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Government doctors are not willing to continue in service if the incentives due for working in rural areas are not released.
He said MorganKeegan has been cooperating with the regulator, and has beenrepurchasing auction-rate debt from clients since early 2009. Auction-rate debt has rates that reset in periodic auctionsand was often marketed by brokers as a cash substitute. Afterthe $330 billion market froze in February 2008 when dealersstopped taking part in auctions, many investors could not sellthe debt, or could sell it only at a loss. Morgan Keegan spokesman Eric Bran said the brokerage was"surprised and disappointed" by the SEC actions. In a lawsuit filed in federal court in Atlanta, the U.S.Securities and Exchange Commission demanded that Morgan Keeganbuy back debt sold to customers before March 20, 2008, forfeit$4.3 million of underwriting and distribution fees, and pay acivil fine. * Investors stuck with $1.2 bln in debt, SEC says Stocks | Regulatory News | Bonds * Debt marketed as cash equivalent, SEC says * Morgan Keegan says surprised, been cooperating with SEC (Adds Morgan Keegan comment, Charles Schwab case) By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK, July 21 (Reuters) - Morgan Keegan & Co, a unit ofRegions Financial Corp (RF.N), was sued on Tuesday by U.S.regulators for allegedly leaving customers stuck with $1.2billion of auction-rate securities that became illiquid. For more information, please visit the Partnership to Save Highway Communities`website at Partnership to Save Highway CommunitiesTiffany Wlazlowski, 703-739-8578 Copyright Business Wire 2009.
To date, Congress hasyet to hold a congressional hearing or discussion on the issue. Thisissue has significant public policy implications and requires a thorough debatein Congress that examines its impact on all stakeholders. Despite months of discussion regarding the rest area closures, last weekVirginia attempted a last-minute amendment to an appropriations bill that wouldhave granted the state an exemption to the Federal commercialization ban. Homer is using VDOT`s budget shortfalls as a politicallyexpedient excuse to pursue commercialization. The Partnership to Save Highway Communities believes that the $9 million insavings to VDOT is too little to jeopardize the safety of Interstate travelersor to justify crippling the thousands of private businesses that operate off ofthe exit ramps of the Interstate highways. Furthermore, if Virginia successfullycommercializes its rest areas, a large percentage of tax revenue will betransferred from small towns and counties to the state capital.
Governor Bill Bolling.The proposal failed, however, after VDOT Secretary Pierce Homer cast thedeciding vote to close the rest areas. Long before Virginia`s budget woes, VDOTSecretary Pierce Homer advocated commercializing rest areas as a way to generaterevenue for the state. Thesebusinesses employ more than 65,000 people and contribute over $100 million inlocal taxes. The Virginia Commonwealth Transportation Board attempted to revive the restareas during its June budget discussion, according to Lt. As a result of this foresight, today some 60,000 businesses thrive alongthe exits of the Interstate Highway System, offering employment for more than 2million Americans. Virginia officials claim that commercializing rest areas is the only way to savethem.
However, commercialization will have a devastating impact on the more than2,300 businesses that operate at the Interstate exits in Virginia. The 1960-era law was enacted when the Interstate system was new to encouragecommercial development along the Interstate and revitalize communities. Congressrecognized that businesses at the exits would find it difficult to compete withgovernment-run businesses at rest areas located along the Interstate right-of-way. Virginia last night began closing 10 of its Interstate rest areas, citingbudgetary constraints and claiming that the only way to keep the facilities openis to commercialize them, which requires Congress to change the long-standinglaw prohibiting rest areas from offering commercial services. That represents just one quarter of 1 percentof the commonwealth`s $3.7 billion transportation budget. "The only thing we do know is that the economy is just not there yet."(Additional reporting by Kristina Cooke and Chris Reese in New York) Small Business Crisis in Credit Economy.
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