Romney: Obama 'long on words' 'short on action'

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney gestures during a campaign stop at Seilkop Industries in Cincinnati, Ohio, Thursday, June 14, 2012. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney gestures during a campaign stop at Seilkop Industries in Cincinnati, Ohio, Thursday, June 14, 2012. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

CINCINNATI (AP) ? Mitt Romney on Thursday said President Barack Obama is "long on words and short on action" when it comes to fixing the economy.

Speaking in battleground Ohio, before the president's planned economic speech in a different part of the state, the likely Republican presidential nominee assailed his Democratic rival's policies.

"Don't forget, he's been president for three and a half years. And talk is cheap. Actions speak very loud," Romney said. "If you want to see the results of his economic policy, look around Ohio, look around the country."

"What he says and what he does are not always the exact same thing," the former Massachusetts governor said.

Romney addressed a crowd of about 100 from a manufacturing plant of Selikop Industries, the type of small-business facility that's become a standard venue for the Republican's campaign stops. He was in Cincinnati, a Republican stronghold in the state near the Kentucky border.

Romney's campaign had billed the appearance as a dueling event to the president's major economic speech at a college gym in Cleveland, in the Democratic northeastern region of Ohio. But what Romney delivered was his standard, 20-minute campaign speech, castigating the president for the economic stimulus, the health care law and for not approving the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada. Romney also criticized the president's policies toward China and said that, if elected, he would label the country as a currency manipulator.

Romney started his speech 15 minutes earlier than originally planned, which meant he finished speaking before Obama took the podium.

The last time Romney and Obama held competing events was in late May, when the likely GOP nominee visited the shuttered California headquarters of the solar energy company Solyndra and Obama welcomed George W. Bush back to the White House for the unveiling of his presidential portrait. Then, cable TV networks went with coverage of Obama over his challenger. On Thursday, both candidates' garnered broadcast coverage ? with Romney getting first dibs.

Romney strategist Stuart Stevens would not say if the campaign decided to start earlier to avoid a direct conflict with Obama.

Still, Obama's team was closely monitoring Romney's event in Ohio. "Threatening to label China a currency manipulator is reckless and unnecessary," Obama spokeswoman Lis Smith said in a statement after Romney's speech. She called Romney's positions on China a "campaign-year conversion."

___

Associated Press writer Philip Elliott in Washington contributed to this report.

Associated Press

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FACT CHECK: Romney misses a mark on Solyndra claim

FILE - In this May 31, 2012 file photo, Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney holds a news conference outside the Solyndra manufacturing facility in Fremont, Calif. Mitt Romney mischaracterized an Energy Department Inspector General investigation when he claimed it found the Obama administration had steered federal contracts to friends and family at Solyndra, the California solar company that went bankrupt. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)

FILE - In this May 31, 2012 file photo, Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney holds a news conference outside the Solyndra manufacturing facility in Fremont, Calif. Mitt Romney mischaracterized an Energy Department Inspector General investigation when he claimed it found the Obama administration had steered federal contracts to friends and family at Solyndra, the California solar company that went bankrupt. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)

FILE - In this May 26, 2010 file photo, President Barack Obama, accompanied by Solyndra Chief Executive Officer Chris Gronet, right, and Executive Vice President Ben Bierman, left, looks at a solar panel during a tour of Solyndra, Inc., a solar panel manufacturing facility, in Fremont, Calif. Mitt Romney mischaracterized an Energy Department Inspector General investigation when he claimed it found the Obama administration had steered federal contracts to friends and family at Solyndra, the California solar company that went bankrupt. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney has revived charges about the failed solar company Solyndra as he assails President Barack Obama' green energy policy. But he didn't get the story completely straight when he accused the administration of favoring "cronies."

Solyndra, the first renewable energy company to receive a federal loan under the 2009 stimulus law, went bankrupt last year and laid off its 1,100 workers, leaving taxpayers on the hook for more than $500 million.

The company's implosion and revelations that Obama administration officials rushed to complete the loan in time for a September 2009 groundbreaking have become an embarrassment for Obama and a rallying cry for GOP critics of his green energy program.

On Thursday, Romney stood outside the company's former headquarters in California to decry Solyndra as Exhibit A of presidential missteps on the economy.

A look at some of Romney's assertions and how they compare with the facts:

___

ROMNEY: "An independent inspector general looked at this investment (Solyndra) and concluded that the administration had steered money to friends and family ? to campaign contributors."

THE FACTS: There is no proof ? and it appears unlikely ? that Energy Department Inspector General Gregory Friedman was talking about Solyndra when he testified in March 2011 about stimulus contracts. Friedman said his office was investigating whether such contracts were steered to friends and family, presumably of government officials in charge of spending stimulus money. Romney cited a Newsweek article that referred to Friedman's testimony.

But Friedman did not say that such claims had been proved, and there is no evidence he was including Solyndra in his comments. The testimony came nearly six months before the company declared bankruptcy. And there is no evidence that family members of top federal officials received any favors. Friedman's office is among several federal agencies that are investigating Solyndra.

___

ROMNEY: "President Obama was here to tout this building and this business (Solyndra) as a symbol of the success of his stimulus. It's a symbol not of success but of failure. It's also a symbol of a serious conflict of interest (and) how the president thinks about free enterprise. Free enterprise to the president means taking money from the taxpayers and giving it freely to his friends."

THE FACTS: So far, there is no indication of White House interference with the energy loan process. There is no question, though, that campaign contributors have ties to Solyndra and other energy companies that have received federal money. Romney appeared to be referring to possible political influence wielded by two major Obama campaign donors with ties to Solyndra.

The Energy Department hired Steve Spinner, a former sports fitness executive, to help monitor the loan guarantee program that benefitted Solyndra. Emails released to Congress show Spinner was actively involved in the Solyndra loan, despite pledging to step aside because his wife's law firm represented the company. Spinner, who left the Energy Department in 2010, was a major contributor to Obama's 2008 campaign and is again raising money for the president's re-election.

George Kaiser, an Oklahoma billionaire, invested $400 million in Solyndra through an investment vehicle connected to his family foundation. Kaiser was a "bundler" for Obama's 2008 campaign, raising between $50,000 and $100,000 for the president, records show. He also was a frequent White House visitor in 2009 and 2010.

Kaiser has said he played no part in helping Solyndra win the 2009 loan, but emails to Congress show he discussed Solyndra with the White House on at least one occasion. Kaiser also directed business associates on how to approach the White House and Energy Department to help Solyndra deal with its financial problems.

Internal emails show administration officials were keenly aware of political considerations in the Solyndra loan, especially during later efforts to keep the company afloat. But none of the records released to date shows the White House or top administration officials pushed the loan specifically because of Kaiser or other campaign contributors.

___

ROMNEY: "If the business failed, as it did, it's the taxpayers that get stuck with losing a half a billion dollars. So it's heads and his cronies win, and tails and the taxpayers lose."

THE FACTS: Romney is right that taxpayers are on the hook for the $528 million loan to Solyndra and other losses from the loan guarantee program. But the Obama administration said such losses were expected when Congress created the high-risk program, which is intended to boost cutting-edge projects that would have trouble obtaining private financing.

An independent review indicates that the government could lose nearly $3 billion on green energy loans ? just under one-third of the $10 billion Congress set aside.

The report by former Treasury Department official Herb Allison said the loan program needs more rigorous financial oversight and stricter performance standards to reduce the risk of future defaults.

The review did not involve Solyndra or Beacon Power Corp., a Massachusetts energy storage company that also went bankrupt after receiving a federal loan. The government has lost $567 million from those two loans so far, although officials say they could recover as much as $28 million from the sale of Beacon to a private equity firm.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu said administration officials "have always known there were inherent risks in backing innovative technologies at full commercial scale." But he said the "vast majority" of companies that received loans are still expected to pay them back in full, with interest.

___

Follow Matthew Daly on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/MatthewDalyWDC

Associated Press

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Construction jobs fall to 13-year low ? Crain's New York Business

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Internet traffic to explode; thank your phone and tablet

5 hrs.

Suzanne Choney

Buckle up and hold onto your phones, tablets, digital?video clips and Wi-Fi connections, because they're all?contributing to a global?explosion in Internet traffic. It's?expected to increase four times to 1.3 zettabytes by 2016, according to Cisco's VIsual Networking Index Forecast.

That's a lot of traffic and a whole?lot of bytes (one zettabyte is equal to a trillion gigabytes).

By 2016, Internet traffic globally is expected to reach 150 petabytes an hour, or "the?equivalent of 278 million people streaming an HD movie ...?simultaneously," Cisco says.?

The highest-traffic generating countries in 2016 will be the United States, followed by China, says Cisco.

What's driving this growth? A good part?of it are all the phones, tablets and other "smart devices," including TV sets with Internet connections, that we're adopting.

By 2016, there will be nearly 18.9 billion network connections ? "almost 2.5 connections for each person on earth" ? compared with 10.3 billion network connections in 2011, Cisco says.

Last year, while?PCs "generated 94 percent of consumer Internet traffic," by 2016, that will decrease to 81 percent. Meanwhile, mobile?Internet data traffic is forecast to increase 18 times from 2011 to 2016.

There are other factors, too, Cisco says:

• By 2016, there will be 3.4 billion Internet users; that's about 45 percent of the world's projected population.
• More than half of the world's Internet traffic is expected to come from Wi-Fi connections by 2016.
• Meanwhile, the average fixed broadband speed will increase "nearly fourfold," from 9 megabits per second in 2011 to 34 megabits per second in 2016.
• More video, video, video. By 2016,?1.2 million video minutes?will?"travel the Internet every second."?In 2011, there were an estimated 792 million Internet video users, Cisco says; by 2016 there will be 1.5 billion. For businesses worldwide, "desktop videoconferencing is projected to be the fastest-growing service, with 36.4 million users in 2011, increasing to 218.9 million users in 2016."

"Each of us increasingly connects to the network via multiple devices in our always-on connected lifestyles," said Suraj Shetty, Cisco's vice president of product and solutions marketing, in a statement. "Whether by video phone calls, movies on tablets, web-enabled TVs, or desktop video conferencing, the sum of our actions not only creates demand for zettabytes of bandwidth, but also dramatically changes the network requirements needed to deliver on the expectations of this 'new normal.' "

"New normal" or more digital insanity? Only you will be the judge of that.

Check out Technolog, Gadgetbox, Digital Life and In-Game on?Facebook,?and on Twitter, follow Suzanne Choney.

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Kenya remittances rise 37 pct yr/yr in April

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New Office Building Construction Cranking Up in Houston ...

Construction cranes are popping up all around Houston. There are more proposed and under construction buildings in Houston now than there were in 2008. Take a look at what is in the works for Houston currently:

This is a syndicated post. Read the original post here.

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