But with a 21% cut in Medicare payments slated to take effect later this month, physicians who say they are making an OK living may be reduced to income levels that no longer make their profession viable. That’s especially true for those still paying medical school costs and other training.

"The cuts will hit me," said Dr. William Schreiber, a primary care physician based in North Syracuse, N.Y.

Schreiber sees 120 patients a week. About 30% of them are enrolled directly in Medicare, while another 65% have private insurance plans that peg their payments on Medicare’s rates. Only 5% pay on their own.

As a result, Schreiber expects the cuts to take away $3 out of every $5 he currently earns. And, as a primary care physician, he already wasn’t earning anything near the salary of a specialist.

"After the costs of my own benefits are deducted, that will leave me with the equivalent of a minimum wage job," he said.

Unless Congress acts to adjust Medicare payments without considering the impact of rising health care costs, Schreiber said he could be forced into bankruptcy or shut his practice.

Cost of care

Schreiber, who employs two nurse practitioners, agreed to break down the costs associated with running his practice.

He spends about $60,000 a month on "fixed costs" to run his practice. "That’s more or less my breakeven point," he said. "If I spend more, I’m in the red for the month."

Business costs include rent, payroll, utilities, medical and office supplies. Because he maintains electronic health records for his patients, Schreiber also pays for equipment maintenance and other management services associated with patient billing.

Fixed costs for a private practice also include malpractice insurance. He pays about $7,000 a year for himself and $2,000 each for his two nurse practitioners. Schreiber admits that his cost for malpractice insurance is relatively low, compared to specialists such as ob/gyns, who pay upward of $100,000 a year. (Rx for money woes: Doctors quit medicine)

Finally, his fixed costs include benefits to cover his employees, including himself.

Those costs go against the $800,000 or so in revenue, which includes about $100,000 in income, he said his practice collects in a given year.

Nearly a third of that money, the sum that would be cut 21%, comes from Medicare.

What Medicare pays

Overall, Medicare pays between 63% and 72% of the costs for one of Schreiber’s patients — although the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services applies different payment rates in different states.

According to Schreiber, four billing codes make up the "bread and butter" of claims submitted to Medicare.

The first code represents a simple visit, which might include blood pressure and cholesterol checks. Schreiber gets about $44 from Medicare for the $70 fee he charges.

The second and third codes correspond to a sick visit, when he spends 15 to 20 minutes evaluating a patient for symptoms such as coughing or shortness of breath. Schreiber charges $92 for a sick visit, of which Medicare pays about $58.

The last billing code is a complex visit. "This is where a patient comes in with many problems like heart disease, hypertension, diabetes," he said. Such a visit requires about 30 minutes of his time.

Schreiber charges $120 for these visits, and Medicare pays $88 of that.

"Medicare reimbursements aren’t bad. That’s why everyone takes them," Schreiber said.

For his privately insured patients, Schreiber gets paid an additional 10% to 20% above Medicare rates.

But an approximately $5,000 monthly cut in Medicare payments and a related reduction in rates from private insurers would change his financial picture dramatically.

The cuts — which took effect Monday but were deferred to the end of March when the Senate approved an extension Tuesday — can’t come from the fixed costs. So, Schreiber said, they would have to come from the amount he clears a month.

"If I am now getting paid 21% less on what Medicare reimburses me, it turns Medicare into a losing proposition," he said.

Despite his concerns, Schreiber said he’s not dumping his Medicare patients yet.

"I’ll see what we are going to do," he said. "It’s not a case of closing my doors to Medicare to get back at someone for cutting my salary." 

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It was part of a plea agreement first reported by the Post-Dispatch last week and finalized in U.S. District Court in St. Louis.

KV has faced various legal problems over the past two years, including dozens of drug recalls and a shutdown of manufacturing.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Andy Lay said the company attempted to defraud or mislead when it failed to notify the FDA of problems discovered with two of its oversized tablets — dextroamphetamine and propafenone.

Drug manufacturers are required to notify the FDA within three days if they find significant problems with an approved drug.

Dextroamphetamine is an ingredient in the attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder drug Adderall. Propafenone is used to treat cardiac arrhythmia, or irregular heartbeats.

KV profited about $11 million from the crime, Lay said in the hearing. The company will have to repay more than $1.7 million to the federal Medicare program and $573,000 to Medicaid as part of the deal.

"Consumers can and should expect safe and effective drugs from pharmaceutical companies," U.S. Attorney Richard Callahan said in a written statement.

"We hope today’s events put KV on track for a compliant and productive future creditreport."

The company has said it will shutter its generic drug unit, Ethex, because the plea agreement will probably exclude the subsidiary from future government programs.

The FDA’s actions followed a series of recalls in 2008 and early 2009, some of which involved oversized tablets that could have led patients to overdose accidentally.

As a result of those recalls, KV ceased all production in January 2009. Two months later, the company entered into a consent decree with prosecutors that prohibits KV from manufacturing until it meets FDA regulations.

KV said it would continue to work with the FDA to get its products back on the market. The settlement does not restrict the company from manufacturing generic drugs that comply with FDA regulations, the company said.

Meanwhile, drugstore chain CVS is suing KV for allegedly breaking a supply contract.

CVS claims KV owes it at least $100 million for failing to supply certain drugs beginning last year, according to a complaint filed Friday in federal court in Providence, R.I.

Bloomberg News contributed to this report.

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Greece’s budget deficit, the European Union’s biggest, has triggered the euro’s longest losing streak against the dollar since November 2008 and forced EU leaders to plan for possible emergency aid. The crisis has spilled over to German-Greek relations, after Greek Deputy Prime Minister Theodoros Pangalos suggested Germany isn’t entitled to criticize Greece because of the Nazi-era occupation of his country during World War II.

Merkel, who is scheduled to host Papandreou for talks on March 5, wants “to stay in close contact with him so the emotions don’t run so high,” she said in off-the-cuff studio remarks in Berlin yesterday overheard by reporters. On camera, Merkel said in an interview on ARD television that “the euro is certainly facing the most difficult phase since its inception.”

The comments are further evidence of Merkel’s concern about the risk Greece poses to the single currency, to Germany and the EU as a whole easy payday loans. Merkel, who leads Europe’s biggest economy, warned as early as Jan. 13 that Greece “can put us under great, great pressures.”

German lawmakers say euro-area officials are crafting a plan to grant Greece about 25 billion euros ($34 billion) in aid should the need arise, possibly by using state-owned lenders such as Germany’s KfW Group to buy its debt.

Merkel said in the interview that decisions on aid “absolutely haven’t been taken” and the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, is in charge of the bloc’s response.

“We can best help Greece right now by making it clear that Greece has to do its homework,” Merkel said on ARD. “The Commission is dealing with that.”

Greece “must do what’s important for the country but also what’s important for all us,” she said.

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“The economy has posted a remarkable recovery from the global recession,” according to the annual Economic Survey prepared by officials advising Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, released in New Delhi today. “The recovery creates scope for a gradual rollback, in due course, of some of the measures undertaken over the last 15 to 18 months.”

The challenge for Mukherjee is to unwind 7.5 trillion rupees ($162 billion) of fiscal stimulus and curb consumer-price inflation that’s the highest in the Asia-Pacific region, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The payoff may be cheaper debt-financing costs and averting investor concerns at the sustainability of faster economic growth such as in China.

“India wants to avoid a China-like overheating problem,” said Shashanka Bhide, chief economist at the National Council, a corporate-funded analysis group. “Mukherjee has a tough balancing act — to support growth and cut the budget deficit to control inflation.”

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s administration, which won reelection last year, will also aim to avoid hampering an economic rebound that’s yet to produce earnings gains for DLF Ltd., India’s largest real-estate developer, and has left out an agriculture industry hammered by a poor monsoon.

Higher Taxes

Mukherjee may raise the excise tax by 2 percentage points and the service tax to 12 percent from 10 percent, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said last week. He also may accelerate sales of state-run companies including Coal India Ltd., India’s monopoly coal producer, and Steel Authority of India Ltd., the nation’s second-largest steelmaker, to boost revenue.

“You can’t maintain your policy settings at crisis levels” when growth rebounds, Stephen Roach, chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia Ltd., said in an interview in Mumbai this month. “If monetary and fiscal accommodation persists for an indefinite period, you run the risk” of consumer and asset- price inflation, he said.

Since December, there have been signs of food-price inflation spreading to manufactured goods and services, the Finance Ministry said today. India’s benchmark wholesale-price inflation accelerated to 8.6 percent in January, the fastest pace since October 2008. Sixty percent of India’s inflation reading is contributed by food items after monsoon rains were deficient last year, the ministry said.

‘Controling’ Demand

“Inflation management therefore should involve controlling the demand situation as well as reining in inflationary expectations through various monetary measures,” the Indian finance ministry said.

Mukherjee is scheduled to unveil the budget for the fiscal year starting April 1 tomorrow at 11 a.m. in parliament in New Delhi. He had cut excise tax by 4 percentage points and stepped up government spending on roads and power since December 2008 to support the economy amid a global recession. The budget deficit may widen to 6.5 percent of GDP in the year ending March 31, a 16-year high, the ministry estimated today.

India’s central bank governor Duvvuri Subbarao last month said the government must withdraw fiscal stimulus steps and cut the budget deficit to help cool inflation. The central bank, on its part, last month raised the proportion of deposits that lenders need to maintain as cash reserves to 5.75 percent from 5 percent to contain inflation.

Debt Burden

India must cut its debt to 68 percent of GDP by March 2015 from the current 82 percent, the ministry said, citing recommendations of the 13th Finance Commission, a government panel appointed to suggest a roadmap to reduce government debt guaranteed approval cash loans.

The debt level is almost quadruple China’s, according to International Monetary Fund figures. Fiscal restraint may help stoke India’s bonds and currency, Goldman Sachs analysts said this month. It may also aid a sovereign-debt rating that’s the lowest among the BRIC nations, which include Brazil, Russia and China.

“If the exit path is well articulated and well executed, the local-currency rating could be upgraded,” Moody’s Investors Service sovereign analyst Aninda Mitra said in a Feb. 19 interview. Moody’s ranks India’s rupee-denominated debt at Ba2, two levels below investment grade.

Hit to Stocks

Debt woes have become an investor focus after a Greek rating downgrade spurred a sell-off in the euro. India’s Sensitive stocks index declined about 7 percent since Jan. 1, while China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 8.5 percent this year.

Bonds have retreated, with benchmark 10-year Indian government note yields climbing 20 basis points to 7.79 percent this month. Bond sales may rise 2 percent in the fiscal year to a record 4.6 trillion rupees, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg survey, reflecting the need to refinance a surge in maturing debt.

Mukherjee can start to reverse tax cuts as India’s $1.2 trillion economy may “breach” a 9 percent growth pace by March 2012, the Finance Ministry said, citing the country’s savings rates that now match the range of those in Japan, South Korea and Malaysia. The economy may grow 7.2 percent in the year ending March 31, the nation’s statistics department said today.

India’s savings rate is at 32.5 percent of gross domestic product compared with 28 percent in Japan, 30 percent in South Korea and 38 percent in Malaysia, according to the report.

Boon From Savings

“Since these indicators are some of the strongest correlates of growth and do not fluctuate wildly, they speak well for India’s medium-term growth prospects,” the ministry said. “The savings rate is likely to rise further as the demographic dividend begins to pay off in India.”

The finance ministry estimates 440 million Indians out of a total population of 1.2 billion are under the age of 18. India’s population will rise to 1.7 billion by 2050 and will overtake China as the world’s most populous nation, according to the United Nations.

“It is entirely possible for India to move into the rarified domain of double-digit growth and even attempt to don the mantle of the fastest-growing economy in the world within the next four years,” the finance ministry said.

Rising demand helped Tata Motors Ltd., India’s largest truckmaker, post a 68 percent gain in sales in the three months ended December, while sales at Bajaj Auto Ltd, the second- largest motorcycle maker, more than doubled in January.

At the same time, expansion in gross capital fixed formation, a proxy for investment growth, is at 5.2 percent, below the economic growth rate. That makes it necessary to watch the growth recovery in private investment in the fiscal third and fourth quarters while scaling back fiscal stimulus, the ministry said.

“We have seen some growth in the last two quarters,” Ravi Sud, chief financial officer at Hero Honda Motors Ltd., India’s biggest motorcycle maker, said in an interview. “But is a two- quarter period sufficient to take a call on withdrawal of all the stimulus packages? One is not too sure.”

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It would seem logical that an economic recovery would loft them even higher in 2010. The problem is that nagging questions about government intervention, housing and consumer credit may weigh them down.

Funds loaded with bank stocks have a tough act to follow:

Financial services mutual funds rose more than 40 percent over the past 12 months, while the Financial Select Sector SPDR exchange-traded fund gained more than 50 percent.

"The news in banking has become ‘less bad’ this year, the surprises are pretty much over and the healing process is in full force," observed David Ellison, portfolio manager of FBR Small Cap Financial Fund, up nearly 40 percent over the past 12 months.

"You make money in financial stocks buying when things are ugly, which they still are, on the hope that they’ll improve to OK to good to great."

Many bank-stock investors are avoiding those overly dependent on credit cards, mortgages or auto lending. Traits of different banks have become more evident.

"The banks that got into trouble the earliest also got into the deepest trouble and have been the ones lagging behind," explained Jaime Peters, banking analyst with Morningstar Inc. in Chicago. "You’ll want the stock of banks that have performed fairly well through the cycle, since we still have a lot of questions about the economy and regulations hanging over the industry."

No one is certain if the economy is really recovering or a "stimulus program pop-up" is masking an economic double dip, cautioned Peters.

And then there’s the government to try to figure out.

"The situation in Washington has become frightening to folks who follow the banking stocks," said Richard Bove, banking analyst with Rochdale Securities in Stamford, Conn. "If one believed the government would do all the things it has talked about in regard to the banks, it would be extremely negative for the industry."

In Bove’s view, the government basically believes the industry makes too much money and is too big, so it is considering legislation to reduce the size of the biggest banks. Yet no one quite knows how all the political invective will actually play out.

The enormous compensation of bank CEOs following a period of economic woe provides powerful headline news that has raised the ire of average citizens, as well as President Barack Obama.

Leading the pack of big-buck bankers in 2009 were John Stumpf of Wells Fargo & Co., with $18.7 million in total compensation, and Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase & Co., who pulled in $17.6 million.

Though many critics would object, Ellison advises putting anger on hold for a while because there are higher-priority matters as the industry tries to work its way through an abnormal period.

"I feel investors should worry about CEO pay later, not now, and instead focus on companies becoming healthier by getting their arms around their nonperforming loans and reducing them," said Ellison. "You really want to see banks building their franchises and cutting costs."

Bank of New York Mellon and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. are Bove’s strongest stock recommendations because of high quality and impressive long-term outlook.

He thinks State Street Corp., PNC Financial Services Group, BB&T Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. will have moderate increases in earnings because they ran their companies properly during the financial downturn.

Peters, on the other hand, considers the top tier bank stocks to be JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo, with BB&T Corp. and U.S. Bancorp her second tier choices.

Based on Ellison’s logic that government really wants the largest banks to survive, he recommends Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., JP MorganChase, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley because "they have good-earning assets and in time will start to earn good money."

Smaller banks Ellison likes include Hudson City Bancorp., Washington Federal Inc. and Astoria Financial Corp. because they have capital and "understand what’s happening" in local markets.

"Bank of America is the biggest question mark because it is heavily into retail, paid too much for Merrill Lynch and Countrywide, and had so many compensation scandals," said Peters. "There is a lot of profitability in its model, and once we start seeing some recovery in loan losses, there is going to be a large pop in its bottom line."

Although Bove sees Bank of America’s potential, he is avoiding it for now.

"It’s a consumer finance bank, but its loan loss provisions are so high, having written off $48 million last year," he said. "Unless there’s a growth case to be made for the bank, I don’t want to make its stock a strong buy."

Bank mergers are a difficult investment game.

Traditionally, a large bank buys a smaller bank at a premium, rewarding the acquired bank’s shareholders. Lately, however, banks have been purchased through the government with no premiums. That favors little banks, enabling them to buy other small banks and transform them for their market, said Ellison. Big banks don’t want the negative government attention of acquisition bids.

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Improved productivity, the global economic recovery and a lower value of the dollar have lifted exports of goods 24% since April. January was the first month in three years that there was a gain in manufacturing jobs nationwide.

In fact, activity in the sector is better than at any time in more than five years, according to the Institute of Supply Management’s survey of manufacturing executives.

"Manufacturing is clearly leading the way out of the recession," said Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Economy.com. Zandi said there even should be some new manufacturing jobs created in the next few years, and that "modest gains are a big swing from massive job losses."

Further signs of strength came Wednesday when the Federal Reserve’s report on industrial production showed growth for the seventh straight month.

While the index is still 10% below where it was at the start of the Great Recession in December 2007, it has jumped 4% in the nine months since the low point it hit in April.

"This report is the latest confirmation that the manufacturing sector is making progress recouping losses following the recession, " said Tim Quinlan, economic analyst for Wells Fargo Securities

Even those bullish on manufacturing admit that much of the growth since last spring was due to the need to replenish depleted inventories, a trend that can’t last more than a few more months. But the end of inventory restocking will only slow the recent fast pace of growth, not end it.

The increased demand for U.S. exports should help the sector. But an expected pickup in consumer and business spending in the U.S. later this year could be particularly good news for manufacturers.

Experts point to the pent-up demand for new cars and new homes as a good sign.

"The levels of vehicle sales and housing construction are much below where general demographic trends suggest they should be," said Zandi.

Automakers are among the leading purchasers of goods as varied as semiconductors, carpeting, glass, metals and paint, in addition to traditional auto parts. New home sales lead to the purchases of furniture and appliances far more than sales of existing homes.

Zandi said this recession was much tougher on U.S. manufacturers than past downturns, but those that were able to cut capacity and costs and survive are far more competitive than those that came out of past downturns.

"For manufacturers that could survive the Great Recession, their prospects are very good," he said.

Dave Huether, chief economist for the National Association of Manufacturers, agrees with Zandi that U.S. manufacturers have a relatively bright outlook.

He said the sector is far better positioned today than it was at the end of the previous recession in late 2001, due partly to the lower value of the dollar, which remains relatively weak against other currencies despite a rally this year.

Huether believes that manufacturers could start to hire significant numbers of workers later this year, and that job growth will continue all the way through 2012. He is predicting a million new manufacturing jobs in the next few years. There hasn’t been an annual net gain in jobs since 1997.

"Will we get all the jobs back? Probably not. But we’ll do better than in the last recovery when we really didn’t see any job growth," Huether said.

Still, those worried about the competitiveness of U.S. manufacturers, especially compared to competition from China, aren’t ready to declare that only good times lie ahead for the sector.

"It’s too early to say that manufacturing has seen the worst and that it’ll be on an upswing for a while, although all of us are pleased that we seem to have halted a slide that was pretty frightening," said Scott Paul, executive director of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, a trade group that includes smaller manufacturers and labor unions. 

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The kingdom’s foreign- and local-currency government debt ratings were raised one notch to Aa3, the fourth-highest grade, from A1 with a stable outlook, Moody’s said in a statement in Singapore today. It also increased the country’s ceiling for foreign-currency bank deposits to the same level.

“The upgrade was prompted by the continued strong state of government finances, which have largely withstood oil price volatility and the global economic crisis,” Moody’s said.

For the rating to move higher, “Moody’s will assess prospects for the continued strength in public sector finances and the success of the government’s infrastructure program in improving the country’s long-term competitiveness and economic strength,” Thomas Byrne, a senior vice president at Moody’s in Singapore, said in the statement.

Saudi Arabia’s rating upgrade comes as investors increase scrutiny on government finances of some European nations on concern widening budget deficits will make it difficult for the countries to repay their debt.

Greece, Spain and Portugal are among those struggling to control their budget gaps, prompting investors to dump the countries’ assets and question the sustainability of the recovery in the global economy. More than $3.6 trillion has been wiped from stocks worldwide since Jan. 14, while credit-default swaps have risen as investors seek protection against deteriorating European government finances.

Regional Comparison

Saudi Arabia is now one rank below Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, all rated at Aa2. Dubai, the second-biggest of seven states that make up the United Arab Emirates, in November announced that state-owned Dubai World would seek to delay debt repayments free business cards. Abu Dhabi on Dec. 14 provided $10 billion to help Dubai World avoid defaulting on a $4.1 billion bond payment.

Saudi Arabia’s economy will grow more than 4 percent in 2010 after expanding 0.2 percent last year, Finance Minister Ibrahim al-Assaf said Feb. 11.

Moody’s said the Middle Eastern nation’s banking system had absorbed shocks from the global credit crisis and the current account has probably stayed in surplus.

‘Stable Outlook’

“The kingdom’s banking system is only one of a few globally to have maintained a stable outlook during the crisis,” Moody’s said. “It has demonstrated the ability to absorb and contain shocks emanating from the global financial crisis, Dubai and domestic corporate debt problems.”

Banks in Saudi Arabia, where lending to non-government companies shrank 0.3 percent last year, are returning to project finance as the government spends more to stimulate the economy, Samba Financial Group said in a report this month.

The kingdom, the world’s largest oil exporter, last year announced that it would spend $400 billion on infrastructure over a five-year period to bolster the economy. The country is allocating almost $70 billion to investments this year, a 16 percent increase on 2009.

About half of its $400 billion economic development plan has been spent and the government may finish the program ahead of schedule, al-Assaf said last week.

Any downward pressure on Saudi Arabia’s rating would stem from a “sharp, secular decline” in oil prices, or an inefficient public expenditure program, the ratings company said, adding that it considers both scenarios remote.

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Investors doubled bets the Reserve Bank of Australia will raise the overnight cash rate target by a quarter percentage point to 4 percent next month after a report yesterday showed employers added 52,700 workers in December, more than three times the 15,000 median estimate of 21 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

The fifth straight month of employment increases drove the jobless rate to an 11-month low of 5.3 percent, almost half European Union and U.S. levels, and stoked gains in Australia’s currency. Rising demand from mining companies such as Chevron Corp. for skilled workers threatens to push up wages and adds to signs the $1 trillion economy is robust enough to weather higher borrowing costs.

“The sting in the tail is that the job market is tightening, potentially causing employers to bid up for staff,” said Craig James, a senior economist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia who says the odds of a rate increase next month are about even.

Traders say there is a 46 percent chance of a quarter-point increase on March 2, according to Bloomberg calculations based on interbank futures on the Sydney Futures Exchange at 4:03 p.m. yesterday. Prior to the jobs report, the chance of a move stood at 24 percent.

Stevens will raise the central bank’s key rate to 4 percent next month, according to eight of 17 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News yesterday. All expect an increase in borrowing costs by the end of next quarter.

Stronger Currency

The Australian dollar, which has jumped 36 percent in the last 12 months, rose to 88.85 U.S. cents in Sydney yesterday from 87.72 cents just before the report was released. The S&P/ASX 200 index of stocks rose 0.9 percent to 4,554.30.

Australian employers have added 194,600 jobs since August, the biggest five-month surge since employers created 214,000 jobs between September 2004 and January 2005.

Stevens unexpectedly kept the overnight cash rate target unchanged at 3.75 percent last week, saying information about the impact on the economy of quarter-point gains every month last quarter is still limited.

Yesterday’s report means “it’s now likely that the Reserve Bank will make a further cautious adjustment” next month, said Matthew Johnson, an interest-rate strategist at UBS AG in Sydney. “While the bank need not push too hard in response to this labor-market report, if employment growth sustains this pace, we’ll obviously be wrong about their gradualism,” Johnson said.

Resources Boom

Yesterday’s report reinforces the central bank’s prediction last week that Australia’s economic growth will accelerate this year as resources companies boost investment in mines and gas fields to meet rising global demand for iron ore, coal and energy.

The nation’s unemployment rate has tumbled from 5.8 percent in October, after Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s government stoked the economy by distributing more than A$20 billion ($18 billion) in cash to consumers payday advance. Another A$22 billion is being spent on roads, railways and schools.

In contrast, the unemployment rate in the U.S. was 9.7 percent in January, and 10 percent in November among European Union countries, the highest rate in more than 11 years. New Zealand’s jobless rate climbed to 7.3 percent in the fourth quarter, the highest in more than 10 years, and Japan’s rate was 5.1 percent in December.

Faster Growth

The rebound in Australia’s economy, one of the few to skirt last year’s global recession, is being driven by a combination of the government’s stimulus package, Governor Stevens’ decision to slash interest rates to a half-century low of 3 percent in April last year, a stronger currency and the resilience of China, Treasury Secretary Ken Henry said yesterday in Canberra.

Gross domestic product will climb 3.25 percent in the three months through December 2010 from a year earlier, after gaining an annual 2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009, the bank said in its quarterly monetary policy statement published last week.

“It now looks likely that the unemployment rate has peaked around 5.75 percent, a much better outcome than thought likely early last year,” when the government forecast the jobless rate would reach 8.5 percent in 2010, the central bank said on Feb. 5.

The number of full-time jobs gained 15,900 in January and part-time employment increased 36,900, yesterday’s report showed.

A shortage of workers may increase costs and cause delays at the nation’s liquefied natural gas projects, Fitch Ratings said on Feb. 8.

Pay Rise

The Maritime Workers Union of Australia has secured a A$50,000 pay increase over three years for workers at Total Marine Services Ltd., the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported last week.

Marius Kloppers, chief executive officer of BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s biggest mining company, said this week that the skills shortage in Australia’s resources industry is emerging faster than expected.

Chevron in December announced it signed an $82 billion deal with Japan’s Tokyo Electric Power Co. to supply liquefied natural gas from its Wheatstone field in Western Australia. The project is forecast to generate 6,500 jobs during construction.

It is in addition to the Chevron-led Gorgon gas venture, which is forecast to create another 10,000 jobs when construction starts this year.

Still, not all analysts are convinced that yesterday’s jobs report will prompt Stevens to raise borrowing costs next month.

“Despite the strength of the employment numbers over recent months, there is a soft underbelly” to the labor market, said Stephen Roberts, an economist at Nomura Ltd. in Sydney.

The number of hours worked declined 1 percent in January from December and 1.2 percent from a year earlier, which “will ultimately affect growth in household disposable income,” Roberts said. “The next cash rate hike is likely to be in May.”

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The micro-blogging site was bursting with news from D.C. eateries, announcing openings, closings and even special deals aimed at luring customers out of the snow and into their doors.

Dozens of restaurants tweeted various messages about their states.

Liberty Tavern, in Arlington's Clarendon neighborhood, informed customers Saturday: "Open for business. Burger and a pint for $10 if you can walk on by".

Clarendon's Eventide Restaurant took a different route, saying: "We'll be closed Friday, Saturday & Sunday. Stay safe!"

Some restaurateurs even personally responded to followers, as Chef Geoff's Geoff Tracy broadcasted Saturday: "I'm on site and my Chef Geoff's on New Mexico Ave will be open at 5 p.m."

D.C.'s Sweetgreen restaurant, which has locations in Dupont Circle, Bethesda and Georgetown, closed its doors on Saturday but opened two locations with limited hours on Sunday. Co-founder Nic Jammet said his decision to use Twitter to broadcast the restaurant's status helped his restaurants do "decent business" on Sunday.

"We had a lot of people come in and say, 'Thank God you're open. We read it on Twitter,'" Jammet said. "Even if two people say that, it's the best thing, because you know it works."

Nycci Nellis, the founder of hospitality publication TheListAreYouOnIt, proved to be a major factor in getting the word out to customers. After being contacted by several restaurants with their status during December's snowstorm, Nellis sent an email blast to 1200 of her industry contacts ahead of the weekend weather, announcing she would be sending out announcements via Twitter and Facebook if they gave her information. By mid-afternoon Friday, she had relayed messages from more than 100 restaurants.

"I was completely and totally shocked by the outpouring of information that came my way," Nellis said. "I don't think I've ever worked as hard as I did on Friday afternoon."

Blogger Russell Warnick also did his part to communicate restaurants' status via Twitter. The Endless Simmer writer produced a Google Map showing the restaurants in the 14th Street corridor that were open and closed throughout the weekend, and he released updated versions of the document through Twitter. By Sunday, more than 40 restaurants were reported to be open, according to his map.

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The media conglomerate’s strong quarter was led by robust revenue and earnings from the television and film divisions — the company’s two strongest units. Cost-cutting, including roughly 500 job cuts, at Time Warner’s publishing division, Time Inc., bolstered profit in that unit even as sales decreased.

"We began 2009 with an ambitious agenda and we achieved what we set out to do," said CEO Jeff Bewkes on a conference call with investors. "Time Warner is in a better position than ever … and industry trends are going our way."

For the full year, Time Warner said it expects earnings per share to grow in the "mid-teens" after posting adjusted earnings per share of $1.83 for 2009. The company’s 2010 forecast roughly matches what analysts expect: a 16% rise to $2.12 per share in 2010, according to a survey by Thomson Reuters.

Shares of Time Warner (TWX, Fortune 500) fell 1% in midday trading.

The recession had cut sharply into Time Warner’s media subscriptions and advertising sales, but the company signaled that the worst was likely over by forecasting improved profits, reporting better-than-expected financial results for the quarter and by raising its dividend.

Time Warner raised its dividend by 13.3%, or 2.5 cents, to 21.25 cents per share per quarter. For the year, Time Warner will issue dividends worth 85 cents per share, up from 75 cents.

The outlook for the media company has improved after completing two spinoffs of non-core units during the year and restructuring Time Inc. In early December, Time Warner let go of the revenue-draining Aol (AOL) unit, and in March spun off its cable service provider Time Warner Cable (TWC).

The 2001 AOL-Time Warner merger is widely considered to be the worst in history, but it was ultimately Bewkes’ focus on a "new content-focused Time Warner" that brought the short-lived marriage to an end.

By the numbers

The New York-based parent company of CNNMoney.com and Fortune said its net income rose to $627 million, or 53 cents per share, in the quarter ended Dec. 31, compared with a $16 billion loss in the year-earlier quarter.

Excluding a charge of 2 cents per share, Time Warner said it earned 55 cents per share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, who typically exclude one-time items from their estimates, forecasted earnings of 52 cents per share.

The company said adjusted operating income before depreciation and amortization (OIBDA), a commonly used profit metric for media companies, rose 35% to $1.5 billion, matching analysts’ expectations.

Time Warner’s sales rose 2% to $7.3 billion, topping analysts’ forecasts of $7.2 billion.

Sales were mostly boosted by the company’s filmed entertainment segment, which includes film studio Warner Bros. Revenue rose 7% in the division, led by strong box office sales of "Sherlock Holmes" and best picture Oscar nominee "The Blind Side." DVD sales of "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" and "The Hangover" also bolstered overall revenue.

Time Warner’s television networks, which include CNN and other Turner programming, also performed well in the quarter. Sales grew 4% on an 11% rise in cable subscriptions, which more than offset a 4% drop in advertising sales.

The biggest decline in sales came from the Time Inc. unit, in which revenue fell 13%. Ad sales fell 12% at the company’s publishing arm, and subscriptions were down 6% in the quarter.

But last quarter’s restructuring of Time Inc. helped grow profits and adjusted OIBDA in the quarter. It was the first time the publishing unit’s earnings and adjusted OIBDA rose on a year-over-year basis since the first quarter of 2008. 

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