Business Markets

Nearly all of the statewide candidates on the GOP ticket have embraced — and been embraced by — the Tea Party movement, the group of disenfranchised, mostly conservative voters who paraded the call for a change from the status quo over the past year, spurred at least in part by opposition to federal health care reform and the Obama administration in general.

Republican gubernatorial nominee Rick Scott has sounded Tea Party themes and showcased Tea Party paraphernalia on his campaign tour bus.

Senate nominee Marco Rubio became the immediate darling of the movement.

And the woman who is arguably the Tea Party movement’s leader, Sarah Palin, is stumping for attorney general candidate Pam Bondi.

The result is a party slate that is more conservative than others in recent history. In 2006, Gov.

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ClearView Wealth Limited today announced a statutory net profit after tax of $8.0 million and plans to acquire small-medium financial planning practices in South and Western Australia.

ClearView Wealth also acquired the life insurance and wealth management businesses from Bupa for $204 million on 9 June 2010 which affected the results.

ClearView Managing Director, Mr Simon Swanson, said the acquisition of ClearView was a positive one, and while cost savings are yet to be realised, the business is already profitable, adding $1.1 million to the full year result for the three weeks included in the reporting period.

“Some twelve months ago MMC Contrarian [renamed ClearView on acquisition of the Bupa life insurance and wealth management business of the same name] restructured its operations to execute a strategy of increasing its presence in other attractive segments of the financial services industry. T

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The wealth generated by housing in those decades, particularly on the coasts, did more than assure the owners a comfortable retirement. It powered the economy, paying for the education of children and grandchildren, keeping the cruise ships and golf courses full and the restaurants humming.

More than likely, that era is gone for good.

“There is no iron law that real estate must appreciate,” said Stan Humphries, chief economist for the real estate site Zillow. “All those theories advanced during the boom about why housing is special — that more people are choosing to spend more on housing, that more people are moving to the coasts, that we were running out of usable land — didn’t hold up.”

Instead, Humphries and other economists say, housing values will only keep up with inflation. A home will return the money an owner puts in each month, but will not multiply the investment.

Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, estimates that it will take 20 years to recoup the $6 trillion of housing wealth that has been lost since 2005.

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Virgin Blue has begun a further overhaul of its international network which will see its fledging long-haul offshoot, V Australia, fly to Abu Dhabi in the Middle East but ditch loss-making flights to South Africa.The airline today posted a $21 million net profit for the year to June, compared with a loss of $160 million a year earlier. Revenue rose 13 per cent to $2.98 billion.Virgin Blue’s underlying pre-tax profit was $31 million, which was in line with market expectations. Shares in the airline were up as much as 2 cents, or 7.1 per cent, to 30 cents in early trading.However, Virgin Blue warned that trading conditions were still volatile and strong competition between airlines was continuing to put pressure on yields. Unveiling the second phase of its network review, Virgin Blue signed a codeshare and interline agreement with Middle Eastern airline Etihad which will result in V Australia aircraft flying directly between Australia and Abu Dhabi from next year. T

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It’s been a year since the Cash for Clunkers program where people received incentives to trade in gas guzzlers for new vehicles. According to the Orange County Register, the Inspector General of the US Department of Transportation recently discovered that many vehicles were not destroyed as required by the program. Officials visited 22 disposal facilities and found that seven of them did not report the final destruction of the clunkers. “For example, one facility, which received 357 CARS vehicles at the time of our audit, was not aware of (the reporting system) and therefore, had not reported any information on the status of those vehicles,” the report says, according to the OC Register. “The other facilities did not report … either at the time of receipt or after the vehicles had been crushed or shredded. In addition, one facility we visited did not sign or date the disposal certification forms for the 27 trade-in vehicles it handled. Without s

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RCG Corporation, parent company of The Athlete’s Foot has posted a Net Profit After Tax of $6.9 million, some 30.6 percent higher than last year on the back of an 11.6 percent increase in sales from The Athlete’s Foot stores.

The Athlete’s Foot network, which now numbers 143 stores across Australia and New Zealand was responsible for much of RCG’s profit growth this year. The Athlete’s Foot chain recorded total sales growth of 11.6 percent from $166.7 million to $186.1 million for the year, with 8.3 percent like?for?like sales growth.

RCG’s The Athlete’s Foot chain operates through a mixed franchise system, with this result the sixth consecutive year during which the footwear retailer has achieved like?for?like growth of more than 8 percent and total sales growth in excess of 10 percent. Strong sales

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But this summer’s price declines, including a double-digit July drop reported Tuesday, have market watchers wondering whether the worst is really over.

Jack McCabe, the Deerfield Beach real estate consultant who correctly called the top of the market in the summer of 2005, believes last year’s nadir may not hold.

“With the end of tax credits for first- and second-time home buyers, we will return to a weak sales market,” McCabe said. “Prices will remain flat and may drop a few percentage points. We don’t expect double-digit declines, but the declines may be enough to challenge the previous bottom.”

Others, including Tony Polito, Tampa Bay director for real estate data collector MetroStudy, think this summer’s price swoon, which took the July median down 12 percent to $157,700 in Sarasota-Bradenton and 9 percent to $95,700 in Punta Gorda-North Port from a year ago, won’t continue into autumn.

“We expect prices to turn slightly positive again by October,” Polito said.

The reason: Demand for homes at the low end of the market remains strong, especially for foreclosures and short sales.

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