Fiat To Buy The Rest Of Chrysler

How ‘Gravity’ Defied Box-Office Odds | ‘Gravity’ News - WallStreetJournal

The comedy of errors that are IMF forecasts is well known: it was covered most recently in “Hilarious Charts Of The Day: IMF’s “Growth Forecasts” Over Time.” Moments ago we got the IMF’s first forecast update for 2014 which also included the Fund’s first 2015 forecasts for growth around the world. Not surprisingly, they were largely higher across the board except for China which has seen its 2014 projected GDP growth collapse from 8.5% a year ago to 7.5% now, and is expected to drop modestly to 7.3% in 2015. The charts showing the progression of said hilarious forecasts are shown in their entirety below, about which one thing can be said with certainty: whatever the GDP growth rate in the world is in 2014 and 2015 it will be anything but what the IMF predicts it to be.

Continued

There’s a war raging between establishment and movement conservatives for the soul of the Republican Party. The next battlefield is at the ballot box in less than two weeks in a rural South Alabama district.

The proxy fight is a special primary runoff in the state’s 1st Congressional District, where establishment-backed Bradley Byrne and Tea Party insurgent Dean Young are vying to succeed former GOP Rep. Jo Bonner, who resigned from Congress in August to take a job with the University of Alabama. 

(Photo by Mike Kittrell/AP)

Why we should nurture Googles of tomorrow

"I believe things can change. But instead of diverting huge national resources into house prices to fuel consumption, it means making an equivalent commitment to technology businesses, to long-term capital provision and to supporting our “Googles” of tomorrow."

Archie Norman

Mr. Norman is chairman of Lazard London 

ThinkUp launches new crowdfunded app to help users mine data from their own social networks

Veteran blogger Anil Dash is creating a service for quantified selfies, a Klout for the indie web

DOMA Ruling Prompts Change in Federal Student Aid Rules

By Philip Elliott Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Students in same-sex marriages will be treated the same as their straight married classmates when it comes to federal college loan applications, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Friday in a shift that reflects this year’s Supreme Court ruling that broadened gay rights.

“We must continue to ensure that every single American is treated equally in the eyes of the law, and this important guidance for students is another step forward in that effort,” Duncan said in a statement.

The Education Department also revised its required Free Application for Federal Student Aid to reflect more inclusive language about students and their parents. The department said it would recognize a student — and parents — as legally married if the couple was legally married in a state that permits same-sex marriages.

The new application forms do not distinguish between gay or straight marriages.

The department also said students’ eligibility for federal aid would be the same in all 50 states, regardless of where the student attends school.

For instance, a same-sex couple from Massachusetts, where gay marriage is legal, would be treated the same as a straight couple if one or both applied for a federal student loan to attend a school in one of the 34 states that do not permit gay marriage. The same standards would apply to parents in same-sex marriages.

“As students fill out their FAFSA this coming year, I’m thrilled they’ll be able to do so in a way that is more fair and just,” Duncan said, using the financial aid application’s acronym.

Before the Supreme Court ruled this summer, the Education Department was bound by the Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibited all federal agencies from recognizing same-sex marriages. The Clinton-era law defined marriage as between one and one woman and hurt many applicants in same-sex marriages.

Friday’s move is the latest from the Education Department to be more helpful to students in same-sex marriages or with married gay parents.

Even before the ruling, Duncan instructed the department to collect information on both of the student’s legal parents, regardless of marital status. That meant children being raised by unmarried couples — regardless of sexual orientation — would have both adults’ incomes factored into financial aid eligibility.

That was an effort to reflect that same-sex couples share financial responsibilities for children, even if their state does not sanction gay marriages.

Kenneth Mehlman also talks about progress after DOMA

Throwback to last season. Powder bombs in Pandoras all day.

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