Supreme Court's healthcare ruling: The outlook for California

Amid the cheering in many quarters over the Supreme Court's decision to uphold the federal healthcare law, a sobering fact remains: California's ailing healthcare system won't be easy to fix.

Millions of Californians will still lack insurance even after a massive coverage expansion. Medical costs and premiums are expected to keep rising, at least in the short run. And many of those who do gain coverage could have a tough time finding a doctor to treat them.

"The implementation challenges are huge and the expectations for cost control are unrealistic," said Arthur Kellermann, a physician and director of Rand Health, a nonprofit research group in Santa Monica. "I'm an ER doctor and I've been reading about the promise of lowering costs by keeping people out of the emergency room for 20 years, and it hasn't happened yet."

The court ruling does provide enormous benefits to a state where 7 million residents are uninsured. Starting in 2014, California will receive as much as $15 billion a year to expand Medi-Cal coverage for the poor and to provide federal subsidies to people buying policies in a state-run exchange. About 4 million Californians are expected to gain coverage.

Consumers will be guaranteed health coverage regardless of preexisting medical conditions, and insurance companies are required to spend at least 80% of premiums on medical care for individuals and small businesses.

California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones said covering even a portion of the state's uninsured should sharply reduce the amount of uncompensated medical care that's driving up the price of health insurance.

On average, California families pay an extra $1,400 each in annual premiums to cover medical bills for the uninsured, according to the California Endowment.

"That cost shift is one of the big drivers of cost in the system," Jones said.

Consumers and employers would welcome any relief. The average premium for employer coverage in California has increased 154% over the last decade, more than five times the 29% increase in the state's overall inflation rate.

Experts say premiums could rise further as the federal mandate increases demand for health coverage in a market dominated by a small group of insurers.

"Employers are worried the law doesn't go far enough to reduce the long-term cost trends," said David Lansky, chief executive of Pacific Business Group on Health. "There is still a lot of work to do."

There are other provisions in the Affordable Care Act designed to encourage more coordinated patient care and take away incentives for hospitals and doctors to provide unnecessary treatments.

Many California physician practices and hospitals are at the forefront of those experiments. But it's too early to tell whether any of those ideas will work on a larger scale, experts say.

"In theory, there are some things in the law that will reduce costs," said Paul Keckley, executive director of the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions, a research arm of the accounting firm. "However, actually capturing those savings may be elusive."

California is ahead of other states in establishing an online exchange where consumers and small businesses will be able to comparison shop for a health plan.

This week, the California Health Benefit Exchange requested $196 million from the federal government to help build its enrollment system.

Next month it will begin discussing requirements for health plans that want to be sold through the online marketplace.

The exchange plans to start enrollment in October 2013 for policies that take effect in January 2014.

More than 2 million Californians are expected to buy policies with federal subsidies earmarked for families earning about $92,000 or less annually. A family of four in California earning $70,275 would have to pay about $556 a month for subsidized coverage, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

An additional 2 million Californians would be covered through an expansion of Medi-Cal, the joint state-federal program for the poor and disabled.

Source: http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/latimes/features/health/~3/QN0maZvs7J0/la-fi-supreme-health-calif-20120629,0,3127383.story

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Washington museum shows War of 1812 not just "Star-Spangled Banner"

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/washington-museum-shows-war-1812-not-just-star-110034323.html

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Brigham Young University earns elite distinction for teaching cybersecurity

Education ? NSA designates school as a premier institution for developing professional IT experts.

When the nation?s ultimate collector and protector of classified information is impressed by a university?s cybersecurity curriculum, it?s no secret.

The National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security have designated Brigham Young University as a National Center for Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education, a distinction reserved for schools that excel in teaching how to protect networks and computer systems.

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For more information about BYU?s Information Technology program, visit

http://bit.ly/MeftrT

BYU?s Information Technology program "prepares students to be cybersecurity experts" in the public and private sectors, said Joseph Ekstrom, chair of the school?s IT program.

BYU is one of seven schools nationwide that recently received the designation, which stands until 2017, when the school can re-apply. BYU is the first school in Utah to earn the distinction.

According to an NSA press release, graduates of the designated schools often become guardians of national security information systems and commercial networks, "meeting the increasingly urgent needs of the U.S. government, industry, and academia."

That?s certainly true of BYU grads, said Ekstrom.

"We have graduates from two to four years ago on the lead security teams inside Boeing and Lockheed Martin," he said.

Until last year, the program had a 100 percent student placement rate for five years straight, according to Dale Rowe, who joined the faculty of BYU?s College of Engineering and Technology in 2010 after more than 17 years as a systems administrator and developer of cybersecurity infrastructure.

BYU grads, he said, often go on to work for such companies as Microsoft, ExxonMobil, Adobe and the Department of Defense, among others. With the new designation, the program?s approximately 170 students ? 60 to 70 percent of whom have a cybersecurity emphasis ? will stand out as strong candidates for the NSA and other government work. An NSA liaison will direct students to funding opportunities and job placement, he said.

And they may not have to go far: NSA is building a new data center in Bluffdale, although the agency has been tight-lipped about hiring for the facility.

story continues below

And there?s more good news: BYU and its IT students are now eligible for special grants and scholarships from the Department of Defense and the National Science Foundation.

To receive the National Center for Academic Excellence designation, BYU underwent a rigorous evaluation of its curriculum, faculty and master theses ? every aspect of the program. And, the IT program had to demonstrate that the campus is serious about cybersecurity.

"We had to show that security was being used appropriately across the campus, from nursing to law and management," Rowe said in a news release. "After going through the certification process, it became clear that we definitely have excellent security coverage throughout all of our programs."

One key to the curriculum?s success is that security concepts are covered in multiple core classes, not just one or two specialty courses. Ekstrom began incorporating security into the curriculum in 2004.

More instruction on security is important, said Whitney Maxwell, of Iowa, who graduated from the program in April.

"When it comes to IT, there?s no area you can pursue without recognizing the security aspect of it," she said. For example, "it?s foolish to teach coding without teaching the security implications of it."

After completing her second cybersecurity internship, she will join Microsoft in August as a software developer and tester, poring over code to find vulnerabilities.

Next Page >

Copyright 2012 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/54405135-78/byu-program-security-information.html.csp

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Follow that police force: Cops in Sarnia, Ont., to tweet their Canada Day calls

Follow that police force: Cops in Sarnia, Ont., to tweet their Canada Day calls

Follow that police force: Cops in Sarnia, Ont., to tweet their Canada Day calls

TORONTO - Police are often adding new weapons to their arsenal ? this time, they're doing it 140 characters at a time.

On Canada Day, officers in a small southwestern Ontario city will take to Twitter to publish every call they respond to during a day-long "tweet-a-thon" campaign.

"It's sort of a virtual ride-along where people can follow us and see where we're going, what we're doing and what we're dealing with," said Const. Heather Emmons, a spokeswoman for the Sarnia Police Service.

The campaign is aimed at raising awareness about the high volume of calls police typically deal with during busy times like Canada Day.

For the past few years, the force has answered an average of 100 calls during an eight-hour period on the holiday. Most of them relate to public intoxication, disturbances and trespassing.

"Canada Day does tend to be busy for us," she said. "We want to focus on it being a family-friendly day and not let a few rowdy people ruin it for everybody else. "

Emmons said there will be about 30 officers ? double the number dispatched on a typical day ? patrolling the city by car, bicycle and foot. Some will also be stationed at a local McDonald's, the origin of a large number of complaints on the holiday every year.

During Canada Day, an officer on bicycle patrol will send tweets out to the micro-blogging site, with Emmons taking over in the evening from a command post set up in a popular park, where the city's main festivities will be held.

Although every call will be blasted onto Twitter, police don't believe the practice will deter people from calling in emergencies. Emmons said she's going to take extra care not to send tweets which contain identifying information such as names or addresses.

It's not the first time police have used Twitter campaigns to raise awareness about the number of calls they receive.

Last fall, police in Guelph, Ont., held their first "tweet-a-thon" during university frosh week. Since then, they have held two more.

Spokesman Sgt. Doug Pflug said their Twitter feed now has more than 2,200 followers, many of whom joined following the campaigns.

"People have a real curiosity on the job that we do, the type of work we do and the calls we do. Social media is just an extension of that," he said.

"It's a fantastic communication tool. It's a great way to engage the community."

Pflug likened the technology to that of traditional police scanners, which allow the public to listen to emergency calls as they happen.

Twitter also gives the police an opportunity to release information that needs to be sent out accurately and quickly ? like road closures and natural disasters ? without going through traditional news media.

Last year, one of their tweets about a missing person was read on a radio broadcast. A listener heard it, spotted the man's car and contacted police.

"We had an elderly gentleman who was suffering from the early stages of dementia, and he went missing," said Pflug.

"(Officers) found this elderly gentleman in the corn field and he basically wasn't dressed for the weather. Twitter basically saved this gentleman's life."

Pflug says not all calls, particularly those about safety concerns or domestic incidents, are released by police via Twitter or traditional media.

"We can't infringe on the rights of victims or complainants," he said.

Const. Anne Longley, Vancouver police's social media officer, said the service has held three Twitter campaigns since 2010, which have allowed online followers a glimpse of what goes on during an 11-hour police officer's shift.

"Social media has been a very successful way for us to interact with the community that we weren't able to before," she said. "It is interactive. It is not just a way for us to push out a message."

Source: http://www.capebretonpost.com/Canada---World/Society/2012-06-30/article-3020745/Follow-that-police-force%3A-Cops-in-Sarnia,-Ont.,-to-tweet-their-Canada-Day-calls/1

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[VIDEO] 2013 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 launch control explained

Photo by egmCarTechIt?s one of the most sought out battles in the pony car world ? the 2012 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 vs. the 2013 Ford Shelby GT500. The two are the finest new muscle cars to come out of detroit, each pumping out massive amounts of power ? but which is better? The guys at Inside Line ... Read full article

Source: http://www.motorshout.com/news/topic/317368/video_2012_chevrolet_camaro_zl1_vs_2013_ford_shelby_gt500

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Analysis: Jumping off the fiscal cliff

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Members of Congress from both parties are increasingly mulling the unthinkable: going home in December without acting to avoid the $4 trillion in tax hikes and deep spending cuts known as the fiscal cliff.

Neither Democrats nor Republicans claim this is their preferred option, as it could rattle global financial markets badly and anger their constituents.

But as they circle each other in an ever-more partisan atmosphere they see little prospect for a settlement acceptable to both parties in the lame duck session of Congress after the November 6 election.

That is when they confront the wave of fiscal cliff decisions including how to handle expiration of temporary tax cuts that originated during the presidency of George W. Bush, $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts and the need to raise the debt ceiling again.

Some members and partisan strategists are concluding that they might be better off doing nothing.

They would come back in January with a new Congress relatively flush with cash - at least on paper - from the impact of the tax hikes; hit reset and start over to structure a new series of tax cuts. Call them the "Obama tax cuts" or "Romney tax cuts," depending on the victor in the November election.

The risk of shaking the markets is always there. But they could mitigate that by telegraphing to voters and Wall Street in advance that they definitely intend to write some new tax cuts into law. It could take a couple months, or maybe even all of 2013 and beyond, but they promise they will do it and they promise they will make the tax cuts retroactive to January 1, 2013.

"My preference would not be to accept a lesser solution than you could get in February and March just to say that you got it done before the end of the year," Senator Roy Blunt, a member of Republican leadership and congressional liaison to Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, told the 2012 Washington Reuters Summit last week.

Representative Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, a member of the Democratic leadership in the House of Representatives, said that if Republicans continue to demand a tax plan with breaks for the wealthy, Democrats should "take the question to the American people" in January by allowing historically low rates from the Bush years to expire.

"If they refuse, if the Republican position remains as it is today - which is, they are going to insist on holding tax relief for 99 percent of the American people hostage - I think we should just take that debate into next year," Van Hollen said.

A liberal Democratic think tank, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, has since argued that the cliff is more of a slope, and that any negative impact would be gradual. That may leave lawmakers some wiggle room.

Romney last month floated the idea of Congress leaving town and waiting until he arrives in late January to act, which initially brought gasps, in part because the Congressional Budget Office has said stepping off the "cliff" could push the U.S. economy into a recession in the first half of 2013.

"The prospects are substantial that the Bush tax cuts expire for at least a period of time," said a senior Senate Democratic aide. "This is not to say that folks plan that to happen, but a lot of folks will block other paths," the aide added.

The idea - while embryonic - is gaining traction. Peter Orszag, former head of the Obama administration's Office of Management and Budget, touted it as a strategy for a re-elected Obama in a widely discussed article in the summer issue of the journal "Democracy."

Obama would "escape the intractable debate" over the Bush tax cut extensions and come back in early 2013 with legislation that reduces taxes "disproportionately for middle- and low-income families," making it hard for Republicans to vote against them.

The reasoning goes like this.

Politicians are scared to death of raising taxes. But they wouldn't have to if they just let the Bush tax cuts expire. They don't have to lift a finger. They just let them die, as scheduled, on December 31.

Then, flush with cash, they take some of the $3.7 trillion, which they would then have on the budget books from the expired Bush tax cuts, and they announce to voters that they're going to give it back to them in the form of brand new tax cuts.

They take another chunk of the $3.7 trillion and devote it to deficit-reduction - maybe - and as they rewrite the tax code to include rate reductions for corporations and others, they also end some tax goodies, possibly getting more money for the Treasury.

Even though taxes for some might rise in the end, that bit of unpleasantness gets tucked into a tax-cut bill in a way that eases everyone's jitters. Politicians can brag about giving Americans new tax cuts. There's some new deficit-reduction - maybe and that might be a big maybe - as a result of Congress letting Treasury keep some of the Bush-era tax cuts that have died.

The approach reflects deep pessimism for an agreement to avoid the fiscal cliff other than some temporary fix, which, as Orszag noted, would only set the stage for more uncertainty and partisan struggle.

Political disagreements between Democrats and Republicans over whether the rich should continue to enjoy the benefits of the Bush tax cuts are at the center of the dispute that could end in deadlock on December 31.

But with just over a month between the election and the end of the year, not including holidays, the losing party will be sore and not apt to compromise.

Contributing to the ill will could be a court fight stemming from demands by the Republican-controlled House for documents about the Operation Fast and Furious gun-running scandal to Mexico that the administration refuses to provide. And, last week's Supreme Court decision to uphold the healthcare law also revived bitterness.

POSSIBLE SHORT-TERM DEAL

Among the other scenarios is a short-term extension of all the tax cuts, possibly attached to a trigger to force action on the deficit and tax reform. Many lawmakers are weary of that approach, though, since it failed so miserably last November in efforts to come up with a thoughtful $1.2 trillion in savings over 10 years to avoid the blunt axe of automatic spending cuts.

In a pre-election show vote, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives will pass a version of this in July, knowing it will hit a roadblock in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

During a nearly identical debate in 2010, Obama conceded to Republican demands to extend all the Bush-era cuts. In exchange, he got jobless benefits renewed and a payroll tax cut.

Back then, vulnerable Democratic senators fretted openly about the impact of raising taxes in a fledgling recovery. Some of these same senators are teetering again, with 20 Senate Democrats facing re-election in 2014.

"The problem with Obama's position on the Bush tax cuts is he doesn't even have majority support in the Senate on this," said Ethan Siegal, an investor adviser.

Democrats want to let low tax rates for the wealthiest expire - defined by some as those earning more than $250,000, while others favor the $1 million threshold.

Republicans want to extend the rates for all income groups.

DEBT CEILING WILD CARD

In any of these scenarios, everything is dependent on the outcome of the election.

If Obama wins, "I think somebody is going to pay 39.6 percent" in taxes, said Greg Valliere, an analyst for institutional investors.

Under the Democrats' proposal, the top tax rate for high earners would rise from 35 percent to 39.6 percent.

One wild card is the need to raise the limit on the Treasury Department's borrowing authority, known as the "debt ceiling." Republicans caused a stir last year when a group of Tea Party- allied conservatives advocated blocking any increase in Washington's borrowing authority without accompanying adequate budget cuts - even if that meant a historic U.S. default and government shutdown.

A deal eventually prevailed, but the deadlock was a factor in Standard and Poor's August downgrade of the U.S. credit rating for the first time in history.

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi told the 2012 Reuters Washington Summit last week that Obama should avoid a rerun of that fight with Republicans by using his executive authority to raise the limit. It was an argument that some Obama confidants, including former President Bill Clinton, had unsuccessfully urged Obama to employ last year.

"I myself would not empower them (Republicans) to hurt the full faith and credit of the United States of America," Pelosi told Reuters.

(Reporting by Kim Dixon, Rachelle Younglai, Donna Smith, Richard Cowan, Thomas Ferraro and David Lawder. Editing by Fred Barbash and Jackie Frank)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/analysis-jumping-off-fiscal-cliff-050800745--business.html

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Should Your Water-Damaged Roof Be Repaired or Replaced?

Last updated 1 day 11 hours ago

Severe storms, heavy rain, and tornadoes all present risks to your roof.?Water damage can take its toll on your roof?and eventually the rest of your home?if left unattended. Water damage compounds over time, especially during humid weather or frequent storms. Improper roofing ventilation can also exacerbate water damage, fostering mildew or mold growth in your attic and moss growth on your roof.

The key to making the decision about re-roofing your home or repairing the water-damaged area lies in the extent of the damage itself. The first step is to have your roof inspected by an experienced roofing company. If your roof is damaged to an extent that it is no longer structurally sound, it will need to be replaced.

  • Replace the Roof
    Unfortunately, by the time many homeowners spot the signs of water damage inside their home, the roof is already compromised to an extent that it should be replaced. Discolored ceilings and walls and saturated insulation in your attic are signs that water damage has already compromised the structural integrity of your roof.
  • Repair the Roof
    Isolated water damage, on the other hand, can often be rectified with roof repairs. If you have had repairs performed for similar damage in a similar area, you may have a problem with roof ventilation as well. Proper ventilation will allow moisture to escape and prevent potential damage in the future.

To determine the best course of action for your roof, contact Fessler Home Improvement & Construction at (888) 473-0630. We can inspect your roof to determine the extent of water damage and help you understand if replacement or repairs?are necessary. We also offer other home improvement services to the residents of Murfreesboro, including gutter replacement and remodeling services.

Source: http://www.roofingmurfreesborotn.com/485654/2012/06/29/should-your-water-damaged-roof-be-repaired-or-replaced.html

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AskYourUsers.com's Amelia Dunne On Her Ah Ha Moment

Amelia Dunne, Co-founder of AskYourUsers.com, has always been an entrepreneur.? She had her own business cards (self-made) by the time she was 10 years old and in elementary school she would make hair scrunchies and sell them to boutiques in San Francisco. Most weekends she could be found at a stand in front of her parent?s house selling figs from her backyard, fake radio show cassette tapes (also self-made), or custom art projects.? Dunne sat down with The Grindstone to talk about her unique path as an entrepreneur and how really listening to your customers can give you the best insight into what kind of business you should build.

Dunne has always approached her professional life as a businessperson first, rather than a woman in business.? ?Projecting confidence and professionalism rather than my identity makes it easier to get down to business and filter out the rest as noise,? she says.? After graduating from Northeastern University in Boston, she went back to San Francisco and began work at a small ad agency.? Within a year of working at the agency, her first post-college job, she left to start her own company, a cooperative ad agency where local business could join forces to advertise their services and share in the ad production/service costs.? Her goal has always been to create a successful company that she?s passionate about.? ?If achieving that means another success story for women in business and is ultimately helpful to others, that?s a fantastic side effect, but not the end-goal.?

Three years into her work with the coop ad agency, she was hired by a venture firm that wanted to create a similar company for national clients. For a little over a year she worked as an Executive Project Manager, focused on validating new business ideas and launching new online businesses for the firm.? But in December of 2011 she began working full time on several startup ideas with her co-founder, Chris Bumgardner. Together they founded Incepta, LLC with the purpose of validating and launching startups that would be owned by that entity.? They began working on a mobile app for businesses and it seemed promising enough that they spent all their time developing it.

However, they kept having trouble validating the idea.? They had a prototype, but still needed to speak with people representative of their prospective customers so they could get honest, objective feedback before pouring more time and resources into creating the app.? Dunne was becoming more and more frustrated with the feedback she was receiving?it felt biased and unclear?it seemed that either her passion was over-selling the idea, or people were just telling her what she wanted to hear.

This is when Dunne experienced her ?Ah Ha? moment, an instant where the solution to her problem suddenly became clear.? ?We came into our office one Monday morning and started discussing the challenges we were facing in this validation process. We started describing a business tool and process that we wanted to use, but it didn?t exist yet. That was our pivot point, and the beginning of AskYourUsers.?? ?Dunne and Bumgardner stopped work on the app that day, and going forward devoted all their energy to a business they believed to be incredibly valuable, even if only for their own use.? After receiving great responses from startup friends, they knew they were onto something big.

They launched AskYourUsers only three months after the initial ?Ah Ha? moment.? Quickly business owners of all types began expressing interest.? It solved recruiting, consulting, and market research challenges that Dunne and Bumgardner had each faced, and worked around, many times in their entrepreneurial careers.? Many businesses are using AskYourUsers to get objective feedback from targeted professionals before they jump into the startup environment.? The tool Dunne and Bumgardner have created is so easy and inexpensive; it eliminates many risks associated with the unknowns entrepreneurs face.? It provides a means of validating ideas and assumptions before building out a product and helps business owners identify who their customer is and what he/she will want.

As a customer seeking information, you can choose the exact demographics of the LinkedIn members that you want to have answer your questions.? You can choose by gender, age, location, computer proficiency, job title, industry, or skills.? Then, you simply write out a list of questions you want answered.? It?s great for targeted advice, feedback and market research.? Jobs can be completed via screencast or written feedback and start at only $22 for a 15-minute micro-consultation.? It?s important to remember that the micro-consultants stay anonymous and customers only see a redacted LinkedIn profile view.? This keeps the feedback both objective and honest.

Being an entrepreneur comes with a specific set of challenges.? For example, putting together an effective, complimentary team that can work and grow together is no easy feat.? It can also be hard for business owners to ?disconnect? from their smartphones when starting their own company, especially in our era of 24/7 connectivity.

Dunne has struggled with work/life balance and explains, ?The most inefficient founders I see are those that never take a break, never give themselves a day off, and can?t step away. In my first business, I spent almost four years pouring everything I had into the business I was building without ever taking a break. I didn?t give myself a day off, I checked my phone and email every few minutes and I couldn?t distract myself with anything other than the company I was building. It was the most inefficient way to work.?

While it?s not easy to disconnect from a business you love, it can make you better and more efficient at your job.? Dunne?s solution for maintaining a healthy work/life balance is to go camping at least once a month.? She also hikes on a weekly basis, just to clear her head and regroup.? Dunne and Bumgardner take frequent walks, and she?s found that some of their best ideas stem from the collaboration that takes place outside of the office.

When I asked Dunne what career advice she would give to a woman looking to her start her own business, she answered with ease. ?I think it?s important to start a business that you love. Solve a real problem, stay on a topic you are passionate about, and listen to your customers.?

?

For more information visit https://www.askyourusers.com/

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Source: http://thegrindstone.com/career-management/entrepreneur-amelia-dunne-on-the-ah-ha-moment-that-built-her-business-894/

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Wall Sreett boosts QE3 expectations after May jobs shock

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/wall-sreett-boosts-qe3-expectations-may-jobs-shock-152201262--business.html

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