Local Economic Development Planning

Two candidates are running for the District 2 seat on the Lombard Village Board of Trustees. District 2 includes neighborhoods in the south-central area of Lombard west of Main Street. A map of the districts can be found at www.villageoflombard.org.

Incumbent Richard J. Dick Tross has served on the board since 1987. Challenger Keith Giagnorio is a Lombard Park District trustee.

The Daily Herald posed questions to the candidates. These are their edited responses.

Q. Why are you running for this office, whether for re-election or election the first time? Is there a particular issue that motivates you, and if so, what? What will be your main priority?

Giagnorio. I am running for trustee to bring sound decision-making back to the village board. I appreciate the contributions my opponent has made to the village, but it is obvious that a change is needed.

UPA gambling on hope

After the Reserve Bank of India administered for the third time in a month the same old medicine of credit squeeze against the backdrop of high inflation, the Economic Times commented that the central bank knows that it must get on top of inflation but "it may not know quite what to do". The RBI is seen as a doctor who finds the fever of his patient going up relentlessly - inflation continued for the third week at a high of nearly 6.5 per cent - but knows only the administering of the same medicine that has not worked so far. So it does what most doctors would do-give a stronger dose of the same therapy. That is what the RBI has done, once again raising the cash reserve ratio and hiking the interest rate at which it lends to banks from the cash reserves.
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Social 'Overheating' in India and China

The buzz in economic and market circles is the possible overheating of the Chinese and Indian economies and other similarly high-growth markets. Adding concern is the apparent threat of recession exhibited by the world's largest importer, the U.S., and, more recently, by the failure of its subprime lenders, those catering to higher-risk borrowers.

A working definition of "overheating" is consistent with economic common sense. According to Wikipedia, "Overheating of an economy occurs when its productive capacity is unable to keep pace with growing aggregate demand."

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US: Sectarian violence down in Baghdad; security plan to be ...

BAGHDAD - The U.S. command said on Wednesday that it was disappointed in the high numbers of Iraqis being killed despite the security crackdown.Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, the chief military spokesman, said sectarian violence dropped 26 percent from February to March. But he was largely referring to execution-style killings and assassinations usually blamed on Shiite death squads and acknowledged the military remained "extremely concerned" about high-profile bomb attacks that have killed more than 300 people in recent weeks."There has been a drop in overall casualties within Baghdad," Caldwell said at a news conference in Baghdad, but he added: "When you look overall at the country at large, you have seen ... not a great reduction that we had wanted to see thus far."The Iraqi government also acknowledged the rise in violence outside Baghdad and said it was extending the security plan to other areas in a bid to tackle it."These efforts are now expanded beyond the limits of Baghdad to provide peace and security backed by economic and political measures," spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said, singling out the northern city of Mosul and the volatile province of Diyala, northeast of Baghdad.The statement came a day after the government, citing improved security in Baghdad, said it was shortening the city's curfew by two hours and would allow citizens to be on the streets until 10 p.m.One rough indicator of sectarian violence in the capital is the number of unidentified bodies found daily.

Dollar Mildly Lower after Disappointing ADP Employment

Dollar weakens mildly in early US session after disappointing ADP employment report, but the move so far is limited. The ADP report, which is usually used as a preview of the NFP, increased 57k jobs only, much lower than expectation of 100k. The US calendar is pretty light today with only Fed's beige book left. Though, Fed Moskow's speech on economic forecasts for 2007 will be watched. After all, traders are still cautiously awaiting main events of ECB meeting tomorrow and NFP on Friday.

Before that RBNZ, will announce rate decision in the coming Asia session and is widely expected to raise rate by 25bps to 7.5%. Despite being on hold in Jan, the accompanying statement delivered a strong message that further tightening is on the way. RBNZ is expected to remain hawkish after this hike as strength in household demand is still considered a serious threat to inflation in medium term by Bollard.

Zacks Bull and Bear of the Day Highlights: Huaneng Power ...

Every day, the analysts at Zacks Equity Research select two stocks that are likely to outperform (Bull) or underperform (Bear) the markets over the next 3-6 months.

Continuous coverage is provided for a universe of 1,150 publicly traded stocks. Our analysts are organized by industry which gives them keen insights to developments that affect company profits and stock performance.

Stanford Mirror Conference Opens in Patna

Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, on the opening day of the two-day Mirror Conference sponsored by Stanford University, on Thursday, applauded the phenomenal economic growth of China while admonishing the Indians to understand the key differences between the two countries before making a head-to-head comparison.

"We must not forget that India is a democracy while there is one party system in China. This makes a world of difference in the way a country functions and implements its policies," Modi said.

"There are, however, lessons to be learnt from China. We must not become the slave to any 'ism' when it comes to the development of the nation. China, despite being a Communist country, adopted realistic policies and opened doors for foreign investment.

US Should enhance Plan B and explore options for intervention

April 5, 2007 — The Bush Administration has exhausted all bilateral, and multilateral, diplomatic, political and economic measures to end the conflict in Sudan. However, the good intentions of the administration have continually been abused by the National Islamic Front government, which is disguised in the government of National Unity in Sudan under the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. The international community, on the other hand is critical of the U.S., (based on other outside factors,) but has done little in the South, and continues to do the minimum to end the genocide in Darfur.