Romney's son apologizes to Obama for 'swing' remark

Source: CNN

(CNN) – Tagg Romney, Mitt Romney's oldest son, apologized to President Barack Obama Monday for saying he wanted to "take a swing" at him during contentious presidential debates.

Obama and Tagg Romney were seen speaking on the stage after Monday's final presidential debate, held at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida. Two Obama aides said the conversation included an apology for the remark, made last week during a radio interview.

Asked in that interview what it's like "to hear the President of the United States call your dad a liar," Tagg Romney joked about his fantasy response.

"Jump out of your seat and you want to rush down to the debate stage and take a swing at him," he said. "But you know you can't do that because, well, first because there's a lot of Secret Service between you and him, but also because that's the nature of the process. You know they're going to try to do anything they can do to make my dad into something he's not."



Read more: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/10/23/romneys-son-apologizes-to-obama-for-swing-remark/?hpt=hp_t1

Trump Promises 'Very Big' Political Bombshell Wednesday

Source: CNBC

Real estate magnate and Republican political figure Donald Trump told CNBC he has a major announcement to make Wednesday concerning the presidential race.

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"I do have something that's very big. It's about President Obama," he said during a "Squawk Box" interview. Asked if he could provide any hints of what he might be divulging, Trump said, "No, but tomorrow you'll see."

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During the interview, Democratic operative and Daily Beast columnist Bob Shrum mocked Trump's claims over Obama's residency.

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"Hey, Bob," he later added, "guys like you are what set this country so far behind. We're now a laughing stock throughout the world.

"No, Donald, you're a laughingstock," Shrum said.

Read more: http://www.cnbc.com/id/49515813

Ryan Sought Lots of Federal 'Pork' for Folks Back Home

Source: CNBC/AP

Rep. Paul Ryan, a fiscal conservative and critic of federal handouts, has sought for his constituents an expansion of food stamps, stimulus money, federally guaranteed business loans, grants to invest in green technology and money under President Barack Obama's health care reform law.

Such requests are at odds with the Republican vice presidential candidate's public persona as a small-government advocate and Tea Party favorite who has pledged to tighten Washington's belt. (Read More: Paul Ryan and His Budget Proposals)

The Associated Press reviewed 8,900 pages of correspondence between Ryan's congressional office and more than 70 executive branch agencies that it obtained under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act. They showed that for 12 years as a member of Congress, Ryan has sought from the federal government money and benefits that in some cases represent the kinds of largess and specific programs he is now campaigning against.

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He's also supported federal money to help a Kenosha, Wis., community center cover health care costs of low-income families under Obama's health care reform law — the very program he and Romney say they will repeal if they win the White House.

Ryan spokesman Brendan Buck said AP's findings represented a member of Congress helping people in his district. "Part of being a congressman is vouching for constituents and helping them navigate the federal bureaucracy when asked," he said.

Read more: http://www.cnbc.com/id/49387561/

GOP ‘Trying to Slow Economy’ Before Election: Democrat

Source: CNBC

Republicans are deliberately trying to stymie job creation and U.S. economic growth in order to damage President Barack Obama’s reelection chances, a top Obama campaign surrogate charged Friday.

Just minutes before the Labor Department released data showing the unemployment rate falling below 8 percent for the first time in more than three years, Maryland’s Democratic governor Martin O’Malley told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that the Republican-led Congress was engaged in “a political calculation…that if they could slow the job growth before the election, they could hurt the president’s reelection.”

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When challenged on his assertion, O’Malley – head of the Democratic Governors Association and a close White House ally – insisted that President Obama has introduced a number of jobs initiatives that have not garnered GOP support.

“There is no bill (that Republicans would co-sign), because they’re trying to slow the economy before the election,” said O’Malley. “The president has shown his willingness to compromise, sometimes to a much greater degree than some would deem is prudent.”

Read more: http://www.cnbc.com/id/49301088

'Drunken' Broker Sent Oil to 8-Month High in 2009: Report

Source: CNBC

On June 30, 2009, oil mysteriously jumped by more than $1.50 a barrel during the night, to reach its highest price in eight months, the kind of swing that is caused by a major geopolitical event.

The amazing, true cause of this price spike has now been released by a Financial Services Authority investigation (FSA).

Although not authorized to invest company cash in trades, Steve Perkins, a long standing, senior broker at PVM Oil Futures, had managed to spend $520 million on oil futures contracts throughout the night, the FSA said.

On the morning of the 30th, an admin clerk called Perkins to ask why he had bought 7 million barrels of crude during the night. Perkins had no recollection of the transactions, and it turned out that he had made the trades during a “drunken blackout," according to the FSA.

By the time PVM realized the transactions had not been authorized by a client, they had incurred losses of $9,763,252.

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The FSA has said that they will re-approve his license after the five-year period, if he has recovered from his drinking problem, although they warned that,“Mr Perkins poses an extreme risk to the market when drunk.”

Read more: http://www.cnbc.com/id/49197769

Romney Fundraiser Host Used Controversial Tax Strategy

Source: CNBC

Marc J. Leder, the private-equity chief who hosted Mitt Romney’s secretly taped fundraiser, used a controversial tax strategy that’s come under scrutiny from the New York Attorney General, according to court documents and people familiar with the matter.

According to court documents filed as part of his 2009 divorce, Leder created a system for turning hundreds of millions of dollars in ordinary income into investments that would be taxed at a much lower rate.

The strategy, known as “a management fee waiver,” may have lowered his tax bill by millions of dollars over time, according to the documents.

Leder’s private equity firm, Sun Capital Partners, is one of more than a dozen private-equity firms being investigated by New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to see whether they used management fee waivers to avoid taxes, according to people familiar with the matter.

Read more: http://www.cnbc.com/id/49103957

CNBC: The stock market has done better under Obama than with any other recent president.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/48940520

Guess Which President Has Been Best for Stocks?

The U.S. economy may not be recovering as fast as President Obama likes, but at least he can make one claim: The stock market has done better under his watch than with any other recent president.

Since Obama's inauguration on Jan. 20 2009, all three major U.S. stock indexes are up more than 60 percent. The Nasdaq Composite [.NCOMP 3135.36 -0.45 (-0.01%) ] alone has soared a whopping 105 percent.

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The president also would have to credit Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke for much of the recovery. The central bank's quantitative easing, which was launched in reaction to the financial crisis, has pushed interest rates so low that stocks have looked attractive by comparison.

Even so, the market has performed better during Obama's 43 1/2 months in office than in any of the five prior administrations. In fact, the S&P 500 has outperformed most of the major world indexes during his presidency.