Obama, Hill leaders optimistic on fiscal cliff

WASHINGTON -- Emerging from a closed meeting with President Obama at the White House on Friday, the administration and congressional leaders sounded optimistic on areas of possible compromise over looming fiscal deadlines for tax hikes and spending cuts begin to come into focus.

“The president and the leadership had a constructive meeting and agreed to do everything possible to find a solution that averts the so-called ‘fiscal cliff,’” said Press Secretary Jay Carney. “Both sides agreed that while there may be differences in our preferred approaches, we will continue a constructive process to find a solution and come to a conclusion as soon as possible.”

Administration and congressional leadership staff plan to work while the president travels to Asia, and through the Thanksgiving holiday week, on a framework to discuss once the parties return.

“It’s going to be incumbent on my colleagues to show the American people we’re serious,” said House Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio as the congressional leaders emerged from the White House to deliver brief comments.

“We have the cornerstones of being able to work something out,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada. “This is not something we’re going to wait until the last day of December to get done. We have a plan; we’re going to move forward on it.”

Both Republicans and Democrats remain far from a deal, which is needed by year-end to avoid a fiscal contraction that economists warn could launch another recession. But the outlines of a compromise can be seen as Boehner has signaled Republicans are open to new tax revenue and Obama has softened his insistence that income tax rates must rise to the top 39.6% rate from the Clinton era.

Friday’s closed-door gathering of the principle players is the first sit-down after the election, which emboldened Obama and his allies on Capitol Hill. Americans spoke at the polls, they maintain, preferring the Democratic approach, which asks the wealthiest taxpayers to contribute more revenue, while preventing steep cuts to domestic spending.

At the same time, rank-and-file Republicans emerged from the election with the take-away that voters want the GOP House majority to hold final “line of defense,” as Boehner puts it, against what they see as excessive government overreach. All tax rates will rise on Jan. 1 if no action is taken – about a $2,000 hit for average Americans.

During the meeting, Boehner presented the outline of a deal that resembles the framework he proposed in the days after the election – insisting that the details of a large deficit-reduction package could not be resolved in the short lame-duck session of this Congress.

Instead, the speaker wants the parties to agree to long-term “targets” for tax revenues and spending cuts that would be binding by statute.

Resolving the tax issue is, in many ways, the cornerstone to a deal, as both sides have found common ground in their desire to reverse the coming automatic spending cuts. On Jan. 2, massive across-the-board cuts would hit defense and domestic accounts, forced as part of  a deal last year when the two sides failed to develop a broader deficit reduction plan.

Tax revenue could be raised by closing tax loopholes or capping deductions for the wealthiest Americans, those couple earning incomes above $250,000, or $200,000 for singles -- though experts say that may not raise enough money toward a big deficit reduction deal that both parties want unless tax rates are also increased. Boehner has resisted lifting rates beyond the top bracket of 35%, which has been in place since the George W. Bush era.

As talks begin, both sides are aiming for a broad deficit-reduction deal that could slash some $4 trillion off the nation’s deficits over the next decade by tax and spending reforms.

Any deal on taxes would also require a compromise from Democrats to rein in spending on Medicare, Medicaid and other entitlement programs that are drivers of the nation’s long-term deficit problems. Obama has put forward earlier plans to do that.

With the year-end deadline looming, Obama has repeatedly sought to pressure House Republicans to at least extend the expiring tax rates for middle-class families, while talks on the upper-income rates continue. The president has warned that even the threat of new taxes in the New Year could damper the coming holiday shopping season.

All sides have tried to resist drawing the lines of a stalemate. The meeting opened Friday with the cordial greetings officials use on such occasions.

In a moment of brevity, Obama offered birthday wishes to the Boehner – the speaker turns 63 on Saturday. And the two shook hands.

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Lisa.mascaro@latimes.com

Twitter: @LisaMascaroinDC

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Spark Socket Connects Your Regular Old Light Bulbs to the Internet

Companies from Google to Comcast to Electric Imp are trying to connect home devices and appliances to the web, but the internet of things remains more of a complicated, distant dream than a reality. Spark Devices wants to start off simple, with one of the most used items in your house — the light bulb.

Spark Devices launched on Kickstarter with a working prototype of what it calls the Spark Socket. All a user needs to do to get their lights on the web is screw a regular light bulb into the Spark Socket and screw that into a regular light fixture. They can then control their lighting — on, off, and dimming — through an iOS or Android app, which opens up entirely new avenues for home lighting. Users can schedule their lights when they’re away, set them to slowly turn on in the morning, and even set them to flash when someone calls their phone.

“[The Spark Socket] was inspired by my dad, who’s deaf and uses lights for notification,” Founder Zach Supalla told Wired. “At first I wanted to solve a specific problem he has. Now that he uses a cellphone for text messaging, he’s very difficult to get a hold of when he’s at home and takes his phone out of his pocket. However, once I started working on it I realized that there was a lot of potential for broader uses by providing an open API.”

Backers can pre-order Spark Sockets for $60 apiece, and the company is trying to reach $250,000 on Kickstarter.

“Products like these will definitely get cheaper over time,” Supalla said. “Just like computers, videogame consoles, and smartphones, they get cheaper as the technology improves, and in our case they will get cheaper as we grow and scale up our production. In the short term I think there’s a lot of great uses for a couple of Smart Sockets in the home, and in the long run, I think we’ll see technology like this not just in every light socket but in every electrical device in the home.”

The Spark Devices team will make an API to developers to create apps for the device, so it’s not hard to imagine using lights to display other types of data — maybe the closet light flashes if it’s going to rain today, or the living room suddenly gets brighter whenever the Giants hit a home run. The Spark Devices team has also partnered with Kickstarter successes like Twine and plans to partner with others, so the functionality should continue to grow.

Watch the video below to see the Spark Socket in action:

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“30 Rock” character Liz Lemon to get her happy ending

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – “30 Rock” perpetual unlucky-in-love heroine Liz Lemon is finally getting her happy ending, as NBC invited fans on Thursday to watch her get married this month.

After a string of bad boyfriends and unsuccessful romances, Lemon, played by comedienne Tina Fey, finds her soul mate in budding entrepreneur Criss Chross, who owns an organic gourmet hotdog food truck, played by actor James Marsden on the show.

“Ms. Elizabeth Miervaldis Lemon presents herself to be married to Mr. Crisstopher Rick Chross…But not in a creepy way that perpetuates the idea that brides are virgins and women are property,” NBC said in a mock wedding announcement, true to Lemon‘s feminist principles.

The wedding episode will be aired on November 29, during the Emmy-winning show’s seventh and final season.

While Lemon, 42, has never made it down the aisle before, she has had a couple of doomed engagements in past seasons, including her British boyfriend Wesley Snipes (Michael Sheen), whom she almost settled for before finding love with pilot Carol Burnett (Matt Damon).

The hapless singleton has also endured eventful dates with celebrities such as actor James Franco (along with his Japanese body pillow) and Conan O’Brien.

“30 Rock,” created by Fey and inspired by her stint as head writer for “Saturday Night Live”, follows the day-to-day life of fictional NBC sketch comedy show “TGS with Tracy Jordan,” and also stars Alec Baldwin, Tracy Morgan and Jane Krakowski.

(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy, editing by Jill Serjeant)

TV News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Well: Learning That Odd Is Normal

A few months ago, I was at home reading a review copy of “Oddly Normal” by my colleague John Schwartz. The book begins with the suicide attempt of John’s then 13-year-old son, Joe, who had recently told his classmates he was gay. It goes on to explain how Joe’s parents struggled with a school system that didn’t always understand their son, and how Joe eventually found the path to self acceptance.

But my plan to read the book was interrupted when my 8th-grade daughter, intrigued by the title, pulled it out of my hands and read the first few pages. She was captivated and decided to read all of it for her next school book report.

Later she wrote about how moved she was by Joe’s story and how she wished she could “give him a hug and tell him that it would all turn out O.K.” The book, she wrote, “is full of life lessons that are extremely important for every young person to understand…. Being an individual is amazing, and no one should hide their true personality. Eventually, Joe learned to be the person he wanted to be, and he realized that everyone is a little odd and different.”

While “Oddly Normal” has been discussed as a great book for parents, I think teenagers will relate to Joe’s struggles and learn a lot from his honesty. You can meet Joe in a new video, in which he talks about himself, his father’s book and life as a gay teen. To learn more about the book, read the recent New York Times Sunday book review “Something to Tell You.”

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Wealth Matters: Advisers Caution Against Hasty Decisions in Advance of Tax Changes

WITH all the ominous talk of tax increases and a “fiscal cliff” if President Obama and Congressional leaders can’t agree on a plan to avert automatic tax increases on Dec. 31, some investors may be tempted to act soon to take advantage of the current tax rates.

But financial advisers say that in their rush to do something this year, investors may end up with regrets.

“Any time you make a decision purely for tax reasons, it has a way of coming back and biting you,” said Mag Black-Scott, chief executive of Beverly Hills Wealth Management. “Could you be at a 43 percent tax on dividends instead of 15 percent? The straight answer is yes, of course you could. But what if that doesn’t happen? What if they increase just slightly?”

Various proposals are on the table, but the taxes the wealthy say they worry most about are an increase in the capital gains rate to 20 percent from 15 percent, which would affect investments like stocks and second homes; an increase in the 15 percent tax on dividends; and a limitation on deductions, which would effectively increase the tax bill. For the truly wealthy, there is also the question of what will happen to estate and gift taxes.

In addition, the health care law sets a 3.8 percent Medicare tax on investment income for individuals with more than $200,000 in annual income (and couples with more than $250,000). Taking taxes on capital gains as an example, Ms. Black-Scott, who started her career at Morgan Stanley in the late 1970s, said people needed to remember that the rates were 28 percent when Ronald Reagan was president. “If they go from 15 to 20 percent, is it really that bad?” she asked. “You need to say, ‘Do I like the stock?’ If you do, why would you get rid of it?”

Here is a look at some of the top areas where short-term decisions based solely on taxes could end up hindering long-term investment goals.

APPRECIATED STOCK Many people have large holdings in a single stock, often the result of working for a company for many years. And the stock may have appreciated significantly over that time. But if they are selling now solely for tax reasons, advisers say they shouldn’t. The stock may continue to do well and more than compensate for increased capital gains.

But there is an upside to an increase in the capital gains rate: wealthier clients may finally be pushed to diversify their holdings. “If you have 75 percent of your wealth in one stock, then it’s a really appropriate time to think about this,” said Timothy R. Lee, managing director of Monument Wealth Management. If the increased tax rate “is a motivating factor for some people, O.K. Letting go of that control and the pride that goes with it is a really difficult decision.”

Selling stock now may also make sense when it is in the form of stock options set to expire early next year. “Do you want to take the risk the price will drop in January?” asked Melissa Labant, director of the tax team at the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. “What if we have a fiscal cliff or a change in the markets? If you’re comfortable, do it now.”

Some investors may also fear that higher taxes will drive all stocks down. Patrick S. Boyle, investment strategist at Bessemer Trust, said there was no historical link between tax increases and stock market performance.

In the most recent three tax increases, he says, “the market has actually gone up in the six months before and after.” He added: “It’s not that tax rates aren’t important. They are. It’s just that there are so many other things going on that are more important than tax policy.”

MUNICIPAL BONDS Bonds sold to finance state and local government projects are tax-free now and will be tax-free next year. That is no reason to load up on them.

Tax-free municipal bonds have always been attractive to people in higher-income tax brackets. Now, advisers fear that individuals just above the $200,000 threshold, people who say they do not feel wealthy but will probably be paying higher taxes on their income and investments, will try to offset that increase by moving more of their investments into municipal bonds.

Beth Gamel, a certified public accountant and executive vice president at Pillar Financial Advisers, imagined a case where people in higher tax brackets, thinking they were acting rationally, sold stocks this year to take advantage of the lower capital gains rates and then, to avoid higher taxes next year, put all or some of that money into municipal bonds. Maybe they outsmart the tax man, but they do so at risk to their retirement.

“It will be very difficult for them to reach their long-term goals,” she said, “because the yield on muni bonds is lower than stocks over time.”

Or as Will Braman, chief investment officer of Ballentine Partners, said of this trade-off: “It’s not about minimizing the taxes but maximizing the after-tax returns.”

He suggested that people use their deductions to reduce what is owed from taxable securities.

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Egypt calls on U.S. to help stop Gaza fighting

Rockets From Gaza Jolt Tel Aviv Area

By Reem Abdellatif

November 15, 2012, 10:51 a.m.

CAIRO -- Egypt asked the United States on Thursday to immediately intervene to stop the Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip, warning that the violence could spiral "out of control," the Foreign Ministry said Thursday.

Egypt also announced that its prime minister would travel to Gaza on Friday, an additional sign that the country's Islamist-led government is under pressure from across the region to help find an end to the conflict.

Egypt "will stand with all of its resources to end this aggression and to stop the recurring killing and bloodshed of Palestinians," President Mohamed Morsi said on national television. "The Israelis must understand that we do not accept this aggression and that it can only negatively affect the stability and safety of the region."

Israel launched airstrikes Wednesday to stop militant factions in Gaza from firing rockets and mortar rounds into communities in southern Israel. The initial Israeli attacks killed Ahmed Jabari, military chief of Gaza's ruling Hamas organization.

Three Israelis and 15 Palestinians were killed in the first two days of clashes.

Prime Minister Hesham Kandil will lead a delegation to Gaza on Friday, according to the state run news agency. Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr spoke with Secretary of State Hilary Rodham Clinton late Wednesday, warning that the violence could escalate and asking the U.S. to "use what contacts it has with Israel."

In Washington, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters that President Obama had spoken with both Morsi and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, reiterating Israel's right to defend itself against attack but urging the Israelis to avoid civilian casualties.

Immediately after the attacks began Wednesday, protesters rallied in Egypt's capital and dozens of activists called for the country to end ties with Israel. Protests resumed near the Arab League offices in Cairo on Thursday morning demanding an end to the attacks on Gaza.

A rally to support the Palestinians was called for Friday in Cairo's Tahrir Square.

ALSO:

Gazans brace for a bitter confrontation with Israel

3 Israelis killed in rocket attack as army continues striking Gaza

Tamils seek probe after U.N. faults itself in Sri Lanka war report

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Will Google's Policies Increase Tech Regulation?

The Federal Trade Commission is reported to have recently completed an investigation into whether Google intentionally ranks its own services higher than its competitors’ in its search results, and a majority of FTC commissioners support legal action alleging Google has violated antitrust law. Since President Obama has won re-election, the FTC may now have more leverage against Google to settle the matter. It is too soon to speculate whether the investigation will lead to a consent decree or a lawsuit. However, since FTC Chairman Jonathan Leibowitz may leave his position at the end of the year a negotiated settlement may occur in the coming weeks.

During the past year and a half, Google has confronted multiple regulatory and legal challenges. Last year, Google agreed to pay a $500 million fine to avoid criminal charges and to settle allegations that it knowingly allowed illegal pharmacy advertisements on its website. Earlier this year, Google was caught violating a consent decree it signed with the FTC that bars it from future privacy misrepresentations. Google was fined a record $22.5 million because it bypassed the privacy settings of Apple’s Safari internet browser without users’ consent.

On March 1 of this year, Google changed its privacy policies and terms of services to consolidate more than 60 separate privacy policies and replaced them with one uniform policy. These changes allow Google to pool information from its users’ YouTube, Google+, Gmail, Blogger, etc. accounts to enable it to better serve advertising. Last month, the European Union Data Protection Agency issued a report alleging that Google’s new policy failed to comply with its data protection rules. This report was endorsed by privacy regulators in 27 E.U. member states along with Australia, Mexico, New Zealand and Canada.

Google is not alone in trying to create policies that will enable it to collect and analyze data to better serve targeted advertising. Soon after the E.U.’s “recommendations” to Google were released, Microsoft updated its privacy policies to allow it to more easily share customer data between some of its services.

While Microsoft has publicly promised that it will not utilize some customer data to behavioral advertise, its privacy policy changes may enable it to do so in  some of its consumer products. However, Microsoft has stated that its recent changes to its privacy policies will only affect its free web-based products and not the software that individuals, businesses, or schools purchase.

Google and Microsoft offer schools educational productivity suites for free. These programs may have been created with the hope that once a student graduates he will continue to utilize these tools in his personal and corporate endeavors. Free educational software is a win-win-win situation for all since schools obtain much-needed digital tools at no cost, students learn how to use services that they may need after they graduate, and Google or Microsoft may obtain a customer for life.

On the surface, this appears to benefit all parties involved. While Microsoft Office 365 for education agreements with schools do not appear to allow it to utilize a student’s class assignments, school projects, or student-teacher interactions to behavioral advertise, Google’s Apps for Education Program specifically grants schools the ability to activate this feature.

Why does Google provide this option in its agreements with educational institutions? If students continue to utilize e-mail addresses or other Google Apps for Education accounts after graduating it appears that under Google’s standard agreement with schools it will be able to data mine student e-mails, class assignments, school projects, and digital student-teacher interactions to behavioral advertise when students become alumni. Google’s Apps for Education Program may create Family Educational Privacy Rights Act (FERPA) and/or Federal Trade Commission problems for Google and/or schools that utilize Google’s educational services.

Google’s Apps for Education agreements with schools appear to raise significant regulatory, legal, and privacy concerns that need to be remedied to lessen the likelihood of further government investigations and regulations. With a democratic administration and senate majority, Silicon Valley must become more proactive in working with regulators and lawmakers to resolve privacy concerns or increased regulation may be on the horizon.  The bottom line is that Internet companies must fully understand the issues that may be triggered by their technology.

[Weigh in in the forum below, or in the comments section at the bottom of the page.]

The FTC is said to have recently completed an investigation into whether Google intentionally ranks its own services higher than its competitors in its search results, and a majority of FTC commissioners support legal action alleging Google has violated antitrust law, writes digital privacy rights advocate and lawyer Bradley Shear.

During the past year and a half, Google has confronted multiple regulatory and legal challenges. And Google is not alone. But  Google's Apps for Education agreements with schools appear to raise significant regulatory, legal, and privacy concerns that need to be remedied to lessen the likelihood of further government investigations and regulations.

Shear argues that Silicon Valley must become more proactive in working with regulators and lawmakers to resolve privacy concerns or increased regulation may be on the horizon.  The bottom line is that Internet companies must fully understand the issues that may be triggered by their technology.

Read the full post then weigh in: Will the quest the online giants' Big Data quest trigger a new wave of online regulations? Or can they find a way to tread lightly and not involve the privacy cops?

 

Bradley Shear is a lawyer and advocate for personal digital privacy rights. He practices internet, privacy, and advertising law and has advised state and federal lawmakers around the United States on social media privacy law and public policy.

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Stars honor Veloso as Latin Grammys person of year

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Juanes, Juan Luis Guerra, Nelly Furtado and Natalie Cole are among the artists who celebrated Brazilian musician Caetano Veloso at a ceremony honoring him as the Latin Recording Academy‘s Person of the Year.

Veloso’s influence as a composer and activist also was the subject of a video featuring Sting and Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar that was shown at the tribute Wednesday at the MGM Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Veloso said in the video that he never decided to become a musician, but fate and the circumstances of life in Brazil moved him in that direction.

Considered among the most influential Brazilian artists of modern times, the 70-year-old entertainer has recorded more than 40 albums, and won eight Latin Grammys and two Grammy Awards. With his eponymous 1968 album, Veloso launched a new style of music, tropicalia, that saw his Brazilian musical roots mixed with other contemporary styles, including blues, psychedelic rock and the sounds of the Beatles.

The movement comprised a new generation of artists, including Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa and Maria Bethania, who openly expressed political opinion in their music.

In accepting the honor, Veloso said, “It’s too much.”

The Latin Grammy Awards are scheduled to be presented Thursday at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. The show will be broadcast live on Univision.

___

Online:

www.latingrammy.com

Entertainment News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Ask an Expert: Answers About Alzheimer’s, Part 1

Because of the number of questions, his answers are being split into several parts. The first two, today and Friday, focus on diagnostic issues, including new tests, the role played by genetics and inheritance, causes and policy issues.

Next Wednesday Dr. Doraiswamy will address treatment, patient care and new clinical trials. (Some questions published here have been edited, and not all questions could be answered.)

The doctor’s answers are meant for educational purposes and are not meant to be a substitute for advice from your own doctor. Readers should contact their physician before making health care decisions.

……………………………………

Q. Why can I remember everything about a person except his or her name? — Horick, Texas

A. This is known as the “cook-Cook problem.” It is a result of how our brains are wired to enable predictions of future needs based on relevance and strength of associations. Common words with strong functional associations (for example, a cook who will prepare food) are easier to retrieve than proper names (Mr. Cook). Surveys show that more than 80 percent of normal older people report trouble with names. In reality, most of these individuals could probably recall several hundred names, but it’s the one they forget that causes panic. This helps explain why traditional American Indian names like Sitting Bull, which bring up a vivid image, are probably easier to recall.

Q. My question is not medical per se: Do you believe that people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease (or other dementias) should be told about their diagnosis? My mom, who had Alzheimer’s, died in 2008, and this was a very contentious issue separating me and my oldest sister who, alas, had health-care power of attorney. I emphatically believe people have to know that they have dementia. I am curious to know if you have an opinion on this. — Carol, Chicago

A. I believe they should be told since they have a right to know and make plans as well as a right to grieve. There are some situations where it may be appropriate to withhold information, such as when the exact diagnosis is uncertain or when obvious harm (such as suicide) may result. Surveys indicate that most family members would withhold the diagnosis from a loved one, but when asked if they themselves would like to know if they had the illness, most said "yes." This issue is likely to become more contentious as it becomes possible to predict disease more precisely using genetics and brain scans.

Q. “Can you tell me, wait, I forget ...” What are initial signs of Alzheimer’s?

If I place an object (i.e. cellphone, keys) in a different spot than usual, it seems to have disappeared. I’ve been leaving house key outdoors in the lock; forget names of folks I’ve met a few times (once reminded, I recall); almost totally forget titles of movies/books - when reminded, I recall..??.age-first of baby boomers, mother is 100+, has Alzheimers.

What are the initial signs of dementia? Memory loss? hysical affectations? Language dysfunction? I am nearing 65, in good health, but often can’t think of a specific word while speaking or briefly forget how to spell a word while typing.

— Wally Wallace, Ames, Iowa; Technic Alley, Toronto; Maureen64, Calif.; Motmista, Pensacola, Fla.; Canadian Content Only, Toronto; Lulu858; Marie Marley, Kan.; Unknown; Susa Bruce, Brooklyn.

A. The “tip of the tongue” (also called “Teflon brain”) phenomenon becomes more common as we age, perhaps due to chemical changes in the brain’s wiring. This commonly affects recall of names and words, and sometimes where you placed objects. Often, turning your mind to something else will make the information pop up. If what you forgot comes back to you a few hours or days later or comes back readily with a cue, it’s probably benign. Sometimes there is a “feeling of knowing,” but other times your mind can go totally blank — for example, where you parked your car at an airport. “Relax, and call me in the morning” is what memory doctors sometimes call this problem.

If you don’t pay close attention to something because your life is hectic, you’re multitasking, feeling anxiety or it has little emotional relevance, the thought will not register as well in your memory. It’s helpful to stick to a routine (e.g. park your car in the same spot daily) or write things down (e.g. a memo to yourself on your phone about where you left your keys).

If cues don’t help or if memory is forever lost or if things are starting to affect your daily activities frequently, then a medical evaluation is in order. Trouble remembering new information is the classic early problem in Alzheimer’s. In some people early changes can also include mild depression or apathy, and trouble with words, repeating oneself and confusion. Some of the things that suggest a serious memory problem are:

1) Memory getting worse over time, and cues don’t help with recall.

2) Memory problems are affecting your work and functioning, and friends or family members are getting concerned.

3) You have trouble learning new information or doing tasks you know well.

4) Forgetting entire experiences rather than parts of an experience

5) Making up stories to cover up the memory gaps.

Bottom line: if you are concerned, don’t hesitate to get your memory checked.

Q. What is the average risk of someone getting Alzheimer’s? If a sibling has it but parents don’t, what is the risk? What about if a parent or aunt has the disease?

My father, his mother and most of his siblings had Alzheimer’s. My mother’s immediate family had no incidence. She is 86 and pretty sharp. What are the chances I will get it?

My father had Alzheimer’s and my oldest sister has also been diagnosed with the disease. What are the chances of having it since we are obviously genetically predisposed? My memory has always been poor and is definitely getting worse. I’m 65.

— Christine R, Roseland, N.J.; Mitchell McG, Manhattan; Penguinwoman, Toronto; Tosia, New York; Ms. Skeptical, Alexandria, Va.

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Obama Meets C.E.O.’s as Fiscal Reckoning Nears

Luke Sharrett for The New York Times

Ursula M. Burns, chief of Xerox, said the president discussed few specifics of a potential agreement but emphasized that “we cannot go over the fiscal cliff.”

WASHINGTON — President Obama extended an olive branch to business leaders Wednesday, seeking their support as he prepared to negotiate with Congressional Republicans over the fiscal impasse in Washington.

If Congress and the president cannot reach a deal to reduce the deficit by January, more than $600 billion in tax increases and spending cuts will go into effect immediately — a prospect many chief executives and others warn could tip the economy back into recession.

Even so, Mr. Obama has some fence-mending to do before he can count on any serious backing from the business community.

“The president brought up that he hadn’t always had the best relationship with business, and he didn’t think he deserved that, but he understood that’s where things were and wanted it to be better,” said David M. Cote, chief executive of Honeywell. He was one of a dozen corporate leaders invited to meet Mr. Obama at the White House for 90 minutes Wednesday afternoon, after the president’s first news conference since the election.

While Mr. Obama did not present a detailed plan at Wednesday’s meeting or reveal what he would propose in terms of new corporate taxes, he strongly reiterated that he would not allow tax cuts for the middle class to expire. The president, according to attendees and aides, said he was committed to a balanced approach of reductions in entitlements and other government spending and increases in revenue.

With time running out, many people expect the president and Republican leaders in Congress to come up with a short-term compromise that prevents the full slate of tax increases and spending cuts from hitting in January. That would give both sides more time to come up with a far-reaching deal on entitlement spending, even as they work on a broad tax overhaul later next year.

One corporate official briefed on the meeting said that the chief executives came away with a sense that Mr. Obama was poised to present a more formal proposal in the next few days, but that he did not press them for support on particular policies. “It was more of a back and forth,” he said.

The chief executives from some of the country’s biggest and best-known companies, including Procter & Gamble and I.B.M., were not unified on everything, according to one who was interviewed after the meeting.

Many of the executives who described the meeting would speak only on condition of anonymity.

The outreach to business comes as both the White House and corporate America maneuver ahead of the year-end deadline, as well as the beginning of Mr. Obama’s second term. Many executives were put off by what they saw as antibusiness rhetoric coming from the White House in his first term, and many also oppose tax increases on the rich that Mr. Obama favors but would hit them personally.

Both sides have plenty to gain from a better relationship. Business leaders want to buffer their image after the recession and the financial crisis, while Mr. Obama would gain valuable leverage if he could persuade even a few chief executives to come out in favor of higher taxes on people with incomes over $250,000.

Lloyd C. Blankfein, chief executive of Goldman Sachs, publicly endorsed higher tax rates in an opinion article published in The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday.

“I believe that tax increases, especially for the wealthiest, are appropriate, but only if they are joined by serious cuts in discretionary spending and entitlements,” he wrote.

While Mr. Blankfein and other Wall Street leaders have been speaking out about the dangers of the fiscal impasse, only one executive from the financial services industry, Kenneth I. Chenault of American Express, was at Wednesday’s meeting.

Afterward, the corporate leaders seemed pleased with the tone of the meeting but cautious about the prospect of finding common ground with the White House on the budget choices facing Congress and the president.

“I’d say everybody came away feeling pretty good about the whole discussion,” Mr. Cote said. “Now, all of us are C.E.O.’s, so we’ve learned not to confuse words with results. And that’s what we still need to see.”

Ursula M. Burns, chief executive of Xerox, who was also at the meeting, said afterward that it was clear that “we’re going to have to work through some sticking points.” But while “we didn’t get into too many specifics,” she said, it was also made clear that “we cannot go over the fiscal cliff.”

Ms. Burns’s comments about the potentially dire consequences of the fiscal impasse echoed those of other chief executives, including many in the Business Roundtable, which began an ad campaign Tuesday calling on lawmakers to resolve the issue quickly. The Campaign to Fix the Debt, a new group with a $40 million budget and the support of many Fortune 500 chiefs, began its own ad campaign on Monday.

Michael T. Duke, chief executive of Wal-Mart Stores, warned in a statement after the meeting that “before the end of the year, Washington needs to find an agreement to avoid the fiscal cliff.” He said Walmart customers “are working hard to adapt to the ‘new normal,’ but their confidence is still very fragile. They are shopping for Christmas now, and they don’t need uncertainty over a tax increase.”

 

Helene Cooper reported from Washington and Nelson D. Schwartz from New York. Jackie Calmes contributed reporting from Washington.

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