on the drug, Sanofi said in a statement.

Lemtrada, also known as alemtuzumab, has been studied in multiple sclerosis since the early 1990s but its progress to market as a treatment for the disease has been halting and the drug has changed hands many times.

Lemtrada was approved back in 2001, under the different name Campath, as a treatment for B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL), although sales for this condition never took off.

It then went back into testing for MS, amid hopes that its ability to knock out immune system cells called lymphocytes would prove effective in a disease that is caused by abnormal immune attacks on the protective sheath surrounding nerve cells.

Still, industry analysts predict the drug will not be the first choice in a market where competition has exploded with new products, including oral treatments like Novartis's Gilenya.

Instead, it may be kept for patients with more advanced MS, occupying a similar position to Biogen Idec's Tysabri.

The current consensus for annual Lemtrada sales is $650 million by 2017, according to forecasts compiled by Thomson Reuters Pharma - a number that could rise following the EU recommendation.

For Sanofi, Lemtrada represents a second win in the MS field, following approval of Aubagio in the United States last year.

Aubagio reported sales of 20 million euros ($26 million) in the first quarter of 2013.

Separately, Sanofi got a regulatory boost in Japan on Friday when it won approval from the government there for diabetes treatment Lyxumia.

($1 = 0.7691 euros)

(Reporting by Rosalba O'Brien and Caroline Copley; Writing by Elena Berton and Ben Hirschler; Editing by Christian Plumb)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sanofis-ms-drugs-double-boost-europe-130547702.html

peter paul and mary edgar rice burroughs dallas clark litter marinol flight attendant pau gasol trade

Body of NYC storm victim lay undetected for months

NEW YORK (AP) ? In the chaotic days after Superstorm Sandy, an army of aid workers streamed onto the flood-ravaged Rockaway Peninsula looking for anyone who needed help. Health workers and National Guard troops went door to door. City inspectors checked thousands of dwellings for damage. Seaside neighborhoods teemed with utility crews, Red Cross trucks and crews clearing debris.

Yet, even as the months dragged by, nobody thought to look inside the tiny construction trailer rusting away in a junk-filled lot at the corner of Beach 40th Street and Rockaway Beach Boulevard.

If they had, they would have found the body of Keith Lancaster, a quiet handyman who appeared to have been using the trailer as a home the night Sandy sent 5 feet of water churning through the neighborhood.

It took until April 5 before an acquaintance finally went to check on the 62-year-old's whereabouts and found his partially skeletonized remains. His body lay near a calendar that hadn't been turned since October and prescription pill bottles last refilled in the fall.

New York City's medical examiner announced this week that Lancaster had drowned, making him the 44th person ruled to have died in New York City because of the storm.

Neighborhood residents described Lancaster as a loner and something of a drifter, and police said he had never been reported missing. No one stepped forward to claim his body from the city morgue, either, after he was finally discovered this spring. He was buried in a potter's field on an island in Long Island Sound, the medical examiner's office said. A police missing-person squad is still trying to identify any relatives.

But in life, he was well liked by some of the people who saw him sweeping sidewalks around the vacant lot where he sometimes slept.

"When we first moved here, he weeded our entire backyard," said Gerald Sylvester, 55, a retired transit worker who lives in a small bungalow just feet from the trailer where Lancaster died.

Sylvester and his wife, Carrie Vaughan, 60, said Lancaster also mended their fence and once fixed an outdoor light at their house ? but he always refused any money for his help. He wouldn't take any food, either, when they offered, and politely declined their invitations to come inside, explaining he didn't like to go into people's houses.

"He didn't talk a lot, but if he knew you, you could have a decent conversation," said Vaughan. "He was very nice. A gentleman at all times."

She said it wasn't entirely clear where he was living. Lancaster, who the family said looked slightly frail, told her he didn't want to settle in one place.

As the storm approached and the neighborhood evacuated, Sylvester said he went looking for Lancaster to see if he wanted to leave with the family, but never found him.

After the Oct. 29 storm, many neighborhood residents were unable to return to their homes. Even today, some buildings remain empty or under repair. Vaughan and Sylvester were away for two months, living in a FEMA-funded apartment, before they came back.

The lot where Lancaster's trailer sat has been vacant for many years and, at just 15 feet wide, is easy to miss. Someone passing by would probably assume, wrongly, that it is the side yard of one of the bungalows that sit next door.

The company that owns the plot, the Master Sheet Co., hasn't paid any property taxes on the parcel for years, according to city records, and it wasn't clear whether anyone associated with the business was aware someone was living on the property. A lawyer for the owners, Robert Rosenblatt, said Wednesday that he wasn't immediately able to reach his clients.

New York City's Office of Emergency Management didn't respond Wednesday to inquiries about the efforts the city had made to locate and identify storm victims, and why they failed to reveal Lancaster's death for so long. The mayor's office also didn't respond to an inquiry.

The lot where Lancaster died remained filled with junk this week, including an old office chair, plastic crates and bottles and stuffed animals. The trailer ? barely big enough to stand in ? is itself filled with trash.

Vaughan said that when her family returned home, she wondered what had become of Lancaster, but never suspected that he had been killed or that his body was in the trailer, which sits on cinder blocks just a few feet from her home.

"He was like a fixture of the community. We were wondering what happened to him," said Vaughan. "We would've taken him with us."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/body-nyc-storm-victim-lay-undetected-months-065513402.html

bradley cooper channing tatum Jennifer Aniston naomi watts Oscar Nominations 2013 Beasts of the Southern Wild 2013 Oscars

Climate change threatens forest survival on drier, low-elevation sites

June 28, 2013 ? Predicted increases in temperature and drought in the coming century may make it more difficult for conifers such as ponderosa pine to regenerate after major forest fires on dry, low-elevation sites, in some cases leading to conversion of forests to grass or shrub lands, a report suggests.

Researchers from Oregon State University concluded that moisture stress is a key limitation for conifer regeneration following stand-replacing wildfire, which will likely increase with climate change. This will make post-fire recovery on dry sites slow and uncertain. If forests are desired in these locations, more aggressive attempts at reforestation may be needed, they said.

The study, published in Forest Ecology and Management, was done in a portion of the Metolius River watershed in the eastern Cascade Range of Oregon, which prior to a 2002 fire was mostly ponderosa pine with some Douglas-fir and other tree species. The research area was not salvage-logged or replanted following the severe, stand-replacing fire.

"A decade after this fire, there was almost no tree regeneration at lower, drier sites," said Erich Dodson, a researcher with the OSU Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society. "There was some regeneration at higher sites with more moisture. But at the low elevations, it will be a long time before a forest comes back, if it ever does."

Similar situations may be found in many areas of the American West in coming decades, the researchers say, and recruitment of new forests may be delayed or prevented -- even in climate conditions that might have been able to maintain an existing forest. While mature trees can use their roots to tap water deeper in the soil, competition with dense understory vegetation can make it difficult for seedlings to survive.

Openings in ponderosa pine forests created by wildfire have persisted for more than a century on harsh, south-facing slopes in Colorado, the researchers noted in their report. And fire severity is already increasing in many forests due to climate change -- what is now thought of as a drought in some locations may be considered average by the end of the next century.

If trees do fail to regenerate, it could further reduce ecosystem carbon storage and amplify the greenhouse effect, the study said.

Restoration treatment including thinning and prescribed burning may help reduce fire severity and increase tree survival after wildfire, as well as provide a seed source for future trees, Dodson said. These dry sites with less resilience to stand-replacing fire should be priorities for treatment, if maintaining a forest is a management objective, the study concluded.

Higher-elevation, mixed conifer forests in less moisture-limited sites may be able to recover from stand-replacing wildfire without treatment, the researchers said.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/rNgIawg_mCI/130628103145.htm

star jones carrot top george huguely whitney houston casket photo match play championship the national enquirer marie colvin