Banks Find Promise Unfulfilled in China Forays

In June 2005, when Bank of America Corp.'s then-Chief Executive Ken Lewis flew to Beijing to sign a $3 billion pact to acquire a 9% stake in one of China's biggest state-run banks, he hailed the deal as "a long-term investment."

In Mr. Lewis's view, the money the bank put into China Construction Bank Corp. should have given the Charlotte, N.C., lender an entry into the world's fastest-growing economy and a clear shot at tens of millions of potential banking customers.

The Bank of America chief at the time was part of a parade of top international bankers who piled ...

U.S. Dec. budget deficit $260 million: Treasury

The U.S. government ran a budget deficit of $260 million in December, the Treasury Department reported Friday, bringing the total shortfall for the first quarter of fiscal 2013 to $292 billion.

 Receipts in December were $269.5 billion, while the government spent $269.7 billion in the month. Year to date, the deficit is 9% lower than in the first three months of the prior fiscal year. The U.S. government's fiscal year runs from October to September.

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FISCAL CLIFF (What’s in Boehner’s “Plan B” – and what’s not)

What’s in Boehner’s “Plan B” – and what’s not

December 19, 2012, 11:30 AM

House Speaker John Boehner’s “Plan B” is Topic A in Washington as Republicans and the White House try to avert the fiscal cliff. And while it has almost no chance of clearing the Democratic-controlled Senate, passage in the House would allow the GOP to say Republicans acted to stop some tax increases. A vote — which the White House says President Obama would veto — is expected on Thursday.

Here’s a look at what’s in the bill, and what’s not.

The marquee element of the bill, which Boehner first unveiled on Tuesday, is its extension of Bush-era tax cuts for Americans making less than $1 million. That threshold was a concession by Boehner, who’d originally wanted tax increases on no one. But it’s much higher than President Obama’s $400,000 threshold (which was itself a concession for Obama).

Plan B also sets at 20% the tax rates for capital gains and dividends on income higher than $1 million — but keeps the current 15% rate for those making less than $1 million. Without a fiscal cliff agreement, rates on capital gains go up to a maximum of 23.8%. For dividends, rates go even higher, from 15% now to 43.4%. Click here for a Tax Foundation primer on the fiscal cliff.

Boehner’s bill would keep current rules on the estate tax, setting the exemption just north of $5 million with a top rate of 35%. That’s compared to 55% without a fiscal-cliff deal. Obama would set the estate tax at 45% with a $3.5 million exemption.

Plan B would also prevent the expansion of the alternative minimum tax, and extend some expensing for small businesses.

What it would NOT do is address the across-the-board spending cuts set to kick in next year for the Pentagon and domestic spending. Nor would it deal with the debt limit.

So while passage of Plan B would put Republicans on the record as opposing most tax increases (as if that were in doubt) it would only address half of the fiscal cliff. But Republicans could blame someone else for that.