Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, 60, released a C$281 billion ($273 billion) budget yesterday that forecasts the shortfall narrowing to C$49.2 billion in the 2010-11 fiscal year, down from a record C$53.8 billion last year. The gap will narrow to C$1.8 billion for the 2014 budget as stimulus measures expire, revenue recovers and spending cuts are implemented.

Michael Ignatieff, leader of the main opposition Liberals, said his party won’t seek to defeat the government on the plan, securing passage for Harper, who is 10 seats short of a majority in the House of Commons. The two other opposition parties won’t back the budget, saying it doesn’t do enough to create jobs.

“We’ve had three or four elections in the last few years and I got told very clearly by Canadians last autumn, don’t do that again,” Ignatieff told reporters in Ottawa. “When Canadians can see a clear choice between cuts and freezes and gimmicks and an alternative that gets this economy going, really meets the challenges of jobs and growth, then maybe then we’ll have an election.”

Harper, 50, and Flaherty are seeking to preserve the country’s record of frugality — 11 straight surpluses until the global recession hit — at a time when government spending is needed to drive growth.

Recession Victims

While yesterday’s budget sticks to a two-year, C$47 billion stimulus plan that keeps the deficit at near record levels this year, the governing Conservatives also outlined a path to bring the country back to balance by 2016.

“This is a budget that has completely left behind the victims of the recession,” New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton said. “It’s not a budget that we can support.”

Tax measures to close loopholes, and cuts to aid, defense and departmental operating budgets, will save C$17.6 billion over five years.

“I don’t like running deficits,” Flaherty told reporters yesterday in Ottawa. “We had to run this deficit temporarily because of the most serious economic crisis since the 1930’s.” Flaherty also resisted pressure to extend a popular home renovation tax credit, and to provide new tax breaks for investors and manufacturers.

‘Expenditure Restraint’

Canada’s aversion to debt was forged in the mid-1990s amid rating downgrades, a falling currency and a national unity crisis. Canada lost its coveted “Aaa” rating from Moody’s Investors Service Inc. in 1994 on concern the country would have trouble repaying its debt, which at the time was the second highest among G-7 countries after Italy. It took seven years to win the rating back.

Last year’s deficit eliminated all of Canada’s debt reduction accumulated since Harper came to power in 2006. Flaherty’s 2009 budget increased spending as a share of output by 2.6 percentage points, the biggest one-year increase since at least 1961, according to finance department data.

“I like the focus on expenditure restraint. I think it makes sense,” Avery Shenfeld, chief economist at CIBC World Markets, said in an interview.

In addition to the spending cuts, Harper also is betting the global economy will emerge from last year’s recession at a swift rate, helping Canada to grow at an average 2.9 percent in the next three years. The government bases its economic outlook on a survey of private-sector forecasters including economists from Royal Bank of Canada and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.

Aggressive Assumptions

“The biggest surprise is the return to balance budgets within a five- to six-year time horizon,” said Derek Holt, an economist with Bank of Nova Scotia in Toronto. “That’s based upon some aggressive assumptions. It’s also assuming they will be successful in cutting program expenditures.”

Harper hopes to cut C$2.5 billion from planned defense spending, according to the budget plan, after the country withdraws its military from Afghanistan in 2011. The government will also cap spending on international assistance at 2010 levels, scaling back initial plans to grow its aid package by 8 percent. The move will save C$4.5 billion by 2015.

“This is probably the smallest budget in terms of new spending in 10 years,” Flaherty said.

Harper also pledged to freeze department spending, which includes payroll and procurement, saving the government C$6.8 billion. Measures to eliminate some federal programs and close tax loopholes will save an additional C$3.8 billion.

As part of the changes, the government will crack down on income trusts that convert into corporations and use “aggressive schemes” to claim tax losses. Ensuring tax deductions on employee stock options aren’t claimed twice — by the worker and the company — will save C$1.7 billion. Cosmetic surgery will also no longer be eligible for a medical-expense tax credit, a move the government values at C$200 million over five years.

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A new study by comScore shows that 4.7 million people accessed Twitter on their mobile phones in January 2010, up 347 percent jump compared to last year.

The number of Facebook users going to the site on their mobiles hit 25.1 million, up 112 percent.

MySpace's numbers actually declined 7 percent from last year, with 11.4 million mobile users free credit report.

Those numbers compare with an overall increase of 4.6 percent in the number of mobile phone users who accessed a social networking site via mobile browser.

ComScore said that In January, 11.1 percent of all mobile phone users went to social networks on their mobiles.

Smartphone owners were far more likely to do so compared to other cell phone users, 30.8 percent vs. 6.8 percent .

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But today, the intervals between visits are growing longer as Truckey, 25, increasingly turns to social networking site Twitter to talk to the world. She likes the way Twitter limits entries to 140 characters, forcing her to keep those missives short.

"The blog posts wouldn’t necessarily get me in trouble. But I would end up revealing more than I should," Truckey said.

While not ready to abandon the blog altogether, Truckey does represent a growing trend in the world of blogging. Young people just aren’t as interested in them as they once were. And it’s yet another example of the way rapid changes in technology — and the way we use it — can transform you from trendy to dinosaur seemingly overnight.

MySpace? Out. Facebook? In. Using a cell phone for phone calls? Out. Using it to send a text message? In. E-mail? Outside of scammers and spammers, does anyone use it?

OK, there’s a bit of hyperbole there. But it’s clear we live in a world where our ways of communicating are changing so fast that it’s virtually impossible, particularly for older adults, to stay current.

And certainly there are times when keeping up can be critical. As the parent of virtually every cell phone-toting teenager or young adult knows, you learn to text if you want to keep in touch.

Still, there’s no reason to obsess over every new communication development, said Dean Terry, director of emerging media at the University of Texas at Dallas. Some basic familiarity with social networking and texting may be all you need to get by. It’s not as if the old ways will just die out.

"Don’t beat yourself up if you can’t keep up with everything," Terry said. "We still have radio. We still have plays. And we still have novels."

In so many ways, it is the nation’s army of teenagers and young adults that’s deciding for the rest of us what’s cool and what’s not. Those decisions can, and often do, change quite quickly.

"Adults are always playing catch-up. And unfortunately, when we get there, (teens) may have already moved on," said Gary Rudman, a California-based market researcher who specializes in teens.

Just look at what’s happened to blogging, an area that’s still growing in popularity with older Americans, just as it’s losing steam with the younger set.

The percentage of older adults — those over the age of 29 — who say they maintain a blog has increased from 7 percent to 11 percent since December 2007, according to a recent report by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. Meanwhile the ranks of bloggers in the 18-29 age group fell from 24 percent to 15 percent during the same time frame quick payday loans.

The drop has been even greater among teen bloggers. In 2006, 28 percent of online teens said they blogged. Only 14 percent say the same thing today, according to Pew.

Social networking experts cite some pretty simple reasons for the decline of young bloggers.

Some suggest that it’s tied, at least partly, to the decline in popularity of My- Space, the one-time king of social networking. In recent years, social networkers have made a decided shift to Facebook, which puts more emphasis on short status updates and less emphasis on blogging.

"Because of what each site offers, that really changes what people do," said Amanda Lenhart, a senior research specialist with Pew.

Others say blogging simply doesn’t match well with the preferred communication style of young people, who like quick exchanges via text message and Facebook status updates. Some even suggest that young people might have skipped blogs altogether if they had arrived at the same time texting was taking off. Many young people just don’t have time in their lives for blogs.

"We used to think of blogs as short little blips of commentary. But now they seem very long," said Terry, from the University of Texas. "If you are updating your Facebook or Twitter all day, then in some ways you’ve gotten it all out. You’ve said everything you wanted to say."

Some attribute the decline of blogging and MySpace — and anything else being abandoned by young people — to the desire of teens and young adults trying to carve out their own space.

Rarely are they happy to see that space infiltrated by parents and grandparents.

"As soon as it becomes too popular, they want to move on to something else," said Kathryn Montgomery, a professor of communication at American University in Washington.

Not everyone buys that.

"That’s been the routine theory about why MySpace lost ground to Facebook," said Steve Jones, a professor of communication at the University of Illinois at Chicago. "But I don’t think that’s necessarily the case. A lot of adults are using Facebook now. And I don’t see younger people leaving in droves."

And really, it’s not necessarily the end of the world even if the youngsters do run off to greener pastures.

Rebecca Hanes, 36, of St. Louis, has been blogging for five years. She actually has a pair of blogs, including one she describes as "a big ol’ bowl of soup" in terms of content.

Hanes shrugged off the news that young bloggers have been dropping left and right. She says she has no plans to abandon her own little slice of cyberspace: "As far as I’m concerned, it’s probably something I’ll always have."

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UC’s newly named state center of excellence, Transforming Health Care in the 21st Century, focuses on the neurosciences; environmental health and cancer; pediatrics; and diabetes and obesity. At Miami, Structural Biology and Metabonomics made the list.

“Aligning Ohio universities with Ohio’s growing biomedical and health care industries will generate economic growth and new, hard-to-outsource jobs,” Strickland said. “Biomedicine and health care in Ohio create high wage jobs, investments in facilities, research and development and production. But much more than that, these industries bring forth medical breakthroughs that benefit citizens of Ohio and citizens of the world.”

Dr. John Tew, clinical director of the UC Neuroscience Institute, said his organization was honored to be included cash advance america.

“Ohio is renowned for its health care excellence, and to be recognized as a neuroscience leader by the state’s leadership confirms our achievement as a benchmark institution in neurological care,” he said in a statement.

The Centers of Excellence are part of Ohio’s 10-year Strategic Plan for Higher Education. Friday’s announcement was the second of five announcements of university Centers of Excellence that align with the state’s targeted industries and focus on talent recruitment, according to a press release. In October 2009, the governor announced Ohio’s nine Centers of Excellence in Advanced Energy at eight of the state’s universities.

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The shortfall amounts to more than $8,800 for every household in the nation, according to the Pew Center on the States, which published its findings Thursday.

States largely got themselves into this mess by failing to make annual contributions while also enhancing benefits, the study found. Now, they are behind by a total $452 billion in their pension accounts and $555 billion in their retiree health funds, as of the end of fiscal 2008, which ended June 30 for most states.

The deficit is likely even more severe because the report did not take into account the crumbling of the stock market in the latter half of 2008. The typical pension plan lost 25% of its value in 2008.

States must find ways to make up these gaps because retiree benefits for public workers are largely guaranteed by union contract. And they are funded through contributions from both employees and state employers, as well as investment returns.

So when gaps appear, states must ask their residents to make up the difference, usually through property tax or income tax hikes.

"Ultimately, taxpayers could face higher taxes and cuts in services," said Stephen Fehr, one of the report’s authors. "You can’t ignore the problem. It’s just going to be more serious budget trouble for states down the road."

To be sure, the bill isn’t due all at once and no state is in danger of default. These benefits are paid out over decades. Still, the deficits must be addressed sooner than later or the gaps will simply balloon more.

In the most trouble

The consequences of the shortfall could be severe. It comes at a time when states are wrestling with a cumulative $180 billion budget gap for fiscal 2011.

Eight states are in the most dire shape, according to the Pew report. These include: Alaska, Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey and Oklahoma.

Two of these states — Illinois and Kansas — have less than 60% of the necessary assets on hand to meet their long-term pension obligations.

Only four states — Florida, New York, Washington and Wisconsin — had a fully funded system in 2008, down from just over half at the beginning of the decade.

Overall, state pension systems are 84% funded.

Many states have been lax about funding their pension systems, even during more prosperous times earlier this decade. Some 21 states failed to contribute at least 90% of the required amount during the past five years.

Retiree health care and other non-pension benefit accounts are in even worse condition. Only about 5% of their total liabilities are funded. States generally paying these bills as they come due, rather than setting aside money in advance.

Also, some states sweetened their retiree benefits during the 1990s and earlier this decade, reducing employee contributions or providing cost-of-living increases. But they didn’t allocate money to pay for these changes.

What’s being done

Recognizing the seriousness of the situation, states have begun to act. Fifteen states passed legislation reforming their pension systems in 2009 and 16 are looking at making changes this year.

Since it’s tough to make changes to union contracts, most states apply the new rules to incoming employees only.

Several states, including Kentucky, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Texas, have reduced benefits offered to new employees or raised the retirement age. Some are also asking workers to contribute more to their pension accounts or retiree health benefits. And a few have created 401(k) style plans to go alongside their traditional pensions.

In Nevada, for instance, those hired in 2010 and beyond will have to wait until age 62 to retire, instead of age 60. They will also have a less generous funding formula: Their years of service will be multiplied by 2.5, rather than 2.67, to derive the percentage of salary being replaced by pension benefits.

In New York, new hires can’t retire until age 62, instead of age 55, and they will have to work for 10 years instead of five.

"A growing number of policy makers recognize that their states’ fiscal health depends on how well they manage the bill coming due for public sector retirement benefits," said Susan Urahn, the center’s managing director. "We are seeing more and more states explore policy reforms aimed at putting their systems on stronger fiscal footing."

The study looked at 231 state-administered pension plans and 159 state-administered retiree health care and other non-pension benefit plans, which include some localities’ and teacher plans. 

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The federal government expects to spend more money on projects — such as high-speed rail — rather than payments to states and individuals, according to Vice President Joe Biden, who released his annual stimulus progress report Wednesday.

On Feb. 17, 2009, Congress passed a $787 billion economic stimulus program — the largest in the nation’s history — and it has elicited both praise and scorn.

The White House is mounting an all-out campaign this week to tout the benefits of the Recovery Act, saying the package has largely lived up to its promises of stemming job losses and boosting economic growth. Administration officials are touring the nation to highlight stimulus-funded work and detailing where the money has been spent in the past 12 months.

Through the end of January, some $334 billion in spending has been approved, of which $179 billion has actually left federal coffers. Another $119 billion has gone to tax cuts.

"Our work is far from over, but we have rescued this economy from the worst of this crisis," said President Obama on Wednesday, though he noted many Americans may not feel the Recovery Act’s impact because they remain unemployed.

Detractors, however, counter that stimulus has been a waste of money and produced few jobs. And few Americans believe the stimulus program is really working. Only 36% of respondents said the Recovery Act is helping the economy, according to a recent CNN poll.

"In the first year of the trillion-dollar stimulus, Americans have lost millions of jobs, the unemployment rate continues to hover near 10%, the deficit continues to soar and we’re inundated with stories of waste, fraud and abuse," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. "This was not the plan Americans asked for or the results they were promised."

Shifting the mix

In the coming months, the pace and mix of spending will change, senior administration officials said. Until this point, the bulk of the spending has been on tax relief and direct aid — such as unemployment benefits — in order to stop the economic freefall.

Going forward, the government will distribute $32 billion in Recovery Act funds per month, up from an average $27 billion a month over the past year, according to Biden’s annual report.

To date, only $31 billion has been spent on projects — such as infrastructure, high-speed rail, broadband and health technology. But in the second phase of the act, the amount of money going to these initiatives will more than double to $7 billion a month as the work ramps up. The administration views this spending as setting the stage for a lasting expansion.

"Many projects are just now getting underway, and will be creating jobs throughout 2010 and beyond," said Biden, noting that the administration will announce an additional $1.5 billion of surface transportation projects Wednesday. "Work on many Recovery Act projects will accelerate in the spring and summer months as weather conditions permit work on roads, bridges, water projects, and Superfund site clean ups."

Payments to states and individuals will fall to $11 billion, from $14 billion, per month. Much of this spending — such as Medicaid funding and additional unemployment benefits — was meant to stabilize the economy during the recession.

The administration will reach its goal to disburse 70% of the Recovery Act funds, or $551 billion, by Sept. 30, senior administration officials said.

The Congressional Budget Office recently hiked the cost estimate of the Recovery Act to $862 billion, though the administration still uses the original $787 billion figure.

Shortcomings highlighted

Republicans, however, were quick to point out stimulus’ shortcomings, stressing the nation’s stubbornly high unemployment rate, which stands at 9.7%.

"Taxpayers aren’t getting their money’s worth from the trillion-dollar ’stimulus’ and struggling families and small businesses are rightly asking, ‘Where are the jobs?’," said Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, the House’s top Republican.

Republican Whip Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., said states have lost a total of 2.9 million jobs between the bill’s enactment last February through December, though the administration projected stimulus would save or create 3.5 million positions.

In the final quarter of last year, the Recovery Act funded 595,263 direct jobs, according to Recovery.gov. The figure is based on about 160,000 reports from state, local and corporate recipients who have spent $57.9 billion in stimulus money.

It does not tally jobs created indirectly through companies buying supplies for stimulus projects, people spending their tax cuts, increased unemployment benefits and the like.

In total, the economic stimulus program has boosted employment by 1.5 million to 2 million jobs, the president’s chief economic adviser said in mid-January. That number is derived from a mathematical formula based on how much money has flowed out the federal door.

A week ago, the president’s top economic adviser praised the Recovery Act, calling it the "great unsung hero of the past year." Council of Economic Advisers Chair Christina Romer reiterated that the program has funded up to 2 million jobs and helped turn the economy around. 

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The average cost of a home in the capital jumped 5 percent to 427,987 pounds ($671,000), the most since records began in 2002, the owner of the U.K.’s biggest property Web site said in a statement today. Average asking prices in England and Wales increased by 3.2 percent, the most since April 2007.

A small apartment in London’s Pimlico district received “astronomical” interest from buyers, real-estate agent James Gubbins said in an interview. The Bank of England said in its quarterly economic forecasts this month that the strength in the housing market may reflect “unusually weak” supply.

“A price jump of 5 percent is more comparable to the pre- credit crunch boom,” Miles Shipside, commercial director of Rightmove, said in the statement. “If sellers return to the market in larger numbers, the current upwards price pressure will not be sustainable with the restricted number of mortgage- strapped buyers.”

London’s Westminster district led gains in the capital, with prices rising 14.9 percent on the month to an average of 1.3 million pounds. The most expensive area is the borough of Kensington and Chelsea, where a 4.6 percent increase pushed up the average value to 1.9 million pounds.

‘Tiny Little Flat’

“The shortage is the main thing that’s cushioning the market,” said Gubbins, an agent at Dauntons in Pimlico, a neighborhood in Westminster. “Last year, buyers were socked to the teeth on the economy and didn’t know what they were going to do, and now they’ve decided to get on with it and stop putting their lives on hold.”

Gubbins said he recently had an “astronomical” number of viewings for a “tiny little flat” in Tachbrook Street in Pimlico, close to the Tate Britain art museum business card. Last year, “it wouldn’t have done at all well.” The one-bedroom property sold close to the asking price of almost 300,000 pounds, he said.

Prices rose 10.3 percent in London from a year earlier. That compares with a 6.1 percent gain in the U.K. as a whole, where prices fell about 12 percent from the peak in May 2008 to the trough in January last year.

Rightmove said a “stock-starved housing market” supported prices across Britain as the average number of properties per real estate agent stayed at a two-year low of 63. The average total for sale at real estate branches fell to 55 in January, the lowest since July 2007, according to a survey by, the National Association of Estate Agents released Feb. 11.

Mortgage Lending

The property market may still falter if mortgage lending weakens. The number of approvals fell to 59,023 in December, the first drop in more than a year and half.

Bank of England policy makers kept the benchmark interest rate at a record low of 0.5 percent this month as they paused their 200 billion-pound emergency stimulus program. Governor Mervyn King said last week it was “far too soon” to say policy makers will make no more purchases as the economy recovers.

“The low interest rate environment is meaning that less people need to sell,” said James Perris of De Villiers Surveyors in London. “If we do see interest rates go up a bit, we may see people more inclined to sell.”

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The Denver-based fast-casual restaurant chain known for its bulging burritos (NYSE: CMG) posted quarterly net income of $31.6 million, or 99 cents a share, up from $17 million, or 52 cents a share, in the same quarter of 2008.

Analysts on average had expected earnings of 81 cents a share, Thomson Reuters reported.

Revenue for the fourth quarter rose to $387.4 million from $345.3 million a year earlier. Analysts had forecast revenue of $388.2 million.

Chipotle opened 45 new restaurants in the quarter, bringing its total to 956 payday loans in 1 hour. Same-store restaurant sales rose 2 percent, largely on menu price increases.

Revenue-level operating margins were 24.5 percent, up from 21.1 percent a year earlier.

For full-year 2009, Chipotle reported net income of $126.8 million, or $3.95 a share, versus $78.2 million, or $2.36 a share, in 2008.

Full-year revenue was $1.518 billion, up from $1.331 billion the previous year.

Chipotle said it expects to open 120 to 130 new restaurants in 2010, with flat same-store sales. It plans a move into the United Kingdom by spring.

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The Eden Prairie-based company was developing a treatment for lower back pain, but never got its product approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Former CEO Steven Healy left the firm last July to be CEO of Maple Grove-based Lumen Biomedical. Healy, the former president of St. Jude Medical Inc.’s Cardiac Surgery division, had been CEO since 2002.

Disc Dynamics’ Chief Financial Officer Keith Eastman couldn’t be reached for comment.

Three employees remain from the peak of 32 workers, including Eastman, who is managing the sale of the company’s assets, according to a report in the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Disc Dynamics’ technology was designed to treat lower back problems by injecting a fluid into the spine through a catheter. The fluid then expands and gels inside the back to create an artificial nucleus for the disc.

The company raised about $65 million in venture capital over the years from a variety of investors including Eden Prairie-based Split Rock Partners and Fridley-based Medtronic Inc.

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"My advice is if you have one of these vehicles, if you have a doubt, take it to Toyota today," LaHood told reporters after a hearing on Capitol Hill.

Earlier, LaHood had told a House committee that Toyota owners should "stop driving" and bring affected cars back to the company. He later referred to that as a "misstatement."

The Transportation agency also released a statement advising owners "to contact their local dealerships to arrange for fixes as soon as possible."

"We appreciate Secretary LaHood’s clarification of his remarks today about Toyota’s recall for sticking accelerator pedals," Toyota said in a statement. "We want to make sure our customers understand that this situation is rare and generally does not occur suddenly."

The automaker said if Toyota owners notice a problem, they should contact their dealerships immediately. But if a car is not experiencing pedal issues, Toyota said it is confident the vehicle is safe to drive.

Toyota officials announced on Monday they had found a solution that involved reinforcing the pedal assembly with a part that is being rushed to dealerships.

The problem, however, is that drivers are not likely to get a quick fix. Toyota told dealers in a letter on Tuesday that "parts and technical instructions will begin arriving this week for you to begin initiating repairs."

The confusion has worried Toyota owners like Maria Ciresi, 75, of Smithtown, N.Y.

"I’m deadly afraid to use it," said Ciresi, referring to the new car she bought in November that has only 300 miles on it.

She said she contacted two of her local Toyota dealerships, but was told that they "don’t know when" they would be able to fix her car.

"You have to be notified first by mail," she said.

Ciresi said she contacted Toyota directly, and was told to "drive the car, and if anything happens, put it in neutral."

Meanwhile, Ciresi said she’s paying $190 a month for insurance and $263 a month on car payments for a vehicle she doesn’t dare use.

LaHood also acknowledged that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating Toyotas not just for problems with gas pedals, but for problems with the electrical systems, as well.

"We will also be investigating the electronic components that are in these cars and if they’re not safe, we’ll have Toyota take a look at that," LaHood said.

He said that Toyota has been cooperative in the investigations.

Toyota has recalled millions of vehicles in recent weeks due to problems with sticking gas pedals that cause the vehicles to accelerate out of control and later halted the sale of the eight vehicles involved in the recall.

Correction: An earlier version of this story misidentified the model-make of a car. 

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