As recently as January 25, Chicago's Chamber of Commerce was talking up the economic benefits of hosting the Group of Eight summit of economic powers and playing down the prospects for disruptions that could affect the talks and tarnish the Windy City's image.
On Monday, President Barack Obama pulled the plug on his adoptive hometown's hopes and announced he was moving the annual summit to the super-secure Camp David retreat on Maryland's Catoctin Mountain.
"To facilitate a free-flowing discussion with our close G-8 partners, the President is inviting his fellow G-8 leaders to Camp David on May 18-19 for the G-8 Summit, which will address a broad range of economic, political and security issues," White House press secretary Jay Carney said in a statement.
Asked why Obama had opted to move the summit, which is expected to focus on Europe's debt crisis and ways to boost the global economy, National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor emailed that the president felt Camp David "would provide an informal and intimate setting to have a free-flowing conversation."
"He very much looks forward to coming to his hometown for a critically important NATO summit, as planned," Vietor added. That meeting will take place on May 20-21.
The Chicago Chamber of Commerce had no immediate comment. But in a late-February statement, President and CEO Jerry Roper and Lori Healy, executive director of the Chicago G-8 and NATO Host Committee, invited businesses to a briefing to highlight how the two summits "present an exciting opportunity to highlight our extraordinary city to the world."
CBS Radio's Mark Knoller, who keeps painstaking track of presidential doings, wrote on Twitter that "it will be the first time Pres. Obama has hosted foreign leaders at Camp David in his 22 visits to date." He also noted that Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, invited 19 world leaders over the course of 149 visits to the secluded retreat.
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Part of that, market pros say, is simply that investors feel more certain about who will be in the White House for the next four years and which policies they will have to deal with.Obama's chances of winning in November increased to above 60 percent on Tuesday, up from about 50 percent at the beginning of the year, according to the odds on prediction market Intrade.com. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 [.SPX Loading... () 
] has hit a new bull market high and is up 9 percent on the year.The stock market’s rise comes as the supposed Republican frontrunner, Mitt Romney, continues to struggle to win the GOP nomination.Romney has just a 55 percent chance of winning Tuesday’s Michigan Primary, down from 80 percent just a day ago, according to Intrade. Meanwhile, the odds of GOP challenger Rick Santorum winning the primary have shot up to 45 percent.
The surge in President Obama’s chances at a second term also have coincided with a string of better-than-expected domestic economic data this year, including an all-important drop in the unemployment rate. The latest reading of U.S. consumer confidence on Tuesday blew away economists’ expectations. That contrasts with the Republican debates, many of which have centered on social issues.“The Romney, Santorum, and Gingrich infighting has done irreparable harm to the Republican Party’s ability to present an alternative economic platform to voters,” says Joe Terranova, chief market strategist for Virtus Investment Partners. “As long as manufacturing and other key data continues to improve, the market is growing comfortable with Obama being President again.”History shows the market tends to rise during election years. Gains tend to be even greater if the incumbent party wins.To be sure, not everyone is buying the old adage that the “market hates uncertainty.” Some feel it is still way too early to predict what will happen in November and that Obama’s policies will be harmful to business, causing a sell-off in 2013 if he is re-elected.“As to penciling in Obama, while the market likes certainty, certainty of bad news will not be good for the market,” said Stephen Weiss of Short Hills Capital. “Although the effect of an Obama second term will be muted if economy continues to improve.” 
Weiss and others can at least take heart with the Congressional odds. Intrade puts the Republicans’ chances of controlling the Senate and House after the November elections at 72 percent and 64 percent respectively. That brings up another Wall Street maxim: “Market likes gridlock.” This way, a single party can’t mess it up.----------------------------------------------------------------------DO YOU KNOW?: Why are optimistic investors called bulls?
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John Melloy is the Executive Producer of Fast Money. Before joining CNBC, he was an editor for Bloomberg News, overseeing the U.S. Stock Market coverage team. Click here to see his full bio.
President Barack Obama delivers remarks at the National Governors Association in the State Dining Room of the White …The White House on Monday rolled out a "no-drama" response to Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum's charge that Barack Obama is a "snob" intent on pushing "everybody in America" to go to college.
"We know there's no silver bullet that will bring down gas prices or reduce our dependence on foreign oil overnight," Obama said Saturday in his weekly radio and Internet address. "But what we can do is get our priorities straight and make a sustained, serious effort to tackle this problem." Oil prices are approaching last year's highs as tensions increase over Iran's nuclear program. The rise pushed gasoline prices Friday to a national average of $3.65 a gallon, the highest ever for this time of year. A spike in gas prices is normal in spring, but it came earlier than usual this year in large part because of world fears that the growing confrontation with Iran will crimp oil supplies. Iran is the world's third-largest crude supplier. Rising oil prices weigh on the economy, pushing leisure and business travel costs higher. Every 1-cent increase in the price of gasoline costs the economy $1.4 billon, analysts say. Obama said Republicans have one answer to the oil pinch: drill. "You know that's not a plan, especially since we're already drilling," Obama said, echoing his remarks earlier in the week. "It's a bumper sticker." Obama is pushing what he calls an "all-of-the-above" approach to the problem of limited energy resources, meaning an attempt to seek out alternative energy sources while reducing consumption of traditional fuels. In the Republican address, Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison blamed the rise in gasoline prices partly on the Obama administration, which she said has blocked some potential new sources of oil and gas. "We can't slow down global demand for oil and gas, but we can do a lot more here at home to assure that we have the energy we need and to halt skyrocketing costs," she said. "President Obama's policy has resulted in an unprecedented slowdown in new exploration and production of oil and gas." For all the political claims, economists say there's not much a president of either party can do about gasoline prices. Certainly not in the short term. But it's clear that people are concerned — a new Associated Press-GfK poll says 7 in 10 Americans find the issue deeply important — so it's sure to be a political issue through the summer. The price of gasoline, which is made from crude oil, has soared with oil prices. The national average jumped by nearly 12 cents per gallon in a week, with state averages above $4 per gallon in California, Alaska and Hawaii. At $3.65 per gallon, gasoline is still below last year's high of $3.98 and the record $4.11 set in 2008. © 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
The creator of the Barack Obama "HOPE" poster pleaded guilty Friday to criminal contempt, saying he made a "terrible decision" in 2009 to destroy some documents and fabricate others in a civil lawsuit pertaining to The Associated Press photograph he relied upon to make the poster. Shepard Fairey entered the plea in federal court to the misdemeanor charge, which carries a maximum potential penalty of up to six months in prison. Sentencing was set for July 16. "Violating the court's trust was the worst thing I have ever done in my life," said Fairey, 42, of Los Angeles. "I was ashamed as I did all these things, and I remain ashamed." The criminal case originated after the artist acknowledged he had fabricated information in a lawsuit he brought against the AP in February 2009. The lawsuit sought a court declaration that he did not violate AP's copyrights when he made the Obama image. The AP countersued, saying the uncredited, uncompensated use of its picture both violated copyright laws and was a threat to journalism. That case was settled last year. U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement Friday that Fairey "went to extreme lengths to obtain an unfair and illegal advantage in his civil litigation, creating fake documents and destroying others in an effort to subvert the civil discovery process." "The justice system -- civil and criminal -- depends on the integrity of lawyers and nonlawyers alike to follow the rules," Bharara said. "Those who break the rules risk sanctions, including, in certain cases, criminal prosecution." Fairey told Magistrate Judge Frank Maas that when he created the Obama poster in January 2008, he believed he was basing it on a cropped version of a photograph he had seen of the then-Illinois senator with actor George Clooney in front of an American flag at a public event. He said it was only a few days after his lawsuit was filed, when he saw a blog comparing the Clooney picture with another AP photograph, that he realized the image he had used was a different AP picture of Obama taken at the same event. He said that before meeting with his lawyers six weeks later, he deleted the files showing he had used the Obama photo that did not include Clooney and printed documents to make it appear that he had used the picture with Clooney in it. "I showed my lawyers the fake documents as I described my artistic process and told them that I had used the Clooney photo as a reference for the Obama `HOPE' poster," Fairey said. "I was and am ashamed that I had done these things, and I knew I should have corrected my actions, but as time passed I found it more and more difficult to admit my actions," he said. He said he continued to hide the truth for months, even arranging for a witness to support his false claim in a deposition with lawyers, before one of his employees searching for documents for his attorneys came across the files he thought he had deleted. "I immediately confessed what I had done to my lawyers, and then to my wife, employees and friends," he said. "Days later, I authorized my lawyers to write a letter to the court and the AP explaining what I had done." Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel W. Levy told the judge that the government plans to ask for "some term of imprisonment" at sentencing. Maas rejected the government's request that bail be set at $100,000 for Fairey, saying he could be released on his own recognizance because the risk that he would flee was "extraordinarily low." The AP and Fairey announced last year that they had settled their copyright infringement claims against each other and would work together in projects using the news agency's pictures. Fairey agreed not to use another AP photograph in his work without obtaining a license, and the two sides agreed to share the profits of posters and merchandise bearing the "HOPE" image. A financial settlement also was reached, the terms of which were not disclosed, though Fairey said Friday during his plea that he "paid the AP an amount that I believe made it whole for the harm associated with my spoliation and fabrication of evidence." AP President and CEO Tom Curley said in a statement: "Mr. Fairey started this case by suing the AP over copyright fair use issues. The AP never expected the case to take the turn that it did. The AP hopes that some good may come of this, by alerting judges and parties to the possibility that fake evidence may exist." © 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
President Barack Obama addresses a Miami University audience on Thursday, Feb. 23. Obama sought to deflect growing Republican attacks over rising prices at the pump, blaming recent increases on a mix of factors beyond his control, including tensions with Iran, hot demand from China, India and other emerging economies, and Wall Street speculators taking advantage of the uncertainty. 
The Obama plan will follow such principles as "fairness" that the president laid out in his State of the Union address to Congress last month, the officials said.A cut in the corporate tax rate, which presently tops out at 35 percent, may be included, as well as a proposal for a minimum tax on overseas profits, analysts said.Most analysts doubt that the convoluted tax system could be revamped by a deeply divided Congress in an election year.After the presidential and congressional contests are decided in November, however, a number of major tax and budget issues will converge on Washington and new momentum for comprehensive tax reform may follow.Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told a Senate committee last week that "dozens and dozens" of tax loopholes were being targeted for closure, but that some tax incentives would be kept for "creating and building stuff in the United States."Potomac Research analyst Greg Valliere said: "Even if Geithner floats something and members of both parties say they're interested, I simply cannot see a reform bill passing before the election, close to a zero percent chance."He added: "I suppose anything would be possible in a lame-duck session in December, but something this huge and complex will require a thorough vetting, and that could take a year - or much longer."The last major rewrite of the tax code came in 1986 under Republican President Ronald Reagan, who raised corporate taxes.Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Tuesday called for a flatter, fairer and simpler tax code. He is scheduled to make a major economic speech on Friday in Detroit. Details of his tax plan may emerge before then.Fiscal Tremors ConvergeCorporations are clamoring for a cut in the top rate of 35 percent. That level is one of the world's highest, though few U.S. corporations actually pay it due to assorted loopholes that make their effective tax rates lower."Everyone agrees on the basic principle of lowering rates in exchange for eliminating loopholes," said Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a think tank."However, I think it is important that the target be some increase in tax revenue. While we are at the top in marginal tax rates ... we rank near the bottom in effective average taxation."Republican Representative Dave Camp, chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives tax-law writing Ways and Means Committee, wants to slash the top corporate rate to 25 percent.Obama last week unveiled a $3.8 billion budget-and-tax proposal that called for aggressive government spending to boost the economy and for higher taxes on the rich.On Friday, Congress approved extending a payroll tax cut through the end of 2012. Its expiration will coincide with several other fiscal earthquakes: the expirations of individual tax cuts enacted under President George W. Bush, and $1.2 trillion in automatic budget cuts across all government programs imposed as part of last year's deal to raise the debt ceiling.After these events and others, analysts said, thorough tax reform may be a realistic prospect. For now, they said, tax proposals will largely amount to political messaging.