Word: yielding
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World leaders signaled they would not seek a legally binding agreement on greenhouse-gas emissions at next month's climate talks in Copenhagen, confirming mounting doubts that the conference would yield a landmark pact. Instead, a coalition including U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao announced at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit that it will aim to build political consensus, paving the way for concrete steps. The biggest challenge will be aligning the interests of developing and industrialized nations: the U.S., among others, argues that because emerging powers like China and India are among the largest emitters...
...cost. While the idea has little chance of passing in either chamber, the fact that it has been proposed demonstrates the depth of opposition among some Democrats to continuing the war. And the pressure on Obama from Capitol Hill is likely to grow if sending reinforcements doesn't yield quick progress on the ground. (See pictures of the U.S. Marines' new offensive in Afghanistan...
...recent overseas controversies is that this President has a tendency to err in the direction of respect toward other countries. This is a witting reaction to the Bush Administration's tendency to diss our allies and insult - or invade - our enemies. It is a long game, which will yield results, or not, over time. After a first year spent demonstrating a new comity, Obama has gained the global credibility to get tough - on Iran, for example - in his second year. But the real evaluation of Obama's debut must wait for the results of the two biggest problems...
...higher yields of BABs have made muni bonds more attractive to pension funds and other nonprofit (i.e., tax-free) investors. And that new demand is driving down the yields on traditional muni bonds because there are relatively fewer of them issued. BABs, unlike traditional munis, are taxable. For most individual investors, the interest-rate difference is a wash - a high net worth investor would owe the extra yield they get from the BAB back in taxes, so they'd wind up with roughly the same after-tax yield as if they had bought a lower-yielding tax-free muni...
...only question about BABs is the cost. So far local governments have issued just over $50 billion in BABs with an average yield of just under 6%. That means the federal government is paying just over 2% interest on that debt a year, or about $1 billion. Many estimate that the volume of BABs could triple over the next year. What's more, most of these bonds are issued with a term of 15 or 30 years. That means by the end of 2010 the federal government could end up being on the hook for as much as $90 billion...