Obama’s Budget Excludes For-Profit Colleges from New Programs

For-profit colleges and universities are not being targeted for new job-training funds under President Obama’s fiscal 2013 budget, a bold move from the administration to crack down on the often high-priced and low-quality institutions.

A key portion of the president’s budget is a proposed $8 billion investment in job training at community colleges over three years, leaving other institutions, like for-profit colleges, with little chance of securing any of that pool. In addition, Obama is calling on Congress to allocate more money to the Perkins Loan Program and create a $1 billion “Race to the Top” style program for higher education.

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Relief in U.S. food prices seen as crop supplies grow

(Reuters) - After being hammered by record high food prices in 2011, which helped ignite the Arab Spring uprisings, consumers worldwide may find some relief in 2012 if U.S. farmers, induced by last year's high crop prices, plant more fields to grain this year.

Analysts polled by Reuters expect prices of corn, soybeans and wheat to tumble as much as 15 percent from a year ago, which will benefit companies that produce meat like Pilgrim's Pride Corp, Sanderson Farms and Tyson Foods Inc in terms of lower feed costs.

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GM books record annual profit; union workers due $7,000

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Unemployment applications drop to a 4-year low

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The number of people seeking unemployment benefits fell to the lowest point in almost four years last week, the latest signal that the job market is steadily improving. The Labor Department says weekly applications for unemployment benefits dropped 13,000 to a seasonally adjusted 348,000. It was the fourth drop in five weeks and the fewest number of claims since March 2008.

The consistent decline indicates that companies are laying off fewer workers, and hiring is likely picking up further. When applications drop consistently below 375,000, it usually signals that hiring is strong enough to lower the unemployment rate.In January, the economy added a net 243,000 jobs, the most in nine months. And the unemployment rate dropped for the fifth straight month, to 8.3 percent. The economy has added an average of 201,000 jobs per month for the past three months.

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Report: Green Jobs Are Twice As Recession Resistant

While many industries in California were buckling under the weight of the recession, so-called green businesses were struggling too -- just not as much, according to a new report.

From January 2009 through January 2010, the overall state economy lost 7% of its jobs, according to nonprofit research group Next 10’s Many Shades of Green report. During the same period, the core green economy -- composed of businesses involved in renewable energy, clean-fuel cars, water conservation, emissions trading and more -- suffered a 3% job loss.

That left 169,800 green jobs in the state at the start of 2010. Regions such as San Diego, the Bay Area and Sacramento remained resilient with less than a 2% green employment decline. Los Angeles, which has more than 20% of all green jobs in the state, saw its positions slip 4% to 26,600.

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Obama Unveils Budget That Includes Billions To Rebuild Nation’s Infrastructure, Create Jobs

Obama laid out his budget proposal, which includes the Buffett Rule to raise taxes on millionaires and aims to cut the deficit by $4 trillion over the next decade, today in Virginia. The budget includes billions in spending on infrastructure programs, worker training, and higher education investment, all in attempts to create jobs and bolster the nation’s economic recovery:

The president will propose using half of the money from ending Americas’ two foreign wars to subsidize investment in infrastructure as part of his request for over $800 billion in multi-year spending on job creation and transportation.

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American Jobs Act :: 5 European Nations Agree to Help U.S. Crack Down on Tax Evasion

PARIS — Washington won important backing Wednesday for an effort to identify offshore accounts held by Americans, as key European allies agreed to help. In a joint statement, the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Britain said they wanted “to intensify their cooperation in combating international tax evasion.” In return, Washington has agreed to “reciprocate in collecting and exchanging” information about U.S. accounts held by residents of those countries.

The agreement concerns the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, known as Fatca, which became law as part of a 2010 jobs bill. Fatca is meant to help the U.S. Internal Revenue Service identify hidden accounts and other assets held overseas by Americans, but the law has caused an outcry among foreign financial institutions that fear the cost of compliance as well as what they have said are unrealistically tight implementation deadlines. 

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Michelle Obama Dances With 10,000 Iowa Kids

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