Obama Tries to Offset So-So Economy with Early Start on Ads Advisers see Romney's work at Bain as an opening for the president to gain in the 2012 White House race. By Kenneth R. Bazinet, Associate Editor, The Kiplinger LetterMay 22, 2012 President Obama wants to to turn venture capitalism into the bane of Mitt Romney's existence, transforming Romney's tenure as head of Bain Capital into a negative as voters try to decide between the two main presidential candidates. SEE ALSO: 5 Economic Issues That Will Drive 2012 Elections The strategy, built around advertising and free media, is part of an effort by Obama's campaign team to convince voters that his programs are slowly stoking the engines of commerce, though it's taking longer than expected ... Continue reading →

Obama Tries to Offset So-So Economy with Early Start on Ads Advisers see Romney's work at Bain as an opening for the president to gain in the 2012 White House race. By Kenneth R. Bazinet, Associate Editor, The Kiplinger LetterMay 22, 2012 President Obama wants to to turn venture capitalism into the bane of Mitt Romney's existence, transforming Romney's tenure as head of Bain Capital into a negative as voters try to decide between the two main presidential candidates. SEE ALSO: 5 Economic Issues That Will Drive 2012 Elections The strategy, built around advertising and free media, is part of an effort by Obama's campaign team to convince voters that his programs are slowly stoking the engines of commerce, though it's taking longer than expected ... Continue reading →

The Student Loan Rate Debate How important is it for Congress to keep rates low on new Stafford loans? Our columnists face off with their answers. May 18, 2012 Have you heard all of the buzz about the student loan rate? If you already have an existing loan, don't worry -- your rate won't be affected. But an estimated seven million undergraduates who take out new subsidized Stafford loans will face an interest rate of 6.8%, double the current 3.4%, starting on July 1, if Congress does not keep the rate as-is. And with outstanding student loans already topping a trillion dollars, this pending increase on new loans has become a national issue (that even brought President Obama to slow jam about it on "Late ... Continue reading →

Republicans have seized on Cory Booker's criticisms of the Obama campaign's "nauseating" Bain ads as a sign that Obama's main surrogates don't agree with his campaign strategy -- and now the Republican National Committee is using Twitter ads to further promote Booker's comments. When users search for "Cory Booker" on Twitter, the first result after Booker's official Twitter account is either a tweet from RNC Chairman Reince Priebus or one from the general RNC twitter account, @GOP. "Sign the @GOP petition and stand up for free enterprise," the tweet from Priebus says, along with the hashtag #IStandWithCory. The link redirects to a landing page for the RNC's "I Stand With Cory" petition, asking users to sign the petition and watch Booker's "Meet the Press" comments ... Continue reading →

Are We in a Tech Bubble? Probably Not Apple's sky-high valuation and Facebook's IPO are more telling of "animal spirits" than another pending market collapse. By Chris Farrell, Contributing Columnist, Kiplinger.comMay 21, 2012 Round about the caldron go; In the poison'd entrails throw...Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble (With apologies to William Shakespeare) Are the alchemists of finance brewing another bubble even as we're struggling to escape the brutal aftermath of the last one in real estate? The frothy signs of a tech bubble are hard to miss. INTERVIEW: No Bubble for Tech Stocks Take Apple's stock. The world's most valuable company sports a market capitalization of some $530 billion, with its stock in the $530-a-share range (down from a peak of $636 on April 9, ... Continue reading →

NORAD exercise planned for Washington, D.C. May 21, 2012 TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. - The North American Aerospace Defense Command and its geographical component, the Continental United States NORAD Region (CONR), will conduct exercise Falcon Virgo 12-08 beginning early Wednesday morning, May 23, in the National Capital Region, Washington, D.C. The exercise is comprised of a series of training flights held in coordination with the Federal Aviation Administration, the National Capital Region Coordination Center, the Joint Air Defense Operations Center, Civil Air Patrol, U.S. Coast Guard and CONR�s Eastern Air Defense Sector. Flights in the National Capital Region are scheduled to take place between 3-5 a.m. Exercise Falcon Virgo is designed to hone NORAD�s intercept and identification operations as well as operationally test the ... Continue reading →