Bair Is Open to Banks Profiting on Problem Loans

Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair said Thursday she would be open to letting banks see some of the profits if they dump problem loans that ultimately recover some value.

The comments, made in a conference call with bankers Thursday, address a key industry concern with the government's plan for ridding banks of toxic assets.

While bankers understand unloading troubled loans will help clean up their books, taking bargain-basement prices could cause immediate pain and transfer the prospect of any future recovery to the buyers.

The Treasury Department's Public-Private Investment Program involves setting up investment funds to buy loans from banks. Ms. Bair said banks might be able to take an equity stake in those funds as partial payment for their loans, which would give them a payoff if the loans ultimately rise in value and would provide bankers with more incentive to sell troubled assets.

"We'd be open to comments on that," Ms. Bair said.

Domestic U.S. banks held loans valued at $6.5 trillion on their balance sheet last month, almost 60% of which are tied to consumer and commercial real estate. Those real-estate loans are causing the biggest headache and are likely the ones banks will hope to sell.

The problem is few investors will be willing to pay anything close to face value for such assets. If the price for impaired loans is below the face value of the loans minus the provision banks took to reserve for potential losses on the loans, banks' capital could suffer.

The FDIC's disposal of assets seized from failed banks gives some indication of the wide range of values the market is placing on bad loans. Last year, the FDIC auctioned off $38.6 million of real-estate loans that were originally valued at $58.4 million.

Loans made by banks in hard-hit states like California, Arizona, Michigan and Florida are valued the least, said Kingsley Greenland, chief executive of DebtX, an auctioning firm under contract with the government agency.

Top-tier, income-generating properties sell for as much as 90 cents on the dollar in regular FDIC auctions, Mr. Greenland said.

At the other end of the spectrum, COF Capital Partners LLC of Rocklin, Calif., paid $1.78 million, or only four cents on the dollar, for a portfolio of eight loans with a face value of $44.6 million, according to the FDIC's sale database.

The Treasury program aims to get investors to bid on the high side by letting them buy assets with lots of government-backed borrowed money and little cash down.

But observers said bankers may still hesitate to sell.

Some of the troubled loans still generate cash flow, and bankers might fear losing out on big gains in the loans when the economy improves.
Source http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123811926739754025.html

Not Just a Guy in a White Coat

Few would argue with the premise that some understanding of science is essential to making sense of the world today. Distinguishing between anecdotes and tested ideas means being able to draw on science and the scientific process to understand issues as varied as climate change, evolution and alternative energy.

Yet, many Americans' acquaintance with the scientific process is limited to a list they memorized from a textbook: Ask a question, form a hypothesis, conduct an experiment, collect data and draw a conclusion.

Just in time for the Year of Science 2009, a new Web site funded by the National Science Foundation offers a window to a better understanding about how dynamic and creative the scientific process really is.

With the contributions of "an astonishing set of advisers," Scotchmoor and her colleagues have developed a Web site that draws students into real-life examples--from the structure of DNA to advances in fueling technology to the discovery of insulin--to illustrate what science is and how it works. The site even offers a chance to evaluate pursuits such as astrology and apply a set of criteria to determine whether or not they constitute science.

The audience for the Web site is the general public as well as the educators (from kindergarten to undergraduate level) who are an essential part of young people's introduction to the scientific process and body of knowledge. Links to teacher resources include resources targeted to primary, middle school, high school and undergraduate-level educators. Instead of the five-part list representing a single scientific method in a textbook, there is an interactive chart showing how science works: the many motivations leading to exploration and discovery; the ways that ideas are tested out; the role of community analysis and feedback; and possible benefits and outcomes that result from scientific work.

Feedback from science teachers who have used the site have been very positive.

"Many of the teachers have a greater comfort level with science," said Scotchmoor. "They also noticed that their students were much more creative in how they approached problems, rather than saying, 'just tell me the steps and I'll do it.'"

Satellite data provide new view of smoke from wildfires

Scientists have a new tool for understanding how events in one region, such as wildfires, can affect air quality in areas far away.

Observations from NASA's Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) show that the plumes of dust, smoke and particles from wildfires or volcanoes often rise past the atmospheric boundary layer, the turbulent lowest portion of the atmosphere, and are injected into the less-turbulent and higher free troposphere. The aerosols can remain concentrated there for long periods and also be transported great distances.

The MISR Plume Height Climatology Project, a repository for wildfire plume height data acquired with MISR, became publically available in early 2008 and supports studies of wildfires, climate change and air quality. The MISR INteractive eXplorer (MINX) application tool used to generate the database is also free and was the recipient of a 2008 NASA Space Act Board Award.

One of the project's goals is to generate data based on actual observations of biomass burning emissions from wildfires that can be used in global atmospheric models. The frequency of wildfires has increased over the past few decades, and such fires may be even more common in a future, warmer climate. Predicting the effects of climate change on air quality requires the ability to accurately model smoke injection and long-range transport.

The MISR instrument flies on NASA's Terra satellite.

Blind Area Elimination: Video Cameras on Surface Haulage Equipment

As surface haulage trucks continue to get larger, the corresponding blind areas are also getting larger. Since 1987, there have been 58 fatalities in the mining industry involving haul trucks where restricted visibility was determined to be a contributing factor. In these accidents, the equipment operator did not expect a person or vehicle to be in the immediate area. This is a serious safety concern throughout the mining community. The increased production levels afforded by the ever increasing size of haulage equipment must not be at the expense of miners’ safety. The Mine Safety and Health Administration strongly supports the use of video cameras in large haulage vehicles to help solve this problem.

Microsoft temps take pay hit as staffing firms agree to cut fees

The third-party staffing agencies that provide temporary workers to Microsoft have agreed to a 10 percent reduction in the rate they charge the software giant, and many are passing a similar cut onto their employees.

It's the latest cost-saving move Microsoft has made to adjust to a recession that is clipping both consumer and business spending.

Staffing-industry analysts say the agencies that absorb more of the reduction themselves — rather than pass it all on to the workers — could gain favor with workers who will remember it when the market recovers and labor again becomes tight.

But these firms, which typically have single-digit profit margins, also have to stay in business until then.

For the workers facing smaller checks, the pay cut was an unwelcome, if not altogether unexpected, development.

Contract positions at Microsoft have been quietly eliminated over the past several months. One woman described earlier cuts in pay rates and benefits her husband has seen.

"If cuts are made on top of these prior reductions, that amounts to a significant loss in income and will make a sizable impact on the local economy," she said in an e-mail.

The woman, like several contractors who contacted The Seattle Times, asked for anonymity for fear that speaking out could jeopardize their jobs.

Some of the contract employees said they were glad to keep their jobs, even at lower pay. Washington's unemployment rate in January was 7.8 percent, higher than the estimated national rate of 7.6 percent.

Microsoft, which announced its first companywide layoff of full-time employees last month, said at the time it was also seeking to reduce its spending on vendor and contingent staff up to 15 percent.

The company does not disclose how many contract employees it uses. Estimates range in the tens of thousands for all contract workers, including temporary workers, who are typically paid on an hourly basis; and vendors, often higher-skilled individuals brought on for specific Microsoft projects.

Vendors, referred to as "v-dash" employees, were not affected by the rate reductions.

"We held discussions with some of the impacted agencies and settled on the 10 percent reduction based on the economic climate and the need to achieve greater cost reductions," spokesman Lou Gellos said in an e-mailed statement.

That reduction is for existing contracts. New temporary contracts will see bill rates reduced 15 percent.

Donn Harvey, president of the Staffing Association of Washington, said it appears most staffing firms are passing on the reductions directly to their employees.

Harvey is president of Bellevue-based Protingent Staffing, which provides vendors to Microsoft and is not affected by these rate reductions.

The bill rate Microsoft pays the agencies is substantially higher than the hourly pay the contract workers earn. This margin covers the agencies' cost for taxes, overhead, employee benefits and their own profits.

For example, if a staffing firm billed Microsoft $100 an hour for a worker the firm paid $60 an hour, a 10 percent reduction passed to the worker would reduce his or her pay by $10 an hour, or nearly 17 percent.

And indeed, some contract workers reported facing pay cuts of greater than 10 percent.

Surnish Nirula, director of business development at staffing agency Aditi USA in Bellevue, said his firm is trying to limit the cut borne by employees to 10 percent.

Two of the larger staffing agencies, Volt and Excell Data, did not respond to requests for comment.

"We are working hard ... to absorb costs even before this announcement came along," Nirula said. "Obviously, we have to run a viable business. It's a painful decision for us to take as well."

Eric Gregg, managing partner at the Inavero Institute, a Portland firm that provides research on and for the staffing industry, said agencies that protect their bottom line while insulating employees from the full brunt of the cuts could position themselves better in the long run.

A recent study Inavero did with CareerBuilder.com found that job candidates tend to remember staffing firms that looked out for them.

"These are the times that people remember," Gregg said. "It's not when jobs are prevalent and you have the pick of the litter, it's when a company is forced to make some tough decisions."

He said candidates also need to be realistic. Staffing agencies typically don't have the profit margins to absorb significant cuts from Microsoft, likely one of their biggest clients.

Source seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=2008791481&zsection_id=2003750725&slug=microsofttemps27&date=20090227

Diversiform-Leaved Poplar Sightseeing District

Located in Ejina Banner of Alxa League, 640 kilometers from Bayanhot, the natural diversiform-leaved poplar forest covering an area of 450,000 mu is one of the only three of its kind existing in the world today and is designated as a State grade natural protection district and forest park. It is believed that poplar trees can live up to a thousand years, would never fall down for a thousand years after death and never get rotten for a thousand years after falling down. Therefore the species is praised as living plant-fossil and designated as the second grade plant for protection. The district is also a main venue for Ejina Banner to hold festival activities and large scale meetings. It is a poplar ecology and culture demonstration base and ideal location for photo amateurs.

Chairman Gordon Highlights Role of Science in Facing Energy Challenges

The solution to the current energy crisis will come from American innovation; however, the current approach to energy research hasn’t resulted in the breakthroughs we need. The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy or ARPA-E will revolutionize how our country develops new energy technologies.

Today we need revolutionary breakthroughs, not just incremental change. Currently, potentially revolutionary research may be too risky or multi-disciplinary to fit into a specific program’s mission at the Department of Energy, and the peer review system tends to favor established investigators pursuing well-understood concepts.

ARPA-E will solve those problems. ARPA-E came out of recommendations in the National Academies report, Rising Above the Gathering Storm, and modeled after DARPA, which gave the Department of Defense breakthroughs like stealth technology, body armor, GPS, and the Internet. ARPA-E will leverage many of the same organizational elements that fostered innovation at DARPA. ARPA-E will be a similarly non-bureaucratic agency that brings together the best and brightest from industry, academia, and the public sector to pursue high-risk, high-reward research.

ARPA-E is charged with developing technologies that: reduce dependency on foreign oil; improve the energy efficiency of all economic sectors; reduce greenhouse gas emissions; and maintain U.S. leadership in the development and deployment of energy technologies.

ARPA-E was signed into law last August as part of the America COMPETES act (PL 110-69). The FY09 House appropriations bill provides $15 million for ARPA-E to get organized, and it will fall to the next President to make this new approach to addressing our energy challenges a priority.

Aberystwyth group shows the way for Wales’ sustainable future

Ms Davidson was in the area to promote the Sustainable Development Scheme which will see the Welsh Assembly Government using all its devolved powers to make every part of the public sector sustainable for the benefit of the environment and the people of Wales.

Sustainable Development is defined as improving people’s quality of life and wellbeing whilst using environmental resources sustainably, so that development now does not compromise the quality of life of future generations. The new plan calls for joined up decision making at all levels of government and the public sector to achieve this.

The Minister went to see the work of CRAFT, a successful not-for-profit furniture reuse business that works to reduce environmental impact.

During the visit, Ms Davidson said:

This plan is a new vision for Wales. The Assembly Government will use all its devolved powers – from health, transport to education – to lessen Wales’ environmental impact on the world and help protect our country for future generations.

She added that CRAFT showed sustainability in action:

CRAFT shows us exactly how groups and individuals can make a real difference. By encouraging people to donate unwanted items to be reused by others, it benefits both the local community and the environment.

It is an excellent real-life example of a project that puts sustainable development into practice – helping to reduce the amount of resources we use and a good demonstration of the type of initiative that I would like to see encouraged throughout Wales.

Allison Cann, Manager of CRAFT added:

CRAFT makes it easy for people to do their bit to help build a better, greener future. The generosity of people who give their unwanted belongings or their time lets CRAFT do all sorts of things.

Anyone can come to the shop to buy everything from an affordable three piece suite to a teaspoon, cooker, computer or a paperback. CRAFT employs 13 paid staff, provides training and volunteer opportunities and helps all sorts of people throughout the year.

Voyager Mission Objective

The mission objective of the Voyager Interstellar Mission (VIM) is to extend the NASA exploration of the solar system beyond the neighborhood of the outer planets to the outer limits of the Sun's sphere of influence, and possibly beyond. This extended mission is continuing to characterize the outer solar system environment and search for the heliopause boundary, the outer limits of the Sun's magnetic field and outward flow of the solar wind. Penetration of the heliopause boundary between the solar wind and the interstellar medium will allow measurements to be made of the interstellar fields, particles and waves unaffected by the solar wind.

Team Wales pulls out the stops for former ASW staff

Team Wales has provided a rapid response to the closure of Allied Steel and Wire in Cardiff and immediate first-class support to redundant workers, said Welsh Economic Development Minister Andrew Davies.

The Team Wales partners involved in the response met earlier this week to review their work and the progress being made.

Andrew Davies, said: "Unlike the Corus crisis of last year, there was virtually no warning of the closure of ASW. It is an enormous credit to all the agencies, ELWa, Jobcentre Plus, Careers Wales, the WDA and others, including Steel Partnership Training and Cardiff County Council, that we have made terrific progress in helping former ASW employees improve their interview techniques, find new work and claim their entitlements.

"The other main emphasis of the Welsh Assembly Government is to continue to support the sale of the ASW plant to a new buyer as a going concern.

"After the bitter blow of losing their jobs and facing serious uncertainty about their pension and redundancy entitlements, ex-ASW staff have every right to expect an immediate and first class response from support services. That is exactly what is being provided and we have been co-ordinating this work.

"The Welsh Assembly Government has also campaigned hard to ensure that ex-ASW staff qualify for the one-off ISERBS payment that DTI allows to be paid to redundant steel workers in recognition of the severe restrictions on state aids to the industry. I am delighted that this has been achieved and that all eligible redundant ASW staff, and a number of contractors, are already having their ISERBS claims processed."

Of the 600 ASW staff made redundant on 31 July over 400 have been seen by Job Centre Plus and Careers Wales, mostly at the specially set up multi-agency office at the Railway Club in Tremorfa. It is thought that Around 85% of those made redundant live in the Splott, Tremorfa, Grangetown, Adamsdown and Butetown areas.

ELWa and Steel Partnership Training (SPT) are providing support for a range of advice, guidance and training packages, including courses for HGV licences and fork-lift truck driving certification. The Council is assisting with IT training, CV preparation and improving interview techniques. SPT has seen nearly 700 ex-ASW staff and contractors in the last few weeks alone. Training and support are very much tailored to the needs of the individual with all the various agencies working closely together. For example, ELWa is providing support for one bilingual former steel worker who wants to become a Welsh teacher in Butetown while the WDA is supporting another who wants to set up his own boat building business.

Economic Development Minister Andrew Davies said: "Steel workers are a special breed and highly skilled and combining an independent spirit with a powerful work ethic. Our recent experience with Corus and with previous steel closures going back many years is that they are not out of work for long. The Welsh Assembly Government and our partners will do everything in our power to ensure that this remains the case."

YELLOW-POPLAR - Liriodendron tulipifera, Linn

TULIP POPLAR AND TULIP TREE are other names for yellow-poplar. Tulip-like, greenish-yellow and orange flowers account for these names, and even the leaf looks somewhat like a cross-section drawing of a tulip. Actually, the tree is not a poplar at all but rather a member of the magnolia family. In Missouri it is native only to the counties in the southeast corner of the state. However, it has been widely planted as an ornamental. On good soils in the Appalachian Mountains it attains its best growth. Growing to a maximum height of 200 feet and 6 feet in diameter, it is the tallest of the hardwood trees. Yellow-poplar will not grow in the shade.

The leaf is alternate, borne simply on long, slender stems with four main lobes. The upper two lobes form a notch. This distinctive shape is shared by no other tree. The surface is dark yellow-green and smooth, while the under-surface is pale.The fruit is a cone-like cluster of winged, angled seeds. The flower is very showy and attractive. It is two inches across, greenish-yellow, orange and waxy.

The twigs are dark red or brown, moderately stout and often contain a powdery frost-like bloom. They often are smooth and turn shiny with age. The buds are flattened like a miniature duck's bill and valve-like with two large scales.

On good soil it is a fast growing tree, has excellent form and is disease resistant. The wood of younger trees is light yellow in color. On old trees the heartwood becomes greenish in color. It makes excellent lumber and is easy to work and fasten. It is used for furniture, interior finish, boxes, crates and veneer. It is one of our most valuable trees.

Precautions should be taken to protect the tender young bark of ornamental trees since it is subject to sunscald. Cloth or burlap can be wrapped around the main stem to protect it from the direct rays of the sun for the first few years.

The yellow-poplar scale is an insect which attaches itself in large numbers to tender young twigs, removing sap from a small area, forming small breaks in the bark. This insect can become serious since the infested twigs eventually die.

Copper and You: How Much Is Too Much?

Today's limit for the amount of copper you can safely consume in a day—10 milligrams for adults—might need to be downsized.A study to learn more about how the body handles excess copper showed, for the first time, that long-term intake of 7.8 milligrams of copper a day can result in a potentially unhealthy accumulation of this mineral. That's based on analyses of blood, urine and other samples from nine healthy male volunteers, age 27 to 48, who went on a high-copper regimen for approximately 4½ months of the 5½-month investigation.

The high-copper stint lowered one standard measure of the volunteers' levels of antioxidants—healthful compounds that protect cells, the scientists found (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, volume 81, pages 822-828). The regimen also interfered with some immune system defenses, reducing the volunteers' ability to fight off the Beijing strain of the flu, for instance. And, even though copper excretion increased during the high-copper regimen, the ramped-up excretion rate wasn't sufficient to remove excess copper.The findings are of interest to nutrition researchers worldwide, as well as to the experts who recommend daily intake levels for essential nutrients, and the companies that make vitamin-mineral supplements.

The Government supports the fight against trade in conflict diamonds

The Government is contributing SEK 3 million to the Diamond Development Initiative (DDI). The aim of the DDI is to remedy problems linked to the diamond-producing countries in Africa, problems to do with the poverty and unsafe environment that working in diamond mines may entail.

The DDI is related to the 'Kimberley process' that works to hinder international trade in conflict diamonds. The Kimberley process is holding its annual meeting this year on 5-8 November in Brussels under the chair of the EU. Just over 300 delegates from some 70 countries are expected to attend the meeting, as well as representatives of the diamond industry, stakeholder organisations and international organisations.

"The Kimberley process and the DDI are important initiatives. They affect our trade with Africa and are linked to development aspects within trade, security and the environment, in line with Swedish policy for global development," says Minister for Trade Ewa Björling.

Shuangliou National Forest Recreation Area

Shuangliou National Forest Recreation Area is situated at the confluence of the two major headwaters of the Fonggang River in Pingtung County. Ranging in elevation from 150 to 650 meters above sea level, the area has a tropical climate and is well endowed with natural attractions, such as waterfalls, valleys, and rivers weaving through the dense reforested woods. Shuangliou is home to several species of bird, including the Formosan blue magpie, common kingfisher, and Muller's barbet. The Formosan ash, planted by the Forestry Bureau, blankets the landscape in green as far as the eye can see. A major landmark at the recreation area is the Shuangliou Waterfall. The river current is slow and the water clear, making it suitable for swimming.

Mutual fund

Mutual funds permit investors to acquire a pro-rata share of a diversified portfolio of securities. Part of the popularity of mutual funds is their ability to offer small investors some of the advantages otherwise limited to large investors: diversification of the portfolio and professional portfolio management. An investment in a mutual fund is actually the purchase of shares in a fund. The shares are purchased at a public offering price, which is the net asset value of a share in the fund at the time of purchase, plus, in some cases, a sales charge or commission. It should be noted that a common trust plan is a mutual fund.

Mutual funds and common trusts are usually open-end investment companies because they stand ready to sell the public as large a volume of shares as it wishes to buy. Whatever volume of money is drawn in is invested according to the formula or policy of the particular fund. When investors wish to cash in their shares, the fund sells a part of its portfolio to raise the money. It then pays off the investor on the basis of the value of its assets at the date of liquidation. In effect, you buy $1,000 worth of shares in the fund and, when you sell your interest, you receive your proportionate share of the value of the fund's assets at the time of the sale. Therefore, you may realize a gain or a loss on your original investment.

Foreign Direct Investment In Infrastructure In Developing Countries:

Since the mid-1980s, governments around the world have pursued policies to encourage private sector participation in the financing and delivery of infrastructure services. The natural monopoly characteristics of infrastructure utilities mean, however, that the privatization of these industries risks the creation of private-sector monopolies. Therefore, governments need to develop strong regulatory capabilities to police the revenues and costs of the privatized utility firms, while, at the same time, establishing regulatory credibility among investors. This provides an empirical examination of the relationship between the quality of the regulatory framework and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in infrastructure in middle and lower income developing countries during the period 1990 to 2002.

Macduff Marine Aquarium nets top award

Macduff Marine Aquarium has shown once again that it deserves its reputation as one of the top visitor attractions in the north-east of Scotland, by netting a prestigious national tourism award. Macduff Marine Aquarium has shown once again that it deserves its reputation as one of the top visitor attractions in the north-east of Scotland, by netting a prestigious national tourism award.

The aquarium scooped the Association of Scottish Visitor Attractions' Best Visitor Experience 2008 award at a recent awards ceremony held at Dunblane Hydro in Perthshire.This is the first time the Association of Scottish Visitor Attractions (ASVA) has offered the award, which was sponsored by The Royal Yacht Britannia.Many top attractions, including three based in Edinburgh, were judged on the kind of experience they offer to visitors and how the attraction monitors and improves its service.

The top prize is a free place on the Scottish Enterprise Tourism Executive Seminar at the Schindlerhof Hotel and Conference Centre in Nurnberg, Germany in January 2009. Claire Matthews, Macduff Marine Aquarium's education and marketing officer, collected the award in front of a large crowd of industry specialists.She said: “We are thrilled to have won this best visitor experience award, especially as the other contenders were of such high quality and located in the capital.”Witek Mojsiewicz, aquarium manager, was delighted with the award and praised his hard-working staff for all their efforts.“To have won this award is a real accolade for the aquarium,” he said. “Our staff work extremely hard to ensure that our visitors have a fun but also educational experience at the aquarium and they show great enthusiasm and passion for what they do.”

He added: “This award is a confirmation that we are achieving the standards for which we strive and we are over the moon to have been recognised in this way.”Macduff Marine Aquarium is owned by Aberdeenshire Council and features the marine life of the Moray Firth in a variety of fascinating displays, including a 5m deep circular kelp reef exhibit, which is the only one of its kind in the UK.Richard Stroud, chairman of Aberdeenshire Council’s Education, Learning and Leisure Committee was delighted to hear about the award and congratulated staff at the aquarium on their success.

“This is a fantastic achievement for Macduff Aquarium,” he said. “I would like to congratulate the hard-working and dedicated staff who have helped secure this prestigious accolade.“The award recognises a high standard of customer service and visitor experience which staff at all of Aberdeenshire Council’s facilities provide to our residents.”The aquarium opened a new jellyfish display earlier this year and leads the way in exhibiting Scottish deep-water invertebrates that are not shown in any other aquarium in Britain.The aquarium operates an education programme and is a big hit with schools as well as the general public, attracting around 50,000 visitors per year.

Worst Of Financial Crisis Yet To Come: IMF

The IMF's chief economist has warned that the global financial crisis is set to worsen and that the situation will not improve until 2010.Olivier Blanchard also warned that the institution does not have the funds to solve every economic problem."The worst is yet to come," Blanchard said in an interview with the Finanz und Wirtschaft newspaper yesterday, adding that "a lot of time is needed before the situation becomes normal."

He said economic growth would not kick in until 2010 and it will take another year before the global financial situation became normal again.The International Monetary Fund on Friday promised to help Latvia deal with its economic crisis after it assisted Iceland, Hungary, Ukraine, Serbia and Pakistan.But Blanchard said the IMF was not able to solve all financial issues, in particular problems of liquidity.

Withdrawals of capital leading to problems of liquidity "can be so significant that the IMF alone cannot counter them," he said, adding that massive withdrawals of investments from emerging countries could represent "hundreds of billions of dollars."We do not have this money. We never had it," he said. The IMF had spent a fifth of its 250 billion dollar fund in the last two weeks, Blanchard added.

He also urged central banks around the world to cut interest rates, after the Swiss National Bank made a surprise one percentage point rate cut Thursday.The central banks "should lower interest rates to as close to zero as possible," he said.

Rainbow Falls

A rainbow produced by mist from this 80-foot high waterfall is visible on sunny afternoons. During extended winter cold spells, an impressive ice formation builds around the falls.Between trailhead and falls, Rainbow Falls Trail gains about 1,500' in elevation. The 5.4 mile roundtrip hike is considered moderate in difficulty. The Rainbow Falls Trail continues for approximately 4 miles beyond the falls to the summit of Mt. Le Conte.

Access Trail: Rainbow Falls Trail (Tennessee)
Trailhead: From the parkway in Gatlinburg, turn at traffic light #8 and follow Historic Nature Trail into Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Continue past the Noah “Bud” Ogle homesite to the clearly signed Rainbow Falls parking area.

Peripheral Arterial Disease

Also called: PAD
Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) happens when there is a narrowing of the blood vessels outside of your heart. A substance made up of fat and cholesterol, called plaque, builds up on the walls of the arteries that supply blood to the arms and legs. The plaque causes the arteries to narrow or become blocked. This can reduce or stop blood flow, usually to the legs, causing them to hurt or feel numb. If severe enough, blocked blood flow can cause tissue death. If this condition is left untreated, the foot or leg may need to be amputated.

A person with PAD also has an increased risk of heart attack, stroke and transient ischemic attack. You can often stop or reverse the buildup of plaque in the arteries with dietary changes, exercise, and efforts to lower high cholesterol levels and high blood pressure.