CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The superintendent of the West Virginia coal mine where an explosion killed 29 men was charged Wednesday with conspiracy to defraud the federal government, becoming the highest-ranking employee to face criminal prosecution in an investigation that appeared to be moving steadily up the corporate ladder.

Former Upper Big Branch mine boss Gary May, 43, of Bloomingrose, W.Va., is named in a federal information, a document that signals a defendant is cooperating with prosecutors. He is the second employee of Massey Energy, the company that owned the mine at the time of the 2010 tragedy, to face prosecution.

Reached at his home Wednesday morning, May declined comment. A conviction on the federal fraud charge could result in fines and up to five years in prison.

U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin said his investigation of the worst U.S. mine disaster in four decades is “absolutely not” finished, signaling that officials are now exploring possible criminal charges against even higher-level executives of the company. Goodwin did not immediately comment further.

Although other mine disasters have led to criminal charges, they’ve typically targeted low-ranking employees and have largely been misdemeanor offenses.

“Usually, they get the mine foreman because that’s the person that signs the books,” said Gary Quarles, whose son Gary Wayne died in the explosion. Superintendents are usually shielded, he added.

But Quarles said the charge announced Wednesday suggest prosecutors are looking at May’s bosses, too.

“It’s about time,” he said. “It’s a good start.”

Last week, Goodwin urged a federal judge in Beckley to make an example of the only other person charged so far, former security chief Hughie Elbert Stover. Goodwin is demanding the maximum possible sentence of 25 years in prison for actions he says contributed to the April 2010 disaster near Montcoal.

Stover is to be sentenced Feb. 29 for lying to federal investigators and attempting to destroy documents.

May began working at Upper Big Branch in February 2008 as a mine foreman and was promoted in October 2009 to superintendent. He held that post, overseeing three room-and-pillar mining sections and a longwall operation, until the day the mine exploded on April 5, 2010.

The information filed in U.S. District Court in Beckley accuses May of conspiring with others to conceal many dangers in the mine through an elaborate scheme that included code words to alert miners underground when inspectors were on the property, the deliberate alteration of approved ventilation plans and the deliberate disabling of a methane gas monitor on the continuous mining machine.

May allegedly ordered the wiring to be altered in February 2010 so the automatic shut-off mechanism was disabled, allowing the machine to function for several hours without a methane monitor.

Other employees of the mine have told investigators there was never enough fresh air to sweep out the highly explosive methane and coal dust that regularly accumulated – the fuel that three separate investigations have concluded powered the chain-reaction blast.

The information also says that when May knew the Mine Safety and Health Administration was about to sample the level of breathable coal dust in a section of the mine, he surreptitiously redirected additional air to that area to obscure the typical conditions.

May is also accused of both falsifying safety inspection books and ordering someone not named in the information to leave out reports of deep water that would have made a section of the mine unsafe.

Clay Mullins worked at Upper Big Branch and lost his brother Rex in the blast, but didn’t cross paths with May.

“It’s what we wanted. All the families, it’s what they want,” he said of the charge against the superintendent. “But I want to see some other names. … There were a lot of people involved in this, and I just want to see them be punished for the crimes.

“If they’re innocent, then I want them to be found innocent,” Mullins said. “But if they’re guilty, I want them to face the maximum penalty of law.”

The information says Massey subsidiary Performance Coal Co. and its managers routinely violated a host of federal mine-safety laws for fear that violations would cut into production time.

Had MSHA detected the concealed conditions, it would have resulted in temporary shutdowns and fines. That also could have moved Massey closer to being designated a pattern violator, which would have subjected it to even more scrutiny.

Reports about the explosion have already been released by MSHA, the United Mine Workers of America and an independent panel appointed by the former governor. The fourth and final report, by the state Office of Miners’ Health Safety and Training, is being released Thursday.

The first three concluded that Virginia-based Massey Energy – which has since been bought by Alpha Natural Resources – allowed methane and coal dust to accumulate, and failed to properly maintain and repair the cutting equipment that eventually created the spark that fuel needed to explode.

Clogged and broken water sprayers then allowed what could have been a minor flare-up to become an epic blast that traveled seven miles of underground corridors, doubling back on itself and killing men instantly.

All three reports said the explosion could have been prevented or contained if the mine had been sufficiently dusted with pulverized limestone to render the coal dust inert. In the year before the Upper Big Branch blast, 70 ignitions occurred at U.S. coal mines, and none resulted in fatalities.

The UMWA report accused Massey of “industrial homicide” for the way it ran Upper Big Branch and listed 18 employees, including former Chief Executive Officer Don Blankenship, who invoked their right to avoid self-incrimination and refused to cooperate with investigators.

May is one of the 18 that the UMWA says should be compelled to publicly plead their Fifth Amendment rights or be held in contempt of court.

A service of YellowBrix, Inc.

If you’re employees aren’t having fun, they’re probably not performing at their highest level. So ease up already and try one of these tactics.

How often when you leave your home for the office do you think, “I’m going to have fun today”?

Sad, isn’t it?

It doesn’t have to be that way. My company has won Best Place to Work in Houston, and I think a big part of it is that we know how to have fun on the job. And why not? Everyone is happier and more productive when they have fun together.

And what some leaders don’t understand is that when people are not having fun, they’re tense. Then as a result of the paralysis, they can’t make decisions—and studies have shown that when you’re paralyzed, you’re incapable of being creative.

Here are 11 ideas we’ve used at Blinds.com. I’m sure you can add dozens to the list:

1. Have a “decorate your area” contest. Give each employee a nominal decorating allowance and challenge each employee to decorate on a theme. Or encourage departments to develop an overall theme: Our customer-service department hangs extreme sports equipment from the ceiling—reminding us all that we go to extremes for our customers. Our accounting department chose a pirate theme, since they’re always looking for buried treasure.
2. Use color to brighten your office space. Paint is cheap—and cheery.
3. Hang movie posters on your walls, with employees’ faces replacing those of the real movie stars. It can be a great motivator!
4. Celebrate holidays with parties: a Mardi Gras krewe parade through the office, a cookout on the premises, a carnival.

Continue reading this article at INC.com after the break!

Over the weekend Iran announced that it would stop selling oil to Great Britain and France in retaliation for a planned European oil embargo this summer. The move was mainly symbolic, as Great Britain and France import almost no oil from Iran, but it raised concerns that Iran could take the same hard line with other European nations, like Spain and Italy, that use more Iranian crude.

As a result, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose by $2.65, or 2.6%, to end the day at $106.25 per barrel. That’s the highest price for WTI crude since May 4th. Brent crude, used to price foreign oil varieties imported by U.S. refineries, rose by $1.61 to finish at $121.66 in London.

“People are just scared about Iran,” independent analyst and trader Stephen Schork said. “They’re concerned about supply.”

Jet fuel prices, which are directly correlated to crude oil prices, rose 1.4% to $3.29 a gallon yesterday, its highest level since May 2011. Since jet fuel prices impact the airlines operating costs, investors sold the airline sector on Tuesday because they believe their earnings will suffer.

There is also the concern that high-energy prices could put a damper on the global economic recovery. If that happens, people will travel less and the airlines revenues will fall.

Even after this severe sell-off in airline stocks, I caution you from investing in this sector. Buying or selling the airlines at this point is really making a bet on what will happen with the situation in Iran (which will in turn directly affect the price of oil), which I think is much too unpredictable.

What do you think? Do you agree with my assessment? Do you think investors should stay away from investing in the airline sector? Join the discussion at TheStockEnthusiast.com!

To review potential trading opportunities with General Motor’s stock, please take a look at the 1-year chart of GM (General Motors Company) below with my added notations:

After a 7-month trend lower, GM formed what appeared to be a Double Bottom (blue) price pattern. The pattern is as simple as it sounds: Bottoming (B), rallying up to a point, selling back off to the same bottom (B), and then rallying back up again. As with any price pattern, a confirmation of the pattern is needed. GM confirmed the pattern by breaking up through the $27 resistance (navy) that was been created by the Double Bottom pattern. The stock added validity to the confirmation with the increased volume activity on the day of the breakout (brown).

Keep in mind that simple is usually better. Had I never pointed out the Double Bottom pattern, one would still think this stock is moving higher if it simply broke through the $27 resistance level.  In short, whether you noticed the pattern or not, the trade would still be the same: On the break above the key $27 level.

The Tale of the Tape: After a 7-month downtrend, GM formed a Double Bottom price pattern with a $27 breakout resistance. A long trade could be entered on a pullback to the $27 support with a stop placed under that level.

Before making any trading decision, decide which side of the trade you believe gives you the highest probability of success. Do you prefer the short side of the market, long side, or do you want to be in the market at all? If you haven’t thought about it, review the overall indices themselves. For example, take a look at the S&P 500. Is it trending higher or lower? Has it recently broken through a key resistance or support level? Making these decisions ahead of time will help you decide which side of the trade you believe gives you the best opportunities.

No matter what your strategy or when you decide to enter, always remember to use protective stops and you’ll be around for the next trade.  Capital preservation is always key!

Good luck!
Christian Tharp, CMT

The Russell 2000 index has increased by more than 1.7 times since the market bottom in March of 2009.

That is not a misprint. The index is not up 17% it is up almost 170%!

This is an index, not a single stock, which means that every $1000 dollars that was invested in March of 2009 would be worth more than $2700 today. The same investment in US Treasuries would be worth $1007.

Here is the killer; the index funds have had a negative growth during this period!

You read that right!

Retail investors are taking their money out of the small cap index funds at record rates. In fact according to Morningstar assets, retail traders have taken back more than $15 billion since the end of April 2011.

If you follow me you know that I always say to react to the market and don’t try to predict what is going to happen. Since March of 2009 there have been some major selloffs and certainly it would have been right to take some profit off of the table, but to be a net seller of the index would have been predicting that it could not come back.

Trade the market you have, not the market that you want.

Using my technical analysis will allow you to participate in markets when they are bullish and get you to the sidelines when the bear comes to call.

All markets represent opportunity. Recognizing opportunity is my specialty.
To learn firsthand how I would trade the markets that are getting net withdrawals speak to one of my representatives and sign up to work one-on-one with me here:

http://averagejoeoptions.com/qual/

As Always,

Keep those stops tight.

Todd “Bubba” Horwitz

P.S. We run the fastest growing online options community. With weekly webinars and a very energetic forum, my team and I are always looking for great risk/reward opportunities. Click on the link below and become a member of my community today.

http://averagejoeoptions.com/qual/

NEW YORK – U.S. stocks fell Wednesday as investors worried over the details of a new bailout plan for Greece.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 5 points to 12,960 just after 2 p.m. Eastern. The day before, it briefly touched 13,000 for the first time since May 2008. The Dow has been trading at or near four-year highs for three weeks.

“The market has done well in the face of some pretty low expectations,” said Todd Salamone of Schaeffer’s Investment Research. “Right now we’re just seeing a few speed bumps.”

Salamone said he believes investors will continue to focus more on negative news overseas despite a slew of better news on the U.S. economy. Last week Congress extended the payroll tax cut and the government reported that claims for unemployment benefits dropped to their lowest level since the financial crisis.

In other trading, the Standard & Poor’s 500 fell 2 points to 1,360. Energy and health care were the only sectors gaining ground. Financial stocks lost the most. The Nasdaq composite index lost 7 points to 2,941.

European markets closed lower. In Asia, stocks mostly rose even after a fairly weak Chinese manufacturing survey. The dollar rose to a seven-month high against the Japanese yen.

Investors are worrying that Greece’s new $172 billion deal may not be enough to keep the debt-laden from eventually defaulting and possibly exiting the euro.

The Greek debt deal also requires private sector bondholders to forgive $141 billion in Greek debt by taking a loss on the face value of their bonds and accepting longer repayment periods and lower interest rates. Among the concerns are that the bailout package does not include measures to boost economic growth. The Greek economy is entering its fifth year of recession.

Fitch ratings agency downgraded Greece further into junk status Wednesday morning following the bailout deal.

Among U.S. stocks making big moves:

– Computer maker Dell Inc. fell 6 percent after reporting an 18 percent drop in first-quarter profit late Tuesday, hurt by slow sales to government agencies, tough competition from Apple Inc. and flooding in Thailand that disrupted its supply chain.

– Toll Brothers Inc. fell 3 percent after the luxury homebuilder posted a first-quarter loss, but reported an increased number of signed contracts and backlog, important measures for coming months.

– GPS maker Garmin Ltd. jumped 8 percent after its fourth-quarter net income rose 25 percent on higher prices and sales. The company’s results and 2012 revenue forecast beat Wall Street’s expectations.

A service of YellowBrix, Inc.

NEW YORK – U.S. stocks are opening mixed as investors worry over the details of a new bailout plan for Greece.

The Dow Jones industrial average is up 2 points at 12,968, a day after hitting 13,000 – albeit briefly – for the first time since May 2008. The Standard & Poor’s 500 is down nearly a point at 1,361. The Nasdaq composite index lost 4 points to 2,944.

European markets were broadly lower.

Investors are worrying that Greece’s new $172 billion deal may not be enough to keep the debt-laden from eventually defaulting and possibly exiting the euro. Fitch ratings agency downgraded Greece further into junk status Wednesday morning following the bailout deal.

A service of YellowBrix, Inc.

ATHENS, Greece – Greece scrambled Wednesday to adopt a batch of emergency laws that will further cut incomes and government spending, a day after securing a new bailout and debt relief deal designed to stave off bankruptcy.

The new austerity measures demanded by creditors in return for the rescue loans follow two years of deepening misery, with the Greek economy in freefall, unemployment at a record high and the state of the public finances in worse shape than previously forecast. Angry unions have called two separate protest rallies outside Parliament in the afternoon.

On Tuesday, the 17-country eurozone approved Greece’s second financial lifeline in less than two years, worth euro130 billion ($172 billion), and a euro107 billion ($141 billion) debt writedown on banks and other private holders of Greek bonds.

In response to the writedown agreement, Fitch downgraded Greece’s credit rating further into junk status, from ‘CCC’ to ‘C.’

The agency said a Greek default “is highly likely in the near term” and added that it would briefly consider placing Greece in “restrictive default” once the bond swap is completed – a warning it first issued in June.

Athens argues that the default rating would be a simple technicality, as the twin deals struck on Tuesday will allow the country to repay bonds maturing next month – thus avoiding a disorderly default – and remain in the common European currency it joined in 2001.

Even then, the price of salvation for ordinary Greeks is only just starting to sink in.

Legislation tabled in Parliament late Tuesday outlines a total euro3.2 billion ($4.2 billion) in extra budget cuts this year agreed by the Cabinet last week.

The measures include nearly euro400 million ($530 million) in cuts to already depleted pensions. Health and education spending will be reduced by more than euro170 million ($225 million), subsidies to the state health care system will be cut by euro500 million ($661 million), and health care spending on medicine will fall by euro570 million ($754 million). And some euro400 million ($529 million) will be lopped off defense spending – three quarters of which will come from purchases.

The draft law also drastically revises the 2012 budget, changing the deficit target to 6.7 percent of gross domestic product from an initial forecast of 5.4 percent. Even worse, plans for a modest primary surplus – which excludes debt servicing costs – have been scrapped and Greece will instead post a primary deficit of nearly euro500 million ($661 million), or 0.2 percent of GDP.

Parliament is expected to vote on the cuts and budgetary revisions early next week.

On Wednesday, debate will start at committee level on a separate draft law on adopting the private debt writedown. Parliament’s plenary session will vote on the draft law Thursday.

Both pieces of legislation are expected to be approved, as the interim governing coalition headed by technocrat Prime Minister Lucas Papademos controls 193 of the House’s 300 seats. But earlier this month the two coalition partners – the majority Socialists and the conservatives – were forced to expel a total 43 deputies who rebelled against new austerity cuts.

It remains uncertain whether even the combination of new bailout and writedown will be enough to save Greece, whose economy is in a fifth year of recession and could continue to shrink as the cutbacks cripple consumer spending and investment.

Werner Hoyer, the new president of the European Investment Bank, told Germany’s Handelsblatt newspaper that “Greece now needs, alongside the unavoidable austerity program, a Marshall plan too ” – a reference to the U.S. aid plan that rescued an impoverished Europe after World War II.

Hoyer suggested that Greeks working in the European Commission and other EU bodies should be motivated to return home and help out, to avoid the impression that Greece “is under tutelage and directed by others.”

But he said the structural reforms Greece needed could take up to two decades.

Angry Greek unions have called a protest rally against the new belt-tightening for 4:00 p.m. outside Parliament. Communist supporters will hold a separate march an hour later, while other protesters are planning a motorcycle rally. Previous protests have turned violent, and rioters burnt and looted dozens of shops in central Athens during a rally on Feb. 12.

Papademos, who is unelected, has a sole mandate to see through the twin bailout and debt relief deal, and is expected to step down by early April ahead of national elections. Polls show that conservative New Democracy would likely come first, but without a large enough majority to govern alone.

—

Elena Becatoros in Athens and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed.

A service of YellowBrix, Inc.

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama is proposing to cut the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 28 percent and wants an even lower effective rate for manufacturers, a senior administration official says, as the White House lays down an election-year marker in the debate over tax policy.

In turn, corporations would have to give up dozens of loopholes and subsidies that they now enjoy. Corporations with overseas operations would also face a minimum tax on their foreign earnings.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Wednesday was to detail aspects of Obama’s proposed overhaul of the corporate tax system, a plan the president outlined in general terms in his State of the Union speech last month.

Chances of accomplishing such change in the tax system are slim in a year dominated mostly with presidential and congressional elections. But for Obama, the proposal is part of a larger tax plan that is central to his re-election strategy.

The corporate tax plan dovetails with Obama’s call for raising taxes on millionaires and maintaining current rates on individuals making $200,000 or less.

The 35 percent nominal corporate tax rate is the highest in the world after Japan. But deductions, credits and exemptions allow many corporations to pay taxes at a much lower rate.

Under the framework proposed by the administration, the rate cuts, closed loopholes and the minimum tax on overseas earning would result in no increase to the deficit.

That means that many businesses that slip through loopholes or enjoy subsidies and pay an effective tax rate that is substantially less than the 35 percent corporate tax could end up paying more under Obama’s plan. Others, however, would pay less while some would simply benefit from a more simplified system.

The official said the Obama plan aims to help U.S. businesses, especially manufacturers who face strong international competition. Obama’s plan would lower the effective rate for manufacturers to 25 percent while emphasizing development of clean energy systems. The administration official spoke on condition of anonymity to describe what the administration will do.

The New York Times first reported details of the plan in its online edition early Wednesday.

Many members of both parties have said they favor overhauling the nation’s individual and corporate tax systems, which they complain have rates that are too high and are riddled with too many deductions.

The corporate tax debate has made its way into the presidential contest. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has called for a 25 percent rate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., would cut the corporate tax rate to 12.5 percent, and former Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., would exempt domestic manufacturers from the corporate tax and halve the top rate for other businesses.

While Obama has been promoting various aspects of his economic agenda in personal appearances and speeches, the decision to leave the corporate tax plan to the Treasury Department to unveil signaled its lower priority.

What’s more, the administration’s framework leaves much for Congress to decide – a deliberate move by the administration to encourage negotiations but which also doesn’t subject the plan to detailed scrutiny.

Obama’s plan is not as ambitious as a House Republican proposal that would lower the corporate rate to 25 percent.

Still, Obama has said corporate tax rates are too high and has proposed eliminating tax breaks for American companies that move jobs and profits overseas. He also has proposed giving tax breaks to U.S. manufacturers, to firms that return jobs to this country and to companies that relocate to some communities that have lost big employers.

Geithner told a House committee last week that the administration wants to create more incentives for corporations to invest in the United States.

“We want to bring down the rate, and we think we can, to a level that’s closer to the average of that of our major competitors,” Geithner told the House Ways and Means Committee.

White House economic adviser Gene Sperling has advocated a minimum tax on global profits. Currently many corporations do not invest overseas profits in the United States to avoid the 35 percent tax rate.

—

Associated Press writer Alan Fram contributed to this report.

A service of YellowBrix, Inc.