Across the world various governments and their political opposition are entering into a robust debate on the overall effect of the different stimulus programs that have been tried to counter the effects of the economic downturn.

Chevron has signed agreements with Japan and South Korea for $60 billion worth of liquefied natural gas from its massive Gorgon project just weeks from making its final investment decision. The San Ramon, Calif.-based company will supply nearly 3 million tons per annum of LNG to Osaka Gas, Toyko Gas and GS Caltex. Chevron owns a 50 percent stake in GS Caltex. Osaka Gas and Tokyo Gas will buy stakes in the Gorgon project in Western Australia as part of the supply agreement. Chevron did not reveal the financial details of the agreements. However, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said the deals would be worth more than A$70 billion -- or $60 billion -- of exports over 25 years, Reuters reported. The Chevron-operated Gorgon is...

News Corp., the traditional media company that seems to be taking a paid online content model the most seriously, is once again talking up the possibility of bringing a paid model to video site Hulu -- a paid model as in consumers, not advertisers, would pay for some of the content on the site. This time, the News Corp. exec who brought the subject up was president/COO Chase Carey, not merely chief digital officer Jon Miller, who floated the idea several months ago just before meeting with other members of the joint venture, which include NBC Universal and Disney/ABC, for the first time. Carey addressed the subject today at a conference being put on by Bank of America-Merrill Lynch. The...

In the long and torturous online content debate over free vs. paid, one of the more attractive, if theoretical visions involves the emergence of a micro-payment platform that would allow content sites to collect small fees from users in return for access to premium content. This elusive vision appears one giant step closer to reality tonight with the news that Google is developing just such a platform and that it expects to launch it -- inside Google and out -- within a year. In a response to an RFP by the Newspaper Association of America (NAA), the search giant describes its plan "to create a simple payment model that is painless for users....(and)...a successful e-commerce platform for publishers." The company...

President Obama's speech on healthcare reform is reviewed. While what he said makes sense, reform has a long way to because of the lack of cost controls.

A movie magnate was once quoted as saying "If you can’t fit your idea on the back of a business card, you don’t have a clear idea." Brevity is popular these days – try Twitter. And then there’s the somewhat timeless metaphor – entrepreneur writes out her ideas during a meeting on the back of a cocktail napkin – and success soon follows. There's entrepreneurial wisdom in brevity. As a marketing and PR veteran for over 20 years, Robyn Levin found the Entrepreneurs and startup marketing teams she was coaching were missing a simple way and brief way to create a focused marketing strategy. Often, in meetings with them, she would grab a napkin to sketch out ideas. She wondered how often this occurred, and started considering the characteristics of the napkin. Clearly, there’s limited space, so there is only room for core ideas. Less, in this case, is more. “I started giving seminars and handing out branded napkins on which attendees could create their plans.” Now Levin has an Ebook – the Cocktail Napkin Marketing Plan that lets entrepreneurs answer a series of questions, and the results are filled into a one–sheet template. (I guess cocktail napkins don’t really fit through a pc printer.) “The intent of the plan” says Levin "is to get entrepreneurs clear, focused and ready to take action." The result is a one–year time line with quarterly strategies that the entrepreneur can follow. Levin notes that some older entrepreneurs are not as comfortable with the new technologies for marketing. They may be overwhelmed or confused by Internet tools like Facebook. She suggests that to market today you have to “understand traditional and new media, and how important it is to integrate the two types.” Clearly, Levin does this, selling e-books, blogging, creating webinars, and using word of mouth. She also does in person speaking and bootcamps for training. What are some core take-aways Levin can give to Entrepreneurs and Startups? “People who are new to marketing or advertising often give it one or two tries and then give up. They don’t realize how many times you may have to do something in order to get people to take action. Like Covey says, Begin with the End in mind. A strategy is very important and without it you may be throwing money away. You may have to reach out 5 to 7 times before people will take action.” How do you create your marketing strategy? The comments are open below.

The Guara field in Brazil's Santos Basin may not be the panacea to Repsol YPF's"Argentina" problem. Still, the Guara field's better-than-expected oil estimates promise to provide a powerful boost to the Spanish company's reserves and ultimately limit its exposure to Argentina. Repsol's Argentine arm YPF has faltered in recent years as the country's increasing nationalism has created economic, political and regulatory problems. For the past two years, YPF earnings have suffered from caps placed on oil prices. Repsol, which owns 84 percent of YPF, has been trying to sell off all or at least part of its stake in the company and shift its revenues to other countries with more promising oil fields. Enter Brazil. Recent tests of the Guara field found recoverable volumes of light...

In a new twist on online hotel discounts, some luxury properties have hooked up with fashion Web sites that offer limited-time reduced prices on high-end clothing and accessories. Ideeli, a Web site that offers deep discounts on designer labels à la sample sales, partnered up with Luxury Link, an online travel company, to offer hotel and resort packages among the clothes, shoes, handbags and jewelry Ideeli regularly offers. Gilt Groupe, which also sells high-end discounted fashion items as well as home goods and luggage, announced in July it was planning to launch its own hotel Web site, Jetsetter. A recent Ideeli-Luxury Link sale included a $1,709 three-night stay for two people at the Hotel Hana-Maui and Honua Spa on the island...

Here's a little-known fact: Local TV stations depend heavily on their news operations, which typically account for about half their revenues. As a result, they're also highly vulnerable to the death spiral that's overtaken newspapers as news migrates to the Web. But there may be a way out, if these stations can reinvent their business strategies by playing up their unique ties to community news makers and advertisers. Troubles are clearly mounting for grassroots broadcasters, thanks to rising bankruptcies, plummeting advertising revenues and faltering ratings. Local stations are also rapidly losing turf to a new strain of hyperlocal Web sites and social networks. Although their local news generally represents almost half a station's operating costs and largest single expense, it...

The Cincinnati Enquirer has a particularly good vantage point on the retail industry, perched, as it is, with a view of two of the most important companies involved in the business, Procter & Gamble and Kroger. While an evolving situation that the newspaper details in a recent issue didn’t begin with the recession, it has become more prevalent in the economic downturn. In a Sept. 5 article, the newspaper looked at how shopping has changed for consumers in the recession. Just as more importantly, though, from the retail perspective, it demonstrated how a chain store operator and its supplier have increasingly come into competition. Kroger undersells national brand products such as P&G's Iams dog food, employing a private label items...