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		<title>Obama&#8217;s Budget</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The budget includes more than $350 billion in short-term measures for job growth, and a six-year, $476 billion proposal for roads and other surface transportation projects, according to draft documents viewed by Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

His budget will also call for tax incentives for companies that create jobs in the U.S. and doubling the deduction for advanced manufacturing. The budget also proposes a “Manufacturing Communities Tax Credit” to encourage investment in communities affected by job loss.]]></description>
		<link>http://www.opalquality.com/2012/02/obamas-budget/</link>
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		<title>Republican Candidates in DC</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Santorum is trying to build on his momentum -- a chance he missed after winning the Iowa caucuses in part because Romney was prematurely declared the victor. Gingrich is trying to maintain his claimed status as the conservative alternative to Romney. And Romney is trying retain his frontrunner status, and keep the competition at bay.]]></description>
		<link>http://www.opalquality.com/2012/02/republican-candidates-in-dc/</link>
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		<title>Small Business Gets A Hand</title>
		<description><![CDATA[As part of an ongoing review of all size standards, the SBA evaluated all of the revenue-based size standards in these sectors to determine whether to revise the existing size standards.  SBA took into account the structural characteristics within individual industries, including average firm size, the degree of competition, and federal government contracting trends to ensure that size definitions reflect current economic conditions within those industries.]]></description>
		<link>http://www.opalquality.com/2012/02/small-business-gets-a-hand/</link>
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		<title>Occupy Oakland vs Stand For Oakland</title>
		<description><![CDATA["I think this will make them see that the citizens are concerned and that the citizens are tired of the actions that they are taking," said Oakland Neighborhood Crime Prevention Council member Angela Haller to Mercury News who joined Stand For Oakland.]]></description>
		<link>http://www.opalquality.com/2012/02/occupy-oakland-vs-stand-for-oakland/</link>
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		<title>What&#8217;s New? Entrepreneurship.</title>
		<description><![CDATA[More and more people around the world are becoming entrepreneurs, according to a Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2011 report released Thursday. The world’s so-called “innovation-driven” economies saw an increase of 22 percent in early-stage entrepreneurship in 2011 over the year before, as measured by the number of people operating a business that’s less than 3.5 years old.]]></description>
		<link>http://www.opalquality.com/2012/01/whats-new-entrepreneurship/</link>
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		<title>Can a Small Business Survive in the Cloud?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Washington Post: Even with risks, the cloud offers advantages for small businesses By Erik Larson, Published: January 27 Just about every small business owner, and anyone else for that matter, has been hearing a lot about “the cloud” lately. Internet behemoths like Google, Apple and Amazon are fighting it out for cloud superiority, as are other [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.opalquality.com/2012/01/can-a-small-business-survive-in-the-cloud/</link>
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		<title>Obama&#8217;s State of the Union Address</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Mr. Obama would like the new tax to replace the alternative minimum tax, which was created decades ago to make sure that the richest taxpayers with plentiful deductions and credits did not avoid income taxes, but which now affects millions of Americans who are considered upper middle class.]]></description>
		<link>http://www.opalquality.com/2012/01/obamas-state-of-the-union-address/</link>
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		<title>Mitt v Newt in Florida Debate</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The difference between the Romney who showed up tonight vs. the one who was on stage in South Carolina last week was night and day.
That’s not to say that Romney’s performance at the debate hosted by CNN, the Florida Republican Party and the Hispanic Leadership Network wasn’t without fault. When asked to own up to an ad his campaign is running on the radio that said Gingrich once called Spanish the “language of the ghetto,” Romney said it wasn’t his ad. Only problem: it is. The CNN moderator Wolf Blitzer corrected him publicly a few minutes later.]]></description>
		<link>http://www.opalquality.com/2012/01/mitt-v-newt-in-florida-debate/</link>
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		<title>South Carolina Proves Newt Still Has Some Fight</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Meanwhile, Romney stumbled in the debates, particularly in his convoluted explanations of why he has not yet released his tax returns, which served as a reminder of his wealth.

Overall, the debates proved to be a decisive factor in South Carolina.

In preliminary exit polls, more than half of voters say they decided in the closing days of the campaign, and Gingrich held a roughly 20-point lead in this group. Romney matched Gingrich among those who decided earlier.

Gingrich’s strongest support came from those who said the debates had been the “most important factor” in making their choice.]]></description>
		<link>http://www.opalquality.com/2012/01/south-carolina-proves-newt-still-has-some-fight/</link>
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		<title>Small Businesses&#8217; Huge Community Impact</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Too often, the role local businesses play in the life of the communities they serve can tend to be overlooked. Owners and proprietors of small businesses are the moving forces behind Business Improvement Districts, merchant and business associations and local chambers of commerce. Through these organizations they foster clean streets, holiday lights, tree lightings, Fourth of July festivities and sidewalk sale days. Yes, these activities earn recognition for the enterprises that sponsor them, but they add to a community’s sense of self and civic pride as well.]]></description>
		<link>http://www.opalquality.com/2012/01/884/</link>
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