Credit unions in the United States claim nearly 90 million members, many of whom cite benefits of dealing with a member-owned financial institution versus a commercial bank for routine savings and lending needs.
However, credit unions are making a big push into business lending, the traditional bailiwick of the banks. And the banks are pushing back.
Lending by credit unions to businesses is limited by law to 12.5 percent of total assets, a substantially more restrictive limit than that imposed upon banks.
But credit unions are different than banks in many important ways and benefit from a federal income tax exemption thanks to their membership structure. In recent years, these institutions have ramped up their lending to small businesses and are bumping up against the loan cap in some instances, especially at some of the larger CUs.
Legislation is pending in Congress to expand the limit to 27.5 percent of assets, and the banks are crying ?foul.? The American Bankers? Association decries the provision as unfair competition, since
banks are shareholder-owned and subject to federal taxation. The battle is currently joined by lobbyists in the hallways of Congress.
The bankers have a point. President Roosevelt signed the Federal Credit Union Act in 1934, authorizing the creation of nonprofit, member-owned cooperatives to abet thrift and credit extension.
Because of their unique structure, credit unions are exempt from federal income tax and from certain banking regulations. Hence they are positioned to compete unfairly for loan business, according to the banks.
Furthermore, bankers note that the majority of credit unions hold few business loans and that the pressure to expand the cap is coming from a small number of aggressive, nontraditional CUs.
However, since they are nonprofit organizations, credit unions argue that the lower tax and regulatory costs are passed through to members in the form of higher rates of return on deposits than banks pay their depositors.
Credit union advocacy groups also note that their member institutions fund a depository insurance fund that is backed by a government guarantee but did not require a government rescue during the financial crisis.
In any event, increasing the limit on business loans hardly represents a significant threat to the banks. The Credit Union National Association estimates that its member institutions hold less than 6 percent of small business loans in the U.S., totaling $40 billion.
By contrast, commercial bank lending to small businesses in 2010 totaled $570 billion according to the U.S. Small Business Administration.
Furthermore, many of these small credit union loans are relationships that the commercial banks are not seeking or already have rejected.
U.S. Census Bureau data show that business enterprises with 50 or fewer employees represent 30 percent of U.S. private employment.
These small enterprises are the sweet spot for credit union lending, according to Fred Becker of the National Association of Federal Credit Unions.
Clearing the legal obstacles to additional small business lending capacity by credit unions is a reasonable step toward increasing job creation at no cost to taxpayers.
Get answers to financial questions on Wednesdays from our columnists who work in the financial services industry. Christopher A. Hopkins CFA, is a vice president at Barnett Co. Submit questions to his attention by writing to Business Editor Dave Flessner, Chattanooga Times Free Press, P.O. Box 1447, Chattanooga, TN 37401-1447, or by emailing him at dflessner@timesfreepress.com.
Contact: Preston M. Moretz pmoretz@temple.edu 215-204-4380 Temple University
Duck-billed dinosaurs that lived within Arctic latitudes approximately 70 million years ago likely endured long, dark polar winters instead of migrating to more southern latitudes, a recent study by researchers from the University of Cape Town, Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas and Temple University has found.
The researchers published their findings, "Hadrosaurs Were Perennial Polar Residents," in the April issue of the journal The Anatomical Record: Advances in Integrative Anatomy and Evolutionary Biology. The study was funded through a grant from the National Science Foundation.
Anthony Fiorillo, a paleontologist at the Museum of Nature and Science, excavated Cretaceous Period fossils along Alaska's North Slope. Most of the bones belonged to Edmontosaurus, a duck-billed herbivore, but some others such as the horned dinosaur Pachyrhinosaurus were also found.
Fiorillo hypothesized that the microscopic structures of the dinosaurs' bones could show how they lived in polar regions. He enlisted the help of Allison Tumarkin-Deratzian, an assistant professor of earth and environmental science, who had both expertise and the facilities to create and analyze thin layers of the dinosaurs' bone microstructure.
Another researcher, Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan, a professor of zoology at the University of Cape Town, was independently pursuing the same analysis of Alaskan Edmontosaurus fossils. When the research groups discovered the similarities of their studies, they decided to collaborate and combine their data sets to provide a larger sampling. Half of the samples were tested and analyzed at Temple; the rest were done in South Africa.
"The bone microstructure of these dinosaurs is actually a record of how these animals were growing throughout their lives," said Tumarkin-Deratzian. "It is almost similar to looking at tree rings."
What the researchers found was bands of fast growth and slower growth that seemed to indicate a pattern.
"What we found was that periodically, throughout their life, these dinosaurs were switching how fast they were growing," said Tumarkin-Deratzian. "We interpreted this as potentially a seasonal pattern because we know in modern animals these types of shifts can be induced by changes in nutrition. But that shift is often driven by changes in seasonality."
The researchers questioned what was causing the dinosaurs to be under stress at certain times during the year: staying up in the polar region and dealing with reduced nutrition during the winter or migrating to and from lower latitudes during the winter.
They did bone microstructure analysis on similar duck-billed dinosaur fossils found in southern Alberta, Canada, but didn't see similar stress patterns, implying that those dinosaurs did not experience regular periodic seasonal stresses. "We had two sets of animals that were growing differently," said Tumarkin-Deratzian.
Since the Alaska fossils had all been preserved in the same sedimentary horizon, Fiorillo examined the geology of the bonebeds in Alaska where the samples were excavated and discovered that these dinosaurs had been preserved in flood deposits.
"They are very similar to modern flood deposits that happen in Alaska in the spring when you get spring melt water coming off the Brooks Mountain Range," said Fiorillo. "The rivers flood down the Northern Slope and animals get caught in these floods, particularly younger animals, which appear to be what happened to these dinosaurs.
"So we know they were there at the end of the dark winter period, because if they were migrating up from the lower latitudes, they wouldn't have been there during these floods," he said.
"It is fascinating to realize how much of information is locked in the bone microstructure of fossil bones," said Chinsamy-Turan. "It's incredible to realize that we can also tell from these 70 million-year-old bones that the majority of the polar hadrosaurs died just after the winter season."
###
Copies of this study are available to working journalists and may be obtained by contacting Preston M. Moretz in Temple's Office of University Communications at pmoretz@temple.edu.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Contact: Preston M. Moretz pmoretz@temple.edu 215-204-4380 Temple University
Duck-billed dinosaurs that lived within Arctic latitudes approximately 70 million years ago likely endured long, dark polar winters instead of migrating to more southern latitudes, a recent study by researchers from the University of Cape Town, Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas and Temple University has found.
The researchers published their findings, "Hadrosaurs Were Perennial Polar Residents," in the April issue of the journal The Anatomical Record: Advances in Integrative Anatomy and Evolutionary Biology. The study was funded through a grant from the National Science Foundation.
Anthony Fiorillo, a paleontologist at the Museum of Nature and Science, excavated Cretaceous Period fossils along Alaska's North Slope. Most of the bones belonged to Edmontosaurus, a duck-billed herbivore, but some others such as the horned dinosaur Pachyrhinosaurus were also found.
Fiorillo hypothesized that the microscopic structures of the dinosaurs' bones could show how they lived in polar regions. He enlisted the help of Allison Tumarkin-Deratzian, an assistant professor of earth and environmental science, who had both expertise and the facilities to create and analyze thin layers of the dinosaurs' bone microstructure.
Another researcher, Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan, a professor of zoology at the University of Cape Town, was independently pursuing the same analysis of Alaskan Edmontosaurus fossils. When the research groups discovered the similarities of their studies, they decided to collaborate and combine their data sets to provide a larger sampling. Half of the samples were tested and analyzed at Temple; the rest were done in South Africa.
"The bone microstructure of these dinosaurs is actually a record of how these animals were growing throughout their lives," said Tumarkin-Deratzian. "It is almost similar to looking at tree rings."
What the researchers found was bands of fast growth and slower growth that seemed to indicate a pattern.
"What we found was that periodically, throughout their life, these dinosaurs were switching how fast they were growing," said Tumarkin-Deratzian. "We interpreted this as potentially a seasonal pattern because we know in modern animals these types of shifts can be induced by changes in nutrition. But that shift is often driven by changes in seasonality."
The researchers questioned what was causing the dinosaurs to be under stress at certain times during the year: staying up in the polar region and dealing with reduced nutrition during the winter or migrating to and from lower latitudes during the winter.
They did bone microstructure analysis on similar duck-billed dinosaur fossils found in southern Alberta, Canada, but didn't see similar stress patterns, implying that those dinosaurs did not experience regular periodic seasonal stresses. "We had two sets of animals that were growing differently," said Tumarkin-Deratzian.
Since the Alaska fossils had all been preserved in the same sedimentary horizon, Fiorillo examined the geology of the bonebeds in Alaska where the samples were excavated and discovered that these dinosaurs had been preserved in flood deposits.
"They are very similar to modern flood deposits that happen in Alaska in the spring when you get spring melt water coming off the Brooks Mountain Range," said Fiorillo. "The rivers flood down the Northern Slope and animals get caught in these floods, particularly younger animals, which appear to be what happened to these dinosaurs.
"So we know they were there at the end of the dark winter period, because if they were migrating up from the lower latitudes, they wouldn't have been there during these floods," he said.
"It is fascinating to realize how much of information is locked in the bone microstructure of fossil bones," said Chinsamy-Turan. "It's incredible to realize that we can also tell from these 70 million-year-old bones that the majority of the polar hadrosaurs died just after the winter season."
###
Copies of this study are available to working journalists and may be obtained by contacting Preston M. Moretz in Temple's Office of University Communications at pmoretz@temple.edu.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
The original Pantech Jest (2 stars) wasn't all that funny, and unfortunately the new Jest 2 isn't much of an improvement. It swaps the first version's fatally flawed touchpad for a proper five-way control pad, and it's now a true world phone as well. If you want something small for voice calls and frequent texting, it's only a decent, middling choice now. Aside from its odd shape, this cell phone still doesn't stand out in any way.
Design, Controls, and Voice Quality The Jest 2 looks a lot like the original version, which isn't a great thing at all, but at least it's comfortable to use. It measures a squat 3.7 by 2.6 by 0.6 inches (HWD) and weighs 4.1 ounces. The smooth, glossy plastic and rounded edges make it especially easy to slip the Jest into a pants pocket or purse, while the rubberized back panel adds comfort during long phone calls. The 2.4-inch, 320-by-240-pixel LCD looks bright and colorful.
The controls are a vast improvement over the last model, with a regular five-way control pad front and center and two hardware function keys in lieu of finicky capacitive buttons. Pantech also moved the four main function keys down a bit, and blended them into a single button bar with a textured surface that's easy to use one-handed. Pantech left the original keyboard largely intact, although the new one has more attractive, metallic red accents and brighter backlighting, which looks sharp.
Unlike the first model, the Pantech Jest 2 is a real globetrotter, with dual-band 1xRTT (850/1900 MHz) and quad-band EDGE (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) support for calls made overseas. But despite the 3G/CDMA sticker on the side, the Jest 2 is squarely a 2G-only device. There's no Wi-Fi either, but feature phones usually don't have Wi-Fi.
Voice quality was pretty poor, with a honking, midrangey sound in the earpiece that was uncomfortable to listen to. Transmissions through the microphone sounded thin and brittle, with plenty of street noise filtering through. Reception was average. Calls sounded fine through an Aliph Jawbone Era Bluetooth headset ($129, 4 stars) and the Nuance-powered voice dialing worked well over Bluetooth. The speakerphone sounded a bit harsh but had decent gain, if not quite enough for use outdoors. Compared with the first version, battery life fell almost an hour to 5 hours and 57 minutes of talk time, but this is still pretty good.?
User Interface, Apps, and Multimedia This is really just a voice call and texting phone, but we'll dive in and talk about its other features just for completion's sake. The home screen's animated wallpaper is cute. The main menu consists of nine icons arranged in a grid pattern. Verizon finally dropped its ridiculous $5-per-month charge for e-mail, and now gives you free access as part of the $10 data plan (which also lets you browse the Web). One nice bonus: You get Opera Mini as the default browser. Opera's server side compression helps with delivering Web pages more quickly, though there's only so much you can do on 2G; stick with WAP sites and it works well enough. You also get voice-enabled, turn-by-turn GPS directions with VZ Navigator for an additional $10 per month.
The Jest 2 still isn't much of a multimedia phone, though. The non-standard 2.5mm headphone jack makes finding decent sounding earbuds virtually impossible. There's just 44MB of free internal memory?bizarre, since the original version had almost a gigabyte free. At least the Jest 2 recognized all tracks on my 32GB SanDisk microSD card, not just the ones in a specific folder. Music tracks sounded clear and bright through Plantronics BackBeat Go Bluetooth headphones ($79, 4 stars), and I heard none of the dropouts that plagued the first Pantech Jest. Standalone video playback is out, though.
Camera and Conclusions The 2-megapixel camera has no flash or auto-focus, and is, to put it bluntly, a total disaster. There's about a second of delay between when you hear the shutter sound and when the photo is actually taken, meaning you'll have to sit perfectly still or risk blurring the result. Even when I did sit still, photos had plenty of color noise and were never completely sharp. The video recorder is also completely useless, thanks to its maximum 176-by-144-pixel video size, which is barely larger than the resolution of an iPhone app icon. There's no excuse for this on a phone today, even a free one, especially since plenty of low-end devices with 1.3-megapixel cameras snap usable photos.
Feature phones are a tough sell to begin with these days, thanks to steadily dropping smartphone prices. The Jest 2 acquits itself better than the first model, but just barely. It's a decent buy if you want a free phone for lots of texting and voice calls, and you have a separate point-and-shoot camera and iPod. Another good texting alternative is the LG Cosmos 2 (Free, 3 stars), with its better voice quality, more traditional dimensions, roomier horizontal QWERTY keyboard, and second numeric keypad. Our favorite feature phone on Verizon Wireless remains the admittedly expensive Casio G'zOne Ravine 2 ($199.99, 4 stars), which offers stellar voice quality and stands up to plenty of abuse, although it's not a texting phone like the Jest 2.
A former head of Welsh Water has claimed Wales should profit from transferring water to England.
John Elfed Jones, former chairman and chief executive of the company, says water is a business and, like oil, it should be sold to make money.
It comes as Severn Trent, which supplies mid Wales, announced plans to sell water to Anglian Water, one of the firms which has imposed a hosepipe ban.
But Welsh Water said water transfer was too expensive and impractical.
Mr Jones told BBC Wales' Taro Naw programme, to be broadcast on S4C (Tuesday 21:30 BST): "What is fairness? Is it fair that Wales isn't profiting a penny from the water which is exported to England?
"In 50 years will our people look back and ask why didn't we invest years ago?
Continue reading the main story
?Start Quote
In 50 years will our people look back and ask why didn't we invest years ago??
End QuoteJohn Elfed JonesFormerly chairman and chief executive, Dwr Cymru Welsh Water
"It's about time we took this option seriously," he said.
"It's a lack of energy and vision which leads us to be in difficulties often."
A current hosepipe ban affects 20m people in England who get their water from Thames Water, Southern Water, South East Water, Anglian Water, Sutton and East Surrey, Veolia Central and Veolia South East.
There has been a debate over transferring water from regions such as upland areas of Wales.
On Tuesday, Severn Trent announced plans were being drawn up to supply more than 100,000 homes in the worst-hit areas.
It aims to sell 30 million litres of water a day to Anglian Water, one of the seven companies that imposed a hosepipe ban at the beginning of April to help ease the shortage.
Pumping from boreholes, Severn Trent plans to flow water from sources beneath Birmingham into the River Tame, which joins the Trent.
'Extreme circumstances'
The water will then flow to Gainsborough, Lincs, where Anglian Water will take it up.
"These are extreme circumstances," a Severn Trent spokesman said.
"Severn Trent has been talking for a long time about water trading, but this is the first situation where we have been able to put it into practice."
He added that the deal would run for "as long as it necessary without impacting on our own customers' supplies".
A spokesman for Anglian Water said: "It is something that we are looking at in terms of doing business with a neighbouring company."
Despite demand from parts of the UK for water, a spokesperson for Welsh Water said: "At present it's not possible to move water from Wales to the south-east [of England] as the resources are not there because it's too expensive and it would not be a practical option either for environmental reasons."
However, one of the UK's leading experts on water transfers told Taro Naw that enlarging one of the Elan Valley reservoirs in Powys was the best option.
Civil engineer John Lawson also calls for further studies on the issue.
"From the studies that I have done in the past, the studies always lead back to the raising of Craig Goch dam if you need to have a really big new resource for southern England," he said.
"Until some further evidence is produced to demonstrate that this is not possible, perhaps on environmental grounds, then I think that (Craig Goch) would be the best way."
Taro Naw also examines the practicalities of future water transfers and also hears from Welsh farmers in southern England who are facing serious difficulties with crop production because of the ongoing drought.
Former National Farmers' Union vice-chairman Gwyn Jones, who farms in Sussex, who has invested ?150,000 in maize production, said if the drought became any worse "there could be complete crop failure which would be really bad for us".
Water For Life, a recent UK government water white paper, urged greater interconnection in the UK's water supply system so that resources could be used more ?exibly and ef?ciently.
Plaid Cymru MP Elfyn Llwyd has said previously that Wales should receive a "commercial return" for water.
"I would be more than happy for the Welsh government to decide - in discussion with Westminster - we will supply you (England) with water, the Welsh people are fully in support of that, but there should be a commercial return," he said.
Debt consolidation will be the best out that may provide comfort any time you?ve got obtained financial products and lastly ended up straight into major economic difficulties. While a single usually takes lending options by numerous lenders, the situation is named numerous debt that may result in critical pressure plus larger perils of defaulting. This particular arrives the borrower in extra tension associated with payments. On the other hand there are several remedies for sale in obtain for those indebted to help regain charge of their financial situation.
Debt consolidation is one kind of these kind of solutions and entails containing almost all personal loans in to one loan utilized to additional many debt. The leading goal debt consolidation should be to risk-free no less than a reduced interest rate as is possible. It may also risk-free a restricted rate, as well as it may be to deliver expediency in order to service just one mortgage loan.
Finance corporations complete provide as well as take care of most of these combination deals amongst people along with their debt collectors. Many debt collectors rather have debt consolidation along with management documents because of their clientele rather than letting them go into default and set about some other healing procedures that may be costly and also time-consuming.
Debt consolidation incorporates a properly secured mortgage loan towards home that can because equity. The exact property typically can be a house. The actual lenders? risk is actually lessened and therefore the rate offered are going to be cheaper. However, consolidation is yet another extra bank loan, and this also is the one other financial debt in the account. Nonetheless it will help the borrower to be able to get rid of additional debts that may reduce a persons vision costs lower if you can ,.
The best identity with debt consolidation is always that, the borrower arranges the particular month to month fork out shells to adjust to the cost. As a result, your debtor is within a greater place to find out how to manage installments. This will likely recover most personal debt stresses and thus, give a fresh possiblity to take care of some other dollars issues.
Sometimes a debt consolidation loan may be taken out in order to payment almost all because of personal debt. At other times, some sort of debt plan is going to be applied so that you can handle the debt throughout modest, step-by-step sums.
Another vital characteristic while using debt joining together payments; it can help struggling with debt documenting. As being the borrower receives a lot more obligations, the financing history will be harmed. Should the person in debt misses the actual pay back, or maybe provides an extra and also extreme debit card, however, the credit may well undergo. However, once the debtor consolidates your balances and also settles obligations which are excellent, the injury to your consideration will be quit.
When we pick up the language ?debt consolidation? many of them make a company that really does every one of the meet your needs exactly. Nevertheless for several, applying for particular loans for debt consolidation can be an selection. This isn?t recommended in case you have extremely poor credit, although much more for anyone that are looking in order to avoid debts via stepping out of handle.
The one thing you?ll want to make sure of that the credit score is nice as you can get this. Principle notion behind a personal loan with regard to debt consolidation is usually to reduced the interest rate prices for their current charges and also eventually fork out a lesser amount of. The more expensive your credit ranking the fewer a persons vision fee a new loan provider will provide.
Invest some time and judge the loan originator with great care. Every single establishment possibly may have different rates and charges, so you want to you should definitely find very good offer accessible. An illustration of it is one particular lender could alter your rate of interest when your credit history droplets down below 720 and the other might possible until the item lowers below 700. This is sometimes a major choosing aspect in terms of filling out the deal.
Make sure you get a listing of almost all documents that you will have for being authorized to the financial loan, and you?ll are looking for your paperwork with your when you attend indication the final documents. Commonly you should have 2 sorts of Identity, fork out slip for the last 6 months, and then any documentation for almost any assets you may well be making use of to secure the credit.
You will want to borrow adequate income to pay off all your credit cards. The full point of personalized loans for debt consolidation is usually to lessen the volume of charge usually are paying about, and saving you money with a single established fascination rather than a distinct a single about every single card. In addition, reducing every one of the unsecured debt will increase your credit score.
It?s not at all encouraged that you simply get along with optimum the finance credit cards once more when you have merely paid out them off with the debt consolidation financial loan. This will just cost you directly into economic issues, and that is certainly the whole reason that anyone required the credit seem to start with. The thought is usually to lower your expenses and never acquire farther into credit card debt. This will likely seem like a challenging undertaking yet all those who are likely to get this to compromise will certainly stand up then one time grow to be fiscal separate.
Before a business owner may contemplate answering chapter 7 petition, he could wish to check out what exactly organization Debt consolidation can do. A lot of companies offer these types of services, plus they are willing to aid. Many who will be within strong fiscal issues coming from diverse solutions will certainly point out that Loans For Debt Consolidation will probably fix their problem. Of course, for a time it can do.
In a world where NFC is just starting to become useful, its notable absence on Nokia's Windows Phones has been increasingly, well, notable. But a video that temporarily appeared on the Finnish phone-maker's YouTube account reveals that NFC is indeed coming, with a new version of the Lumia 610 on the Orange network apparently set to become the first handset to make it happen somewhere in Europe. The video was quickly pulled, but not before Thegadgetbuff managed to grab a dodgy rip of it, which you'll see after the break. It contains an interview with Andrea Bacioccola, whose job title ("Lead program manager, NFC") pretty much says it all -- even before he gets to mentioning stuff like FourSquare checking-in, audio speaker pairing like with the N9, and a new Nokia Tag Writer app that could possibly do something similar to the customizable Xperia SmartTag system. See for yourself after the break, and as mentioned, please forgive the clip's piratical quality.
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_t0mBr5ajkS3AGiEzEczd7fcUkR-co7nJDPi0FKIw8nBqMdYZ-HfmBBLu0EhLKqVcCoDqs8KBd8443iTvekdefPCsB5zlf1yL-ZCawCPfA=s0-d){kind=small}
Public release date: 11-Apr-2012
Share ] 
