When the CARD Act was getting passed, the banks moaned over how having to deal with tighter consumer protection laws was going to kill their business. It turns out that those fears might have been a tad overblown. A new report from Nilson shows that since the legislation was enacted, profits at most of the credit card issuers actually shot up.

Among the provisions in the Act were items like banks werent allowed to raise interest rates on existing balances, payments had to be applied to balances with the highest interest-rate first,and they couldnt change around the date your bill was due. It had to be the same every month. Pretty sensible stuff, right?

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Pinterest has quickly become the newest social media craze. It is an online pin board that allows its users to “pin” things they like and share them with their friends and followers. According to their website, “Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pin boards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes…Browsing pin boards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests.” 70% of Pinterest users are female; and I am not ashamed to admit that I am one of them.

To me Pinterest is a wish list, recipe file, inspiration wall, and wedding planning tool (okay I’m not even engaged yet, but that’s beside the point). I currently have 10 different boards: “Crafty Things”, “Yummy”, “Styles I Love”, and “Tying the knot”, just to name a few.

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Today the CBA committed not to offshore jobs and indicated they had no plans for major job cuts as they made their half yearly profit announcement. The bank reported a record half yearly profit of $3.6 billion up 7% from the previous half yearly results. The profits of the bank are possible only because of the contribution made by thousands of CBA employees and FSU members through their work.

CEO Ian Narev, said the bank was focusing on investing in its people and had no plan to follow some of its rivals by slashing hundreds of jobs or sending them offshore.

Today’s announcement will be welcome news to FSU members who are concerned about job security. The announcement provides some reassurance that the bank does not currently intend to engage in offshoring or major job cuts. By deciding not to slash and offshore jobs, the CBA has done the right thing by their employees and by the Australian community.

The commitment on jobs bucks the trend in the finance industry with competitors Westpac and ANZ announcing that they will cut and offshore thousands of jobs this year.

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How could we boost American employment and GDP? One philosophy is to try to do more of what’s already working.

In January 2012, there were 4.7 million fewer Americans working than in January 2007. But one sector that has bucked the trend is oil and gas production. A story in today’s Wall Street Journal notes that if you look at oil and gas extraction and its support activities, oil and gas pipeline construction, and oil drilling and machinery, you’ll find 158,500 more people working today compared to 5 years ago, or a 33% increase.

The article goes on to point out that employment benefits extend well beyond those working in the oil patch itself:

There is no oil and gas production in Idaho, but that doesn’t mean the U.S. energy boom has bypassed this bedroom community west of Boise. Fleetwood Homes of Idaho, a subsidiary of Cavco Industries Inc., has increased production by 25% since last fall at its Nampa factory, hiring 40 workers and adding hours for employees.

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