Taylor Swift and Harry Styles had equally amazing 2012's, and they kissed good-bye to the preceding 365 days together in Times Square last night.
After singing on ABC's New Year's Rocking Eve, Swift and Styles braved the crowds to watch the ball drop. And to the hordes of fans who'd gathered to count down to midnight, "Haylor's" ensuing smooch ended up being more captivating than all the twinkling lights in the sky.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was a model of understatement yesterday when he declared: “This shouldn’t be the model for how to do things around here.”
No kidding.
With a pre-dawn vote yesterday, the Senate overwhelmingly approved a compromise package that undoes the Bush tax cuts for individuals making $400,000 a year and families making $450,000, raises several other taxes and limits personal exemptions.
But the deal was far from done late yesterday: In the House, conservative Republicans had serious misgivings with its terms, and while the expectation was that it ultimately will pass, there were no guarantees.
AP
Mitch McConnell
So, barring a GOP revolt, the so-called “fiscal cliff” has been avoided: there will be no automatic tax-rate hike for all Americans instead of just the wealthiest. But, as Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.) noted, the cliffhanger has been traded in for “a journey over the fiscal mountains.”
That’s because the last-minute deal simply postponed dealing with spending cuts, entitlement reform and trimming the national debt for another two months.
Indeed, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the package raises taxes by $620 billion while cutting spending by only $15 billion — a 41-1 ratio. Plus it adds $329 billion to the federal deficit in 2013, increasing it by $3.9 trillion over 10 years.
That means an even bigger battle soon. And, almost certainly, an even bigger political drama than the one America just witnessed.
This time, however, Obama will be without his biggest rhetorical weapon: his insistence on what he so misleadingly called “tax fairness.” Which, Republicans hope, means he’ll have to give more ground, provided they hold firm.
Because the fiscal-cliff package does next to nothing on the national debt and the budget deficit, at the risk of damaging the economy as it struggles to move forward.
In fact, the president’s chief goal throughout the talks was blatantly political, to portray the GOP as eager to sacrifice the middle class in order to protect the rich. (How ironic that most Democrats once vehemently opposed what they’re now staunchly defending as “tax cuts for the middle class.”)
Yet Obama — whose only contribution to the negotiations was creating ill will on both sides — made it clear that he hasn’t finished hiking taxes: Even before the House vote, the White House said that “continuing to ask the wealthy to do a little bit more” — i.e., pay even more taxes — “will be part of a balanced approach.”
In other words, he’s going to play the class-warfare card for everything it’s worth.
But the fiscal-cliff compromise actually brings in $200 billion less in tax revenue than did House Speaker John Boehner’s Plan B, which the president opposed (as, embarrassingly for Boehner, did House Republicans).
The whole idea of the “fiscal cliff” was to create a situation so precarious that Washington would have no choice but to reach a comprehensive solution.
But congressional fecklessness and presidential arrogance combined to once again avoid the unpleasant — but necessary — business of restoring the nation’s economic stability.
For all the back-patting now under way on Capitol Hill, the road ahead is sown with mines.
Take 10, America. It ain’t over.
Have an opinion on this Post editorial? Send it in to LETTERS@NYPOST.COM!
NEW YORK --
With it appearing that Washington lawmakers are working their way past the “fiscal cliff,” many analysts say that the outlook for stocks in 2013 is good, as a recovering housing market and an improving jobs outlook helps the economy maintain a slow, but steady recovery.
Reasonable returns in 2013 would send the S&P 500 toward, and possibly past, its record close of 1,565 reached in October 2007.
A mid-year rally in 2012 pushed stocks to their highest in more than four years. Both the Standard & Poor’s 500 and the Dow Jones industrial average posted strong gains in 2012. Those advances came despite uncertainty about the outcome of the presidential election and bouts of turmoil from Europe, where policy makers finally appear to be getting a grip on the region’s debt crisis.
“As you remove little bits of uncertainty, investors can then once again return to focusing on the fundamentals,” says Joseph Tanious, a global market strategist at J.P. Morgan Funds. “Corporate America is actually doing quite well.”
Although earnings growth of S&P 500 listed companies dipped as low as 0.8 percent in the summer, analysts are predicting that it will rebound to average 9.5 percent for 2013, according to data from S&P Capital IQ. Companies have also been hoarding cash. The amount of cash and cash-equivalents being held by companies listed in the S&P 500 climbed to an all-time high $1 trillion at the end of September, 65 percent more than five years ago, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices.
Assuming a budget deal is reached in a reasonable amount of time, investors will be more comfortable owning stocks in 2013, allowing valuations to rise, says Tanious.
Stocks in the S&P 500 index are currently trading on a price-to-earnings multiple of about 13.5, compared with the average of 17.9 since 1988, according to S&P Capital IQ data. The ratio rises when investors are willing to pay more for a stock’s future earnings potential.
The stock market will also likely face less drag from the European debt crisis this year, said Steven Bulko, the chief investment officer at Lombard Odier Investment Managers. While policy makers in Europe have yet to come up with a comprehensive solution to the region’s woes, they appear to have a better handle on the region’s problems than they have for quite some time.
Stocks fell in the second quarter of 2012 as investors fretted that the euro region’s government debt crisis was about to engulf Spain and possibly Italy, increasing the chances of a dramatic slowdown in global economic growth.
“There is still some heavy lifting that needs to be done in Europe,” said Bulko. Now, though, “we are dealing with much more manageable risk than we have had in the past few years.”
Next year may also see an increase in mergers and acquisitions as companies seeks to make use of the cash on their balance sheets, says Jarred Kessler, global head of equities at broker Cantor Fitzgerald.
While the number of M&A deals has gradually crept higher in the past four years, the dollar value of the deals remains well short of the total reached five years ago. U.S. targeted acquisitions totaled $964 billion through Dec. 27, according to data tracking firm Dealogic. That’s slightly down from last year’s total of $1 trillion and about 40 percent lower than in 2007, when deals worth $1.6 trillion were struck.
A suspected “peeping tom” was arrested Sunday after he was caught with video of women trying on clothes at the Forever21 store at the Sawgrass Mills mall.
Andre Clements, 30, has been charged with video voyeurism and disorderly conduct, Sunrise police said.
A manager at the store became suspicious when Clements, 30, was caught loitering in the dressing rooms. Customers also complained about Clements.
The manager alerted mall security, who called Sunrise police. When police arrived, the manager found several large slits in the curtain which separated the fitting room Clements was in and the adjoining fitting room.
In Clements possession police found a Sony camcorder with videos of young women changing clothes.
Clements admitted taping the women just before police had arrived.
It's official! Hugh Hefner married Crystal Harris in an intimate ceremony on New Year's Eve...
ET confirms that the 86-year-old Playboy founder and his 26-year-old model girlfriend were married at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles.
Related: Hugh Hefner's Fiancee Shows Off Engagement Ring
Harris was nicknamed the "Runaway Bride" for calling off the couple's first attempt at a wedding just days before the ceremony in June of 2011. The couple announced their engagement in December 2010.
This is the third marriage for the Playboy mogul, who first married Mildred Williams in 1949 and then wed Kimberley Conrad in 1989.
Wall Street beat Washington last year.
Overcoming an inept White House and Congress, stock markets stumbled through the last quarter to post solid gains in 2012.
Despite President Obama and lawmakers fumbling the fiscal cliff issue throughout the fourth quarter — pushing major US marts into the red in the period — the Dow Jones industrial average, the Standard & Poor’s 500 and the Nasdaq all rang up solid gains for the year.
For the Dow, which closed 2012 up 7.3 percent, it was the fourth straight annual increase following 2008’s 33.8 percent decline.
Getty Images
The S&P closed up 13.4 percent after logging a break-even 2011.
Bank of America — once the butt of jokes as the worst bank in the US — saw its shares soar 110 percent to $11.61 and outperformed its peers.
Apple stayed on the top of the heap as the world’s most valuable company with a market value of $500.6 billion. Shares rose 31 percent for the year to $532.17.
Stocks weren’t the only winners.
Gold closed up 6 percent, marking the 12th straight year it posted an annual price gain. However, it did not outperform the S&P 500 for the first time since 2004.
Oil had a bad year, with the price of US crude falling more than 7 percent, to $91.82 a barrel, snapping a string of three straight annual advances.
Though Florida’s in-state tuition costs more than double what it did only a decade ago, many of the state’s public universities are still a good value, according to the latest annual “Best Values in Public Colleges” list compiled by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance.
Florida schools have long fared well in the magazine’s rankings, with this year being no exception. Six of Florida’s 12 state schools made the top 100, with two — the University of Florida and New College of Florida in Sarasota — keeping their place in the top 10, though both schools slipped slightly from their spots a year ago.
UF landed at No. 3 in this year’s rankings, down from No. 2 last year. New College, meanwhile, slipped two spots from No. 5 to No. 7.
In the case of both schools, Kiplinger’s praised what it described as a combination of strong academics and relative affordability. Though Florida’s price of tuition keeps rising, it is still among the lowest in the country — 40th out of 50 states, according to the College Board.
Kiplinger’s also noted UF’s strong retention rate.
“Students stick around, with only 5 percent leaving after freshman year,” the magazine wrote. “And although Florida is a big school — with 16 colleges, more than 150 research centers and institutes, and the largest undergraduate enrollment in our top 10 — it’s still selective, with a 43 percent admittance rate.”
New College is the complete opposite of UF in terms of size (it enrolls less than 850 students) but Kiplinger’s found it also offers “solid academics” along with the lowest total cost of attendance — $16,181 — of any of the top 10 schools. That figure combines the $6,783 annual tuition and fees with other college expenses such as room and board.
Lower in the Kiplinger’s rankings, four other Florida schools were also recognized. Florida State University came in at No. 26, the University of Central Florida landed at No. 42, the University of South Florida was No. 57 and the University of North Florida was No. 64.
Braulio Colón, executive director of the Florida College Access Network, said Florida families looking for a tuition bargain shouldn’t limit their search to state universities. Florida’s community colleges, Colón said, are high-quality, cost about half as much as state universities, and boast a guaranteed-transfer agreement that is the envy of many other parts of the country. Students who earn an associate in arts degree from a Florida community college are guaranteed admission to a state university, though it may not be to the student’s preferred school.
Long term, Colón said, Florida must overhaul its student financial aid system if it wants to maintain college affordability. The state’s largest college aid program is Bright Futures scholarships — some of which are awarded to affluent families who could afford to pay for college on their own. Helping students with demonstrated need must become more of a priority, Colón said, or college costs could eventually spiral out of reach for some families.
“We are at a turning point, right now, as a state,” Colón said.
To see the Kiplinger list go to: http://www.kiplinger.com/reports/best-college-values/
Her bags are packed. She’s found an apartment on Craigslist, and the utilities just got hooked up. And Lois Frankel, a Floridian for four decades, has a new and toasty winter coat, hat and boots.
On Tuesday, 20 years after she first hoped to move to Washington, D.C., Frankel finally will be making that journey north. Two days later, she’ll reach the pinnacle of her political career as she steps onto the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, raises her right hand and takes the oath of office to become the newest member of Congress from Broward and Palm Beach counties.
Read the full story at Sun-Sentinel.com.
Long among the sports world’s biggest Twitter holdouts, Kobe Bryant has finally joined the social network. But he hasn’t opened an account, and won’t be around for long.
Social savvy fans are being blessed with his presence thanks to Nike Basketball, which has turned over its account to Bryant since Tuesday.
[More from Mashable: Avery Johnson’s Teenage Son Unloads on Twitter After NBA Firing]
Nike Basketball, which sponsors Bryant and produces his official sneaker, announced the Kobe takeover in a Christmas Day tweet. The account’s name is now “Kobe Bryant” although its handle remains @nikebasketball. Kobe has spent the past few days tweeting about a variety of subjects using a series of hashtags that play off the theme #counton-fill-in-the-blank.
He’s tweeted about the Lakers progress as a team:
[More from Mashable: FanDuel Is Fantasy Sports With a Twist]
He’s tweeted behind-the-scenes snippets of training and treatment:
And he’s tweeted a totally normal, typical, everyday holiday family portrait:
Bryant actually joined Twitter for realsies back in 2011, but then deleted the account after racking up more than 35,000 followers in a just a few hours. He’s one of the NBA’s few stars without a Twitter presence. Nearly 90% of the league’s players are on the social network, according to Twitter.
But Bryant did become much more active on Facebook this summer, especially while traveling with the United States’ Olympic basketball team. He has nearly 15 million fans there, and reportedly writes his status updates and messages himself, with editing and actual posting done by support staff. In November he asked Facebook fans whether to join Instagram or Twitter next, and on Monday hinted in a status update that he may soon open an Instagram account.
What athletes would you most like to see get more active on social media? Let us know in the comments.
BONUS: 30 Must-Follow Twitter Accounts This NBA SEASON
The NBA is arguably the world’s most engaging sports league on social media. Follow its official Twitter account for news, highlights and promotions.
Click here to view this gallery.
Thumbnail image courtesy Flickr, Keith Allison
This story originally published on Mashable here.
Social Media News Headlines – Yahoo! News
Hillary Clinton was hospitalized in New York on Sunday after doctors discovered a blood clot.
Pics: From the White House to the Altar: Chelsea Clinton Through the Years
The 65-year-old Secretary of State's spokesman said the clot was found during a follow-up exam related to the concussion she sustained earlier this month when she fainted due to dehydration; Clinton was suffering from a stomach virus and has been sidelined from work for the last three weeks.
Clinton is expected to remain at New York Presbyterian Hospital for the next two days so physicians can treat her with anti-coagulants and keep an eye on her.
Video: Grammys Flashback '97 -- Hillary Clinton!
Philippe Reines, deputy assistant secretary of state, said in a statement, "In the course of a follow-up exam today, Secretary Clinton's doctors discovered a blood clot had formed, stemming from the concussion she sustained several weeks ago. She is being treated with anti-coagulants and is at New York Presbyterian Hospital so that they can monitor the medication over the next 48 hours. Her doctors will continue to assess her condition, including other issues associated with her concussion. They will determine if any further action is required."
Copyright © colored News. All rights reserved.
Design 
And Business Directories
