| TheStar.com | columnists | Safe exit strategy from energy deal
After receiving the contract, you have a 10-day cooling off period to change your mind. If you have any doubts about enrolling, do it quickly – and in writing. Once the cooling off period has ended, the retailer will contact you by phone to see if you still want to go ahead. This call will be recorded and used as evidence against you if you change your mind later about signing a fixed-price contract. You don't have to reaffirm by phone if you contacted the retailer asking to be signed up, responded to a direct mail campaign or signed an online agreement. Once you agree (or your spouse agrees) by phone to go ahead, you probably can't get out without paying a fee. The early cancellation charge can be quite onerous – as high as $2,617.91 for one reader who has electric heating.
R-word rattles equity investors
The US stock market has for months downplayed the bearish signals sent by the government bond and corporate debt markets. Now it has started to speak the same language. The S&P 500 index is down 4 per cent this year at 1,409.13 points, its poorest start since its inception in 1926, according to Standard & Poor's. The index is firmly in “correction" territory, having fallen 10 per cent from its high of 1,565.15 last October. .
Stocks reverse losses to finish higher
Stocks began the day lower amid concern about a rise in consumer prices and lackluster readings on home construction. But observers said the economic figures ultimately didn't prove all that surprising given a recent run-up in oil prices and the well-documented woes of the housing sector. Investors had already begun to check some of their concerns when minutes from the Fed's meetings last month indicated the central bank didn't seem to be extremely worried about inflation. The apparent lack of urgent concern that lower interest rates would foment a rise in prices was perhaps welcome given the latest readings on consumer prices and the rise in oil. The absence of big surprises from the Fed minutes underscored the notion that policymakers will first address the flagging economy and turn later to inflation.
Pakistan, Iran to sign GSP pact in Tehran next week
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Iran may sign the Gas Sales Purchase Agreement (GSPA) in Tehran in last week of the current month on Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline project, sources told Daily Times here on Thursday.
Sources said that Iran has proposed February 24 to sign GSPA on IPI gas pipeline project in Tehran after the general elections in Pakistan. Earlier, Pakistan had proposed January 25 to sign GSPA on IPI in Abu Dhabi but Tehran declined to sign it in Abu Dhabi. Tehran told Pakistan that it wanted to sign agreement in Tehran with the new Pakistani elected government.
Sources said that draft of GSPA on IPI is ready to be signed by both Pakistan and Iran as Pakistani law ministry has vetted the draft of the agreement. Sources added that India was playing tactics with Pakistan to delay the signing of GSPA on IPI between Pakistan and Iran.
Simon Heffer's People of the World in 2008
The year ahead, however, may turn out even worse for Mr Brown than 2007. Many were taken in by his stewardship of the economy, believing the blatant propaganda that Britain was an economic success story. The truth, we now see, is somewhat at odds with that. House prices are in free-fall. Unemployment is rising. Growth is stalling. We are, most dangerously of all, awash with debt. We have had, for most of its 10½ years in power, a Government committed to living beyond its means. It borrowed recklessly during years of plenty when it should have been reducing its debt. Now we are entering years of famine in incredibly bad shape, with a people hooked on credit suddenly facing the bills coming in, and unable to pay. As I have written here before, it was not least Mr Brown's obsession, when Chancellor, to bloat the supply of money that allowed the banks to have all this easy credit.
Jones could rebound in L.A.
Want the fantasy spin on all the off-season moves? Visit the Fantasy Hot Stove Archive Hopefully Jones' addition signals the end of Luis Gonzalez's stay in Los Angeles, incidentally. With both Andre Ethier and, more importantly, Matt Kemp hoping for regular roles in the Dodger outfield, bringing back Gonzalez would be a bad thing for fantasy. Kemp has been rumored to be included in deals for Erik Bedard or Santana in recent weeks but probably stands the best chance at playing regularly in right field as things stand today. As a final-round mixed-league type or a third/fourth NL-only outfielder, there's plenty of breakout potential in the .342 hitter of a year ago. .
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT ...
Musharraf, who will meet with several European leaders during his eight-day visit, said it was important for the west to understand that it has a reliable ally in Pakistan. Speaking to reporters, he said he expects from EU leaders understanding for his country's predicament and stressed that, in return, they can expect Pakistan to stay the course on democracy and the rule of law. He acknowledged that 2007 had been an extremely ''turbulent'' year for Pakistan but underlined that the country's nuclear arms remained safely in the hands of the military establishment. ''There is no chance at all of our nuclear assets falling into the wrong hands,'' he said. Musharraf will meet with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and other European leaders. He will also visit the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Disowned by the Ownership Society
Remember the "ownership society," fixture of major George W. Bush addresses for the first four years of his presidency? "We're creating…an ownership society in this country, where more Americans than ever will be able to open up their door where they live and say, welcome to my house, welcome to my piece of property," Bush said in October 2004. Washington think-tanker Grover Norquist predicted that the ownership society would be Bush's greatest legacy, remembered "long after people can no longer pronounce or spell Fallujah." Yet in Bush's final State of the Union address, the once-ubiquitous phrase was conspicuously absent. And little wonder: rather than its proud father, Bush has turned out to be the ownership society's undertaker. Well before the ownership society had a neat label, its creation was central to the success of the right-wing economic revolution around the world.
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