Elitist Charge Not New for Obama

Well before Sen. Barack Obama's (D-Ill.) remarks about small town voters growing bitter, Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) labeled the Democratic presidential candidate an elitist because of one telling item on his resume. Inouye said, during an interview with the Honolulu Advertiser before the Feb. 19 Hawaii caucuses, that Obama may have grown up and graduated high school in the Aloha State, but most Hawaiians know little about him because "he went to Punahou and that was not a school for the impoverished."Obama jumped on the remark, scolding Inouye. "Shame on Danny for trying to pull that stunt," Obama said. "I went to Punahou on a scholarship. I was raised by a single mom and my grandmother." Inouye later apologized to Obama -- and Punahou.

Britain tries to be a nation of savers

Contrary to popular opinion, Britain is a nation of savers as over two thirds of us try to set aside money each month.

However we have many other monthly priorities - including insurance payments, telephone bills and subscription payments - that take precedence over our best savings efforts.
Making regular savings contributions still only takes up a tiny 0.6% of all our of monthly direct debit payments, according to a detailed study of the UK's payment methods carried out especially for This is Money by payments organisation Bacs to celebrate its recent 40th anniversary.
Paying for non-life insurance remained the top priority for people when it comes to setting up regular direct debit payments, which make up over 15% of the 2.85m payments made in 2006, up to which the latest figures are available.
This has overtaken life insurance, which makes up just over 13%, in recent years.
Although direct debit remains the most popular payment method for insurance, the number of people paying for their insurance costs via debit and credit card has doubled in recent years.
Perhaps in a sign of the increasing levels of cheap credit available this century, more and more people were giving less priority to their loan repayments and more to their telephone bills and subscription payments in the last three years.
Between 2000-2006, the number of people making regular loan repayments from their monthly salary fell by 2.2% to 6.2% of all direct debt payments.
Mark Chambers, the managing director of Bacs, said: 'In 2007 alone, we were responsible for processing more than 5.5bn payments. That's an average of 90 payments for every man, woman and child in the UK, a figure which puts us in a unique position when considering the changing household payments landscape.'

$38M deal reached for Minn. bridge collapse victims

By MARTIGA LOHN

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota lawmakers reached agreement on a $38 million compensation package for victims of a deadly bridge collapse, culminating months of work to provide relief beyond the state's legal liability.
The deal struck in a joint committee of the House and Senate will offer everyone who was on the bridge up to $400,000, with an additional $12.6 million pool for the people who suffered the most severe injuries and losses. Thirteen people died in the Aug. 1 collapse, and 145 were hurt.
"This is what we've been fighting for the whole time," Kimberly Brown, who suffered back, neck and knee injuries, told reporters Friday. "For everything that everybody's been through, thank God that they have figured out a way to help everybody."
The package is expected to be approved by the Legislature on Monday and sent off to Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who called it "needed relief and support" for victims.
If victims agreed to take the money, they would have to sign away their rights to sue the state and other governmental entities in Minnesota. They would not be precluded from suing other parties in the collapse.
The deal came after months of hearings and negotiations among lawmakers.
"We believe this is going to be an offer which the survivors would be well advised to accept," one of the negotiators, Democratic Sen. Ron Latz, said at a news conference.
Victims said they were thankful for the compromise.
Jennifer Holmes, who lost her husband, Patrick, in the collapse, thanked lawmakers and said she plans to take the settlement to avoid the waiting and uncertainty she would face if she sued the state.
"There is no way possible that we can get that day back," Holmes said. "Or get back what we have been through in losing our loved ones or going through numerous surgeries that people are still doing. But this does help in making sure that we have a safe future."
Helen Hausmann lost her husband, Peter — the sole breadwinner for Helen and their four children, ages 8 to 17.
"It's been so hard," she said. "Every day, little things he used to do, you find yourself doing it alone. Things we used to decide, I decide by myself. It's so hard. You once were a family of six; you're a family of five."
The Hausmann family has been getting by on Peter's life insurance policy, and compensation from the state will be a big help, her attorney, Bill Harper, said.
"It will not make her whole," he said. "It is a remarkably positive step to keeping her nose above water as she pursues the other potential remedies."
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the cause of the collapse. Officials have focused on a design flaw involving gussets, the plates that help connect steel beams, and the weight of construction materials at vulnerable points in the bridge. Victim lawsuits are on hold until a final determination is made.