Main Street vs. Wall Street? The take-home pay of U.S. taxpayers dropped 12%, or $800 billion in 2009, according to a California investment group. At the same time, the market value of U.S. stocks rose $3.5 trillion, or 27%, says TrimTrabs Investment Research. “Flooding the market with newly printed money generated huge profits for Wall Street firms and some investors,” says Charles Biderman, CEO of TrimTabs. “But the money printing did little to restart the country’s growth engine and bring prosperity to average Americans.” Biderman, who says Congress and the White House should have cut taxes as a way of jump starting the economy, says data shows no signs that 2010 will be better for the average American.
From chemical spill to condos: The Shaw Group and a client have received a national honor for cleaning up and redeveloping the site of a chemical spill. Shaw and Annapolis Towne Centre at Parole received the Phoenix Award for their project in Annapolis, Md. The award recognizes environmental and community revitalization projects in 10 EPA regions, Shaw was the winner in the Mid-Atlantic region. The land was the site of one of the largest dry cleaner chemical spills in Maryland history; its since been cleaned up and turned into a two-million-square-foot mixed-use development with restaurants, stores and luxury condos.
