Dear Mitt Romney: I Saw Your Video By Sarah Zacharias, a.k.a. The Bucking Jenny

1.        Dear Mitt Romney: I Saw Your Video By Sarah Zacharias, a.k.a. The Bucking Jenny  

   I saw you speaking candidly and off the cuff about me. Don’t get me wrong, I know that you didn’t mention me by name or anything, but we both know you were talking about me.
   
   When you were talking about 47% of the population that is never going to vote for you because we are “dependent victims” who lazily live on government programs like food stamps, I can’t help

    but take personal offense. In fact, once you decided to lump in anybody who is never going to vote for you, you weren’t just talking about me, but many people I love, and about 90% of the people I know.
   
   My children eat because of food stamps, Mr. Romney. Now, sir, I want you to picture a Wyoming cowgirl: a mother, a fighter, a righteous, determined, God-loving woman. A Rocky Mountain Grizzly Bear Mamma that would make Sarah Palin’s makeup-wearing pit bull shudder. Picture me staring you in the eyes as I ask you, “What business have you got talking about me and mine like that?”
   
   I am watching you run your Richie Rich mouth on TV right now, with your little flag lapel pin over your heart. You brag that you will bring “12 million new jobs and rising take home pay.” Quite frankly, I have no reason to believe you or your failures in arithmetic. Even if you did manage such a feat, I’d point to the 4.5 million job head start you had thanks to President Obama saving the nation from the failed GOP policies which you use as a platform, and which nearly caused a second Great Depression.
   
   You said that you think that 47% of Americans “think they are victims” and you even said it wasn’t your job to worry about us.
   
   First, I must argue with you. I am not a victim. I have been beaten. I have been bullied. I have been raped. I have been addicted. I have been alone. I have been poor. I have been homeless. I have been sick and broken. I have chosen — each and every single time — to stand up and pull myself and my family out of those circumstances. I beat every one of them without any riches to aid me. I did that without any inheritance, any gifted stocks or bonds, any loans, any rich family, or any elevators for my cars. I did it because I am not a victim, I am an American. I am the Mom-in-Chief of my house and nothing less than the very best that I can provide will do. I am the product of women who forded rivers to fetch the mail after working a hard day’s labor on the Laramie high plains. I am a force to be reckoned with.
   
   I f you don’t believe me, you could ask the doctor who has to take fluid from my spine on a regular basis to preserve my ability to see, due to a rare disease. If you don’t believe me, you can ask our Ambassador to China Gary Locke, who personally invited me to a bill signing when I helped Washington State legislate protection for children in schools against bullying by sharing my own experiences. If you don’t believe me, you can ask my children who have seen me struggle but always, always provide for them. Any one of these people will tell you, that this American is not a victim.
   
   You call me entitled. I devote every day of my life to bettering the planet I live on, with no hope of profit. I am sorry, sir, but you calling me entitled is like the pot calling the dove black. That isn’t going to work. I challenge you to stand at my side and let the American public judge which of us is entitled. I spend every dime of my and my husband’s earned income as quickly as it comes in, right here in my town. Every dime I earn and spend stays in America. I am the ultimate Job Creator. Who are you to challenge me?
   
   You call me entitled. Every year on April 15th, I am certain that I have shown every cent that went through my pocket honestly. I dream of a day when I am well enough off to pay taxes. I fantasize of the flourish with which I will write my first check to the IRS. I would give any earthly belongings I have to be self-sufficient enough to be able to pay it forward to the society that I love.
   
   No, you cannot challenge me, Mitt Romney. I challenge you: where are your tax returns?
   
   I fought, I graduated at the top of my class in college, and I pursued graduate studies. I took loans against myself, believing that this would pay off, but then, in 2009, something happened.
   
   No, it wasn’t Barack Obama’s inauguration; it was a sudden injury to my spine that ended up revealing not one but two severe spinal diseases. Since then I have been unable to finish my studies or to work. I’d like to know, Mr. Romney: how many months of physical therapy, how many of my surgeries, how many of my scars must I share to prove my devotion to wanting to be better? How many of my efforts must I submit before you’ll see me, an American citizen, as worthy of your worry? When you tell me to take responsibility for myself, I ask you: what after that?
   
   This evening, when you justified your awful statements in that video, you said that you had said what you did because you were reassuring your donators that you could win this election. I’m sorry that you have to pander to your base like that. You seem to have sold out your soul. You have forgotten “the eye of the needle” with that wealth you’ve got. You’ve left behind Matthew 24:50. I hate to be the one to tell ya buddy, but you are not the promised one. The promised one understands that the 47% you are talking about are more than low wage workers and elderly people who worked their whole lives and paid into the system, they are the 100% that your God is concerned with when he said “Love thy neighbor.” You may pay a tithe with your wallet, but it’s obvious you’ve neglected to tithe your heart.
   
   My husband left for work at 7 AM. It is now 9 PM and he won’t be home again for two more hours from his second job today. I spent yesterday at the emergency room. I have been waiting for two years for Social Security. I do not understand. How much more do we have to work to show you that your call for jobs isn’t enough? You must also be concerned for the whole nation, and whether we eat, and whether we have medicine. You must care if a hardworking, devoted family like mine is unable to survive after investing their best efforts. How many jobs do you expect every American to take? Three? Four?
   
   You simply must stop and consider those you dismiss as beneath you or you cannot be our leader. It is an unwritten but widely understood rule of the presidency. I don’t know what they taught you when you were out there scalping businesses hard-won on the backs of people like that 47% you so rudely kick around, but in the real world, we care when Americans suffer. We care when you forget the young military men and women who serve our nation by sacrificing their lives. We care when Americans go hungry. We care when Americans jobs are sent overseas and rich men hide societal resources in offshore accounts. We care that we are being ripped off and even if you find profit and power in our suffering, we still exist, we still care, and we will still stand up.
   
   See? You called me a victim, you called me entitled, you called me a lot of other things in that video, but on every count you are wrong. Just by writing you this letter, I’ve proven I am not your victim. Just by living my life of hard and dutiful effort I have proven that I am not entitled. In fact, I consider it a duty as a citizen of this Great United States to shout loudly and proudly: “Mitt Romney is not and never will be my President!”
   
   I warn you Mr. Romney, the one thing that I have not, and will not ever lose, is my voice. I will sound it each and every one of these 50 days until Barack Obama is re-elected, we will vote with Compassion, and Wisdom, and Empathy…and you, sir, can keep your spite and your hate and your rhetoric and see your way out.
   
   Sincerely,
   
   Sarah Zacharias, a.k.a. The Bucking Jenny

The poor do have jobs

The poor do have jobs

By Tami Luhby @CNNMoney September 21, 2012: 10:45 AM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Millions of poor Americans who don't pay federal income taxes actually do have jobs. They just earn too little to pay taxes, and in some cases, to escape poverty.
This is very different than the portrayal Mitt Romney offered in videotaped remarks made public this week. The Republican presidential candidate said that 47% of Americans pay no income tax and are dependent on the government. He said he'll never convince them to take personal responsibility for their lives.

However, nearly two-thirds of the 33 million people living in families below the poverty line have at least one family member working in 2011, according to figures from the Census Bureau.
The number of people working full-time in the lowest income group, those earning less than $20,262 a year, soared 17.3% in 2011. This was by far the largest increase for any income group. The poverty threshold for a family of four was $23,021 last year.
But more than 30% of people who owe no income tax escape the levy because of credit for the working poor and children. Nearly 9 million have income of less than $40,000. The vast majority have their income tax liability erased by the earned income tax credit, which is designed to encourage the poor to hold down jobs.
"A lot of people are working many hours, working very hard, but not making a lot of money," said Elaine Maag, senior research associate at the Urban Institute.
Related: Mississippi has highest poverty and lowest income
Eligibility for the refundable credit depends on income and family size. It starts to phase out after $17,000, but a single mother with two children could earn up to $42,000 in adjusted gross income and still receive a portion of the credit. The maximum credit this family could receive is $5,200.
Romney lashed out at people who believe they are victims and are entitled to health care, food and housing. However, many entitlement programs are not for the nation's poor, said Michael Tanner, a senior fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute. Among the largest entitlements are Social Security and Medicare, and the beneficiaries of those programs are mainly retirees.
Many of the poor who receive income-based benefits do work, Tanner added.
Related: America's workers: A year of ups and downs
Nearly half of households with children that received food stamps in 2010 also had a working family member, more than three times the number who relied solely on welfare, according to the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. To qualify for food stamps, families must generally have a total monthly income at or below 130% of the poverty line.
And workers earning the minimum wage of $7.25 an hour often can't escape poverty. They make only $15,080 a year.
"They are working, playing by the rules, but it's not enough to support themselves," said Elizabeth Lower-Basch, senior policy analyst at CLASP, which advocates for low-income workers.
Were you in poverty, but got a low-wage job last year that lifted you above the poverty line? CNNMoney is looking to profile you. To participate, send an email to realstories@cnnmoney.com. Include a phone number where you can be reached.

First Published: September 21, 2012: 6:03 AM ET

Meet The Right-Wing Extremist Behind Anti-Muslim Film That Sparked Deadly Riots

Meet The Right-Wing Extremist Behind Anti-Muslim Film That Sparked Deadly Riots

On 09.12.12, By Max

"Innocence of Muslims" consultant Steve Klein is a veteran anti-Muslim organizer with close ties to the Christian right in California

The US Ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens, and three US diplomats were killed in attacks and rioting provoked by an obscure, low-budget anti-Muslim film called “The Innocence of Muslims.” The producer of the film is a real estate developer supposedly named “Sam Bacile” who claims to be an Israeli Jew. Bacile told the AP the film was made with $5 million raised from “100 Jewish donors.” He said he was motivated to help his native country, Israel, by exposing the evils of Islam.
While Bacile claims to be in hiding, and his identity remains murky, another character who has been publicly listed as a consultant on the film is a known anti-Muslim activist with ties to the extreme Christian right and the militia movement. He is Steve Klein, a Hemet, California based insurance salesman who claims to have led a “hunter-killer team” in Vietnam.”
Klein is a right-wing extremist who emerged from the same axis of Islamophobia that produced Anders Behring Breivik and which takes inspiration from the writings of Robert Spencer, Pamela Geller, and Daniel Pipes.
It appears Klein (or someone who shares his name and views) is an enthusiastic commenter on Geller’s website, Atlas Shrugged, where he recently complained about Mitt Romney’s “support for a Muslim state in Israel’s Heartland.” In July 2011, Spencer’s website, Jihad Watch, promoted a rally Klein organized alongside the anti-Muslim Coptic extremist Joseph Nasrallah to demand the firing of LA County Sheriff Lee Baca, whom they painted as a dupe for Hamas.
Klein is also closely affiliated with the Christian right in California, organizing resentment against all the usual targets — Muslims, homosexuals, feminists, and even Mormons. He is a board member and founder of a group called Courageous Christians United, which promotes anti-Mormon, anti-Catholic and anti-Muslim literature (including the work of Robert Spencer) on its website. In 2002, Klein ran for the California Insurance Commissioner under the American Independent Party, an extremist fringe party linked to the militia movement, garnering a piddling 2 percent of the vote.
Klein has been closely affiliated with the Church at Kaweah, an extreme evangelical church located 70 miles southeast of Fresno that serves as a nexus of neo-Confederate, Christian Reconstructionist, and militia movement elements. The Southern Poverty Law Center produced a report on Kaweah this spring that noted Klein’s long record of activist against Muslims:

Over the past year, Johnson and the church militia have developed a relationship with Steve Klein, a longtime religious-right activist who brags about having led a “hunter killer” team as a Marine in Vietnam. Klein, who calls Islam a “penis-driven religion” and thinks Los Angeles Sheriff Lee Baca is a Muslim Brotherhood patsy, is allied with Christian activist groups across California. In 2011, as head of the Concerned Citizens for the First Amendment, he worked with the Vista, Calif.-based Christian Anti-Defamation Commission on a campaign to “arm” students with the “truth about Islam and Muhammad” — mainly by leafleting high schools with literature depicting the Prophet Mohammed as a sex-crazed pedophile.

Klein, based in Hemet, Calif., has been active in extremist movements for decades. In 1977, he founded Courageous Christians United, which now conducts “respectful confrontations” outside of abortion clinics, Mormon temples and mosques. Klein also has ties to the Minuteman movement. In 2007, he sued the city of San Clemente for ordering him to stop leafleting cars with pamphlets opposing illegal immigration.

Like many other activists who fashion themselves as “counter-Jihadists,” Klein has organized against the construction of mosques in his area. While leafleting against a planned mosque in Temecula, California, which he claimed would herald the introduction of Shariah law to the quiet suburb, Klein remarked, “It all comes down to the first amendment. I don’t care if you disagree with me. Just don’t cut off my head.”

Klein appears to be allied with the National American Coptic Assembly, a radical Islamophobic group headed by Morris Sadik. Sadik claims to have discovered the film and began promoting it online. Once it went viral, the trailer was translated into Arabic, sparking outrage in the Middle East, and ultimately, to the deadly attacks carried out by Muslim extremists today.

Klein claims credit for inspiring “Sam Bacile” to produce “The Innocence of Muslims,” promising him he would be “the next Theo Van Gogh,” referring to the Dutch columnist who was murdered by a Muslim extremist. Of the attacks in Libya, Klein said, “We went into this knowing this was probably going to happen.”

Federal Reserve launches QE3

Federal Reserve launches QE3

By Annalyn Censky @CNNMoney September 13, 2012: 1:16 PM ET

Is the third time the charm? Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke certainly hopes so, as the central bank launched QE3 in an attempt to stimulate the economy.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The Federal Reserve announced plans to unleash more stimulus Thursday, in its third attempt at a controversial program to rev up the U.S. economy.
The policy, known as quantitative easing and often abbreviated as QE3, entails buying $40 billion in mortgage-backed securities each month. The end date remains up in the air, as the Fed will re-evaluate the strength of the economy in coming months.

The Fed is wasting no time. The purchases begin Friday and are expected to total about $23 billion over the remainder of September.
In addition, the Fed also indicated that it plans to keep interest rates at "exceptionally low levels" until mid-2015. Previously, the Fed had forecast rates would remain low until late 2014.
The central bank's main objective is to lower interest rates and mortgage rates in particular. By keeping rates low, the Fed hopes to fuel more spending and eventually, more hiring.
The policy "should put downward pressure on longer-term interest rates, support mortgage markets, and help to make broader financial conditions more accommodative," the Fed's official statement said.
Meanwhile, the Fed will continue its existing policy known as Operation Twist. Together the two programs will add $85 billion in long-term bonds to the Fed's balance sheet each month.
Related: QE3 won't create jobs
The Fed has been trying to stimulate the economy for over three years now, and has exhausted its usual tool by keeping interest rates near zero since late 2008. Quantitative easing is an unconventional way of trying to lower rates further.
Still, the Fed is not satisfied, given that the unemployment rate has remained above 8%.
In a speech two weeks ago, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke called the job market a "grave concern." Later, the government's jobs report showed hiring slowed substantially in August and the labor force shrank.
In its statement Thursday, the Fed indicated it will not only continue QE3, but also "employ its other policy tools" if the "labor market does not improve substantially."
The Fed's accommodative policies have been contentious from the start. Republicans often warn that as the Federal Reserve has expanded the money supply, it has set the economy up for rapid inflation in the future.
Meanwhile, economists expect the benefits to be minor, and the risks are uncertain. The first two rounds of quantitative easing lowered interest rates and fueled stock market gains, but banks haven't been eager to lend out money readily.
Martin Feldstein: What worries me about QE
Banks are sitting on $1.6 trillion in reserves and credit standards remain tight following the financial crisis. Households continue to pay down debt, and are in no hurry to ramp up their spending.
That said, it's possible the Fed's move could help the housing market slightly. New construction and home prices have already started picking up recently, and should mortgage rates fall further, that could fuel a quicker housing recovery.
The QE3 move comes after Bernanke has repeatedly urged Congress to do more to support the recovery in the short term, while still addressing the country's debt problem over the long term.
But Congress has done little to heed his advice, and given it's an election year, they're not expected to act anytime soon. Economists often cite the threat of fiscal cliff as one of the key reasons businesses remain reluctant to hire new workers.
The Fed may have acted Thursday, partly to offset the drag from fiscal policy.
In implementing QE3, the central bank does not use taxpayer money to buy bonds. Rather, it expands the U.S. money supply and electronically credits banks with more funds.
Of the Fed's 12 voting members, Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker was the only one to oppose Thursday's decision. He objected against the 2015 forecast and QE3. He has dissented at every Fed meeting since January.

First Published: September 13, 2012: 12:48 PM ET

How Bain Capital (And Mitt Romney) Profited From The 9/11 Tragedy

How Bain Capital (And Mitt Romney) Profited From The 9/11 Tragedy

September 12th, 2012 6:43 pm Jason Sattler

One of Mitt Romney’s most challenging tasks as the Republican nominee for president is to explain his business career, which has been the subject of attacks since last winter’s primaries. The genesis of his extraordinary wealth is something that he’s rarely spoken about on the campaign trail in detail. And when he finally did try to address the issue at the Republican National Convention, he never actually mentioned the name of the private equity firm he ran for decades – Bain Capital.
A new report by Politicker’s Hunter Walker helps explain why Romney shies from defending his  firm’s practices. In addition to buying companies – often strong companies that could be loaded with debt, Bain also invested in firms that could wring profit from crisis. Consider Equity Specialty Holdings, a reinsurance startup specifically created to purchase debt from insurance companies badly hit by the 9/11 attacks.
Walker reports that “Mr. Romney was invested in Endurance Specialty Holdings both through Golden Gate Capital, a private equity firm founded by a former Bain Capital executive in 2000 and through his direct interest in another investment firm, CCG Investment Fund, LP.”
The opportunity for Equity Specialty Holdings was simple. Its management could invest in insurers that badly needed to cover losses due to 9/11, and reap enormous benefit from the increased fees that the surviving insurance companies could then charge. The results were astounding: “Over the next nine months, the company generated a net income of $63.5 million. By the end of 2003, the company was reporting net income of $263.4 million.”
The Romney family disavows any knowledge or responsibility for this investment, saying that their money is in a blind trust. Famously, Romney dismissed Ted Kennedy’s identical response in 1994, ridiculing blind trusts as an “age-old ruse.”
Bain’s reinsurance investment occurred in that murky period when Romney had left Bain in order to work on the 2002 Winter Olympics, yet remained the CEO of the firm. During that period, Bain made many of its most controversial layoffs and investments – including investing in Stericycle, a company that went on to dispose of aborted fetuses. A Bain executive has said Romney retained his position in Bain as leverage while he negotiated his retirement package. The implication is that he retained the power to affect the company’s business.
The world of private equity baffles most Americans with its tangled web of ownership and the ability to profit off bankruptcies. But it’s understandable that Romney would seek to distance himself from controversial investments. Profiting from 9/11 doesn’t fit well with his campaign slogan, “Believe in America.”  Photo credit: AP Photo/Nati Harnik

QE3 won't create jobs

QE3 won't create jobs

By Annalyn Censky @CNNMoney September 13, 2012: 7:05 AM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The Federal Reserve's policymaking committee is meeting for the next two days, and it is widely expected to announce a third round of quantitative easing, known as QE3.
But even if the Fed launches that third bond-buying spree, it is unlikely to have a major positive effect on the economy.

The impact would be "microscopic" at best, said Catherine Mann, a Brandeis University finance professor and former Federal Reserve economist.
"The Fed continues to want the economy to grow faster and specifically, to grow more jobs, but the ability of QE to do that is extraordinarily limited," she said.
The Fed could buy Treasury bonds, mortgage backed securities, or both. Economists at Goldman Sachs predict QE3 could total $50 billion in purchases a month, and the end date could be left up in the air, depending on the strength of the economy.
Related: Investors and economists agree: No QE3
The hope is that such a program will lower interest rates further, translating into cheap borrowing for businesses, consumers and homebuyers. In turn, more lending could lead to more hiring.
Here's the problem though: The more easing that the Fed does, the less impact it has on the broader economy. Even the Fed admits as much.
"There may be some diminishing returns and that would be a consideration we'd have to look at as we try to analyze what our options are," Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said in June.
Poll: Will the Fed launch QE3 on Thursday
The yield on 10-year Treasury bonds -- considered the benchmark interest rate in the United States -- is now around 1.7%, not far from the all-time low reached in July.
But even record low interest rates have yet to spur much lending by banks.
"We know that QE reduced interest rates, but we also know that has not led to more construction, more mortgages, more business investment, or more lending," Mann said. "Since it hasn't done any of that, it probably hasn't created jobs either."
Meanwhile, banks are sitting on $1.5 trillion in excess reserves and haven't been eager to lend that money out. In fact, low interest rates make it harder for them to turn a profit on new loans.
Still, some economists say QE3 could be modestly helpful. It may drive stocks higher. It could also support the nascent recovery in the housing market.
Mortgage rates are indirectly related to the Fed's policies, and in July, they fell to their lowest level on record. That same month, permits to build new homes picked up to their highest level in four years. Home prices have started to rise too.
Related: What the Fed should do (but probably won't)
If mortgage rates fall even further, could that help?
Mark Gertler, an economist at New York University, believes QE3 could have a positive impact on the economy if it included mortgage-backed securities. He estimates that if the Fed were to buy another $500 billion to $600 billion in assets, the central bank could possibly lower interest rates about a tenth of a percentage point more.
"We're not talking about a major form of stimulus, but given the job market is still unsettled, it could be useful," he said. "Everything else being equal, credit will be cheaper."
That stands in contrast to the first two rounds of QE. Totaling $2.3 trillion, those programs are thought to have lowered the 10-year yield by one full percentage point, and created roughly 2 million jobs, according to research cited by Bernanke in Jackson Hole, Wyo. two weeks ago.
However, if QE1 and QE2 created 2 million jobs, it seems reasonable to suggest that a third, smaller round would have an even smaller impact on job creation. Although any gains would be welcome, the labor market remains in a deep hole.
The United States still needs to recover 4.7 million jobs just to get back to 2008 employment levels. The population has grown, and as of August, 12.5 million people remained unemployed.
At this point, the Fed's power pales in comparison to the potential impact Congress could have by addressing fiscal cliff fears, said Dean Croushore, an economics professor at the University of Richmond and a former Fed economist.
"Businesses are not hesitant to invest and hire because interest rates are too high -- they're hesitant because of the uncertainty surrounding their future prospects," he said.

First Published: September 12, 2012: 8:04 AM ET

Stocks in holding pattern ahead of Fed

  Stocks in holding pattern ahead of Fed

By CNNMoney Staff @CNNMoneyInvest September 13, 2012: 9:05 AM ET

Click the chart for more premarket data

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- U.S. stocks were poised for a slightly lower open Thursday, as investors wait to hear whether the Federal Reserve is planning any new stimulus action to boost the economy.
The Federal Open Market Committee will release its policy statement at 12:30 p.m. ET, followed by a press conference with Fed chair Ben Bernanke at 2:15 p.m. ET. Hopes have been running high for the central bank to announce a new round of bond buying, known as quantitative easing or QE3.

Bernanke suggested in a speech late last month that the Fed was prepared to put forth a new asset-purchasing program. The weak August jobs report added weight to that argument.
Ahead of the opening bell Thursday, the Labor Department reported initial jobless claims increased to 382,000 for the week ended September 8, up 15,000 from the week earlier, and worse than expected.
Related: QE3 won't create jobs
The U.S. Bureaus of Labor Statistics reported producer prices rose 1.7% in August, marking the largest monthly jump since June 2009 and higher than expected.
Anticipation of the Fed's decision weighed on markets around the world. European markets were mixed in afternoon trading. Asian markets were also mixed as markets closed Thursday ahead of the news. The Hang Seng ended in the red, while the Shanghai Composite and Japan's Nikkei edged higher.
The euro continued to rally against the U.S. dollar, sending the currency above $1.29 for the second day in a row. At the same time, investors shifted into U.S. Treasuries, pushing the yield on the 10-year note to 1.74% from 1.76% late Wednesday.
Related: Banking union faces long road
Oil prices held steady Thursday despite mounting pressure in the Mideast, rising to $97.37 a barrel. Brent crude, Europe's benchmark, edged up to $116.12 a barrel.
U.S. stocks closed modestly higher Wednesday, after Germany's Constitutional Court ruled against a request to block Europe's latest rescue fund.
Fear & Greed Index
Companies: Shares of Facebook (FB) continued to move higher in premarket trading, one day after hitting a 1-month high. Facebook's stock has gained nearly 13% over the past five days, but at $21, it's still a far cry from its IPO price of $38.
Apple's (AAPL, Fortune 500)stock edged higher, a day after the tech giant unveiled the iPhone 5.
Aerospace companies BAE Systems (BAESY) and European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co (EADSY). said they were in merger talks Wednesday, sending shares of both companies higher in after-hours trading.
Retailer Pier 1 Imports (PIR) reported strong second-quarter earning Thursday morning and raised its full-year guidance. Shares of the home furnishing company edged higher on the news.
Commodities: Gold futures for December delivery rose $3.6 to $1,737.30 an ounce.

First Published: September 13, 2012: 6:28 AM ET