Treasury Will Not Mint $1 Trillion Coin to Raise Debt Ceiling

WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department said Saturday that it will not mint a trillion-dollar platinum coin to head off an imminent battle with Congress over raising the government’s borrowing limit.

“Neither the Treasury Department nor the Federal Reserve believes that the law can or should be used to facilitate the production of platinum coins for the purpose of avoiding an increase in the debt limit,” Anthony Coley, a Treasury spokesman, said in a written statement.

The Obama administration has indicated that the only way for the country to avoid a cash-management crisis as soon as next month is for Congress to raise the “debt ceiling,” which is the statutory limit on government borrowing. The cap is $16.4 trillion.

“There are only two options to deal with the debt limit: Congress can pay its bills, or it can fail to act and put the nation into default,” Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, said in a statement. “Congress needs to do its job.”

In recent weeks, some Republicans have indicated that they would not agree to raise the debt limit unless Democrats agreed to make cuts to entitlement programs like Social Security.

The White House has said it would not negotiate spending cuts in exchange for Congressional authority to borrow more, and it has insisted that Congress raise the ceiling as a matter of course, to cover expenses already authorized by Congress. In broader fiscal negotiations, it has said it would not agree to spending cuts without commensurate tax increases.

The idea of minting a trillion-dollar coin drew wide if puzzling attention recently after some bloggers and economic commentators had suggested it as an alternative to involving Congress.

By virtue of an obscure law meant to apply to commemorative coins, the Treasury secretary could order the production of a high-denomination platinum coin and deposit it at the Federal Reserve, where it would count as a government asset and give the country more breathing room under its debt ceiling. Once Congress raised the debt ceiling, the Treasury secretary could then order the coin destroyed.

Mr. Carney, the press secretary, fielded questions about the theoretical tactic at a news conference last week. But the idea is now formally off the table.

The White House has also rejected the idea that it could mount a challenge to the debt ceiling itself, on the strength of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which holds that the “validity of the public debt” of the United States “shall not be questioned.”

The Washington Post earlier published a report that the Obama administration had rejected the platinum-coin idea.

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Weekend Kitchen

Restaurant Review | El Toro Blanco

Playing Cool With a Mexican Palette

By PETE WELLS

El Toro Blanco in the West Village conjures a midcentury modern, California ambience, where the centerpiece of a fun and stylish night on the town can be a plate of tamales.

Hold the Butter

By JEFF GORDINIER

A new certification coming to restaurants, cafeterias and cruise lines has a message: our experts have vetted this dish, and it is good for you.

Off the Menu

By FLORENCE FABRICANT

Hearty fare on Houston Street; a French brasserie on the Upper West Side; Italian-Mexican on the Bowery and more.

Dining Calendar

By FLORENCE FABRICANT

A winter festival in Brooklyn, a four-course nose-to-tail hog dinner at Louro; dinners with guest chefs and more.

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Microsoft may have exited gadget show prematurely

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Microsoft may have relinquished its starring role in America’s gaudiest gadget show a year too early.

After 13 straight years in the spotlight, Microsoft’s decision to scale back its presence at this week’s International CES deprived the software maker of a prime opportunity to explain and promote a new generation of redesigned computers running its radically remade Windows operating system.

The missed chance comes at a time when Microsoft Corp. could use a bully pulpit to counter perceptions that Windows 8 isn’t compelling enough to turn the technological tide away from smartphones and tablets running software made by Apple Inc. and Google Inc.

“They needed to be at this show in a very big way to show the progress they have made and what is it about 2013 that is going to make consumers really gravitate toward a Windows 8 machine,” said technology industry analyst Patrick Moorhead.

Since Windows 8 went on sale in late October, there has been little evidence to suggest the operating system will lift the personal computer industry out of a deepening downturn. Worldwide PC shipments during the final three months of last year dropped 6 percent from the same period in 2011, according to the research firm International Data Corp. The dip occurred despite the bevy of Windows 8 laptops and desktop machines that were on sale during the holiday shopping season.

Microsoft, though, insists things worked out at just fine during CES, even though it didn’t have a booth and only had a smattering of executives at the sprawling trade show, which drew some 156,000 people to Las Vegas.

The company, which is based in Redmond, Wash., decided it no longer makes sense to invest as much time and money in CES as it once did. The company says the show’s early January slot doesn’t mesh with the timing of its major product releases. Windows 8, for instance, was still more than nine months away from hitting the market when Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer kicked off last year’s CES with a keynote address that was billed as the company’s swan song at the show.

“We are very comfortable with our decision,” Microsoft spokesman Frank Shaw said. “It has been a productive show for us this year.”

Microsoft’s retreat from CES puzzled some attendees curious about Windows 8. For instance, when Michael Sullivan showed up at computer maker Asus’ booth, which was stocked with Windows 8 computers, there was no one around to discuss the machines or the software.

“This is unusual,” said Sullivan, CEO of computer sales firm Spec 4 International Inc. “I don’t understand why a successful company isn’t bringing executives here.”

Asus invited some CES attendees to learn more about Windows 8 at a nearby hotel, away from the show’s main trade show. Asus has left its booth unmanned in previous years at CES, but the void wasn’t as noticeable when Microsoft’s own representatives were canvassing the floor.

NPD DisplaySearch analyst Richard Shim thought Microsoft should have had more people helping to staff its partners’ booths because, he said, no one understands how Windows 8 works better than the company that made it.

“Whenever you have a new product rolling out, it’s always helpful to communicate your message directly as opposed to counting on your partners,” Shim said.

Microsoft elected to curtail its CES presence largely because the show’s marketing value has diminished. In recent years, companies such as Apple and Google have shown that they can command more attention by holding their own exclusive events to unveil products just before they go on sale. Neither Apple nor Google had a major presence at CES.

In a sign that it is embracing its rivals’ strategy, Microsoft staged separate events last year in Los Angeles and New York to unveil Surface, a Windows-powered tablet computer, and Windows 8.

Nevertheless, both Shim and Moorhead believe would have been better off waiting until after this year’s CES to surrender its top billing on the marquee. That way, Ballmer could have used this year’s opening CES keynote to talk about Windows 8′s advantages as a finished product.

“Ballmer could have talked about the operating system more completely and built more hype around it, especially since Microsoft has been getting beaten up so far over Windows 8′s performance,” Shim said.

When Ballmer ended Microsoft’s 13-year streak of kicking off CES, he was only able to provide a peek at a makeover of the operating system that was still months away from being completed.

Microsoft touts Windows 8 as a breakthrough that will enable people to straddle the divide between personal computers and tablets. The revamped operating system is built to respond to the touch of a finger so it can work on tablet computers while still retaining the ability to respond to commands from keyboards and mice on laptop and desktop machines. To take advantage of Windows 8′s versatility, many PC makers are building convertible devices that can work as a tablet or a laptop.

But reviews of the new operating system have been lukewarm. Critics have been panning it as too confusing and cumbersome.

Microsoft used part of a CES technology forum presented by J.P. Morgan to try to build more enthusiasm. The company revealed that 60 million copies of Windows 8 have been sold so far, putting it on the same pace as the previous version — Windows 7 — at the same juncture of its release. But it’s unclear how many of those Windows 8 licenses are installed on computers that are still sitting in stores or warehouses.

Investors have been so unimpressed with the reception to the new Windows products that Microsoft’s stock price has slipped 4 percent since the operating system’s Oct. 26 release. Meanwhile, the bellwether Standard & Poor’s 500 index has gained 4 percent. Microsoft’s stock closed Friday at $ 26.83, up 37 cents.

A clearer picture of the early reception to Windows 8 may emerge Jan. 24 when Microsoft is scheduled to report its earnings for the three months spanning the holiday shopping season.

Although he wasn’t the main attraction, Ballmer made a cameo appearance during Qualcomm Inc. CEO Paul Jacobs’ opening address at this year’s show.

Ballmer’s acceptance of Qualcomm’s invitation to join Jacobs on stage surprised some people because Qualcomm has emerged as a threat to Intel Corp., a longtime Microsoft ally that makes most of the processors in Windows computers. Instead of touting Windows 8, Ballmer spent his time hailing a streamlined version of the operating system, dubbed Windows RT, which runs on tablets using processors that rely on technology designed by ARM, another Intel rival.

Microsoft’s top executive in charge of technical strategy appeared on stage at Samsung Electronics’ invitation to reveal a Windows phone featuring a flexible color display. The electronics of the phone are in a little box, and the thin, bendable screen is attached to it, looking much like a piece of paper.

That left Intel and other Microsoft partners, including PC makers Samsung, Sony, Asus, Acer and Hewlett-Packard Co., to do most of the boasting about Windows 8 at their own CES booths.

“Our partners are doing that very effectively,” Shaw said. “You couldn’t walk through the (CES) floor without seeing people doing really interesting things with Windows 8.”

But there were other times when it appeared Microsoft’s partners could have used some help.

Sony exhibitor John Guzman, for instance, seemed stumped when an Associated Press reporter visited the company’s CES booth and asked whether a machine running Windows 8 or the more advanced Windows 8 Pro would be a better fit for journalistic work.

“That is more of a Microsoft question,” Guzman said, adding that no Microsoft representatives were around.

___

Liedtke reported from San Francisco. AP Technology Writer Peter Svensson contributed to this story.

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CBS welcoming actor Angus Jones back to comedy

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — CBS says all is forgiven with "Two and a Half Men" actor Angus T. Jones.

The network's entertainment president, Nina Tassler, said Saturday the 19-year-old actor is expected back at work next week, apology accepted for his interview declaring the CBS comedy "filth" and "very inappropriate."

Jones plays the "half" in the popular comedy, portraying actor Jon Cryer's son in the series. He made his remarks in an interview with a religious organization.

Tassler said CBS and producers would like to see "Two and a Half Men" back for another season, although no deals have been reached with actors.

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Former Lab Technician Denies Faulty DNA Work in Rape Cases

A former New York City laboratory technician whose work on rape cases is now being scrutinized for serious mistakes said on Friday that she had been unaware there were problems in her work and, disputing an earlier report, denied she had resigned under pressure.

The former lab technician, Serrita Mitchell, said any problems must have been someone else’s.

“My work?” Ms. Mitchell said. “No, no, no, not my work.”

Earlier, the city medical examiner’s office, where Ms. Mitchell said she was employed from 2000 to 2011, said it was reviewing 843 rape cases handled by a lab technician who might have missed critical evidence.

So far, it has finished looking over about half the cases, and found 26 in which the technician had missed biological evidence and 19 in which evidence was commingled with evidence from other cases. In seven cases where evidence was missed, the medical examiner’s office was able to extract a DNA profile, raising the possibility that detectives could have caught some suspects sooner.

The office declined to identify the technician. Documents said she quit in November 2011 after the office moved to fire her, once supervisors had begun to discover deficiencies in her work. A city official who declined to be identified said Ms. Mitchell was the technician.

However, Ms. Mitchell, reached at her home in the Bronx on Friday, said she had never been told there were problems. “It couldn’t be me because your work gets checked,” she said. “You have supervisors.”

She also said that she had resigned because of a rotator cuff injury that impeded her movement. “I loved the job so much that I stayed a little longer,” she said, explaining that she had not expected to stay with the medical examiner’s office so long. “Then it was time to leave.”

Also on Friday, the Legal Aid Society, which provides criminal defense lawyers for most of the city’s poor defendants, said it was demanding that the city turn over information about the cases under review.

If needed, Legal Aid will sue the city to gain access to identifying information about the cases, its chief lawyer, Steven Banks, said, noting that New York was one of only 14 states that did not require routine disclosure of criminal evidence before trial.

Disclosure of the faulty examination of the evidence is prompting questions about outside review of the medical examiner’s office. The City Council on Friday announced plans for an emergency oversight committee, and its members spoke with outrage about the likelihood that missed semen stains and “false negatives” might have enabled rapists to go unpunished.

“The mishandling of rape cases is making double victims of women who have already suffered an indescribably horrific event,” said Christine C. Quinn, the Council speaker.

A few more details emerged Friday about a 2001 case involving the rape of a minor in Brooklyn, in which the technician missed biological evidence, the review found. The victim accused an 18-year-old acquaintance of forcing himself on her, and he was questioned by the police but not charged, according to a law enforcement official.

Unrelated to the rape, he pleaded guilty in 2005 to third-degree robbery and served two years in prison. The DNA sample he gave in the robbery case was matched with the one belatedly developed from evidence the technician had overlooked in the 2001 rape, law enforcement officials said. He was recently indicted in the 2001 rape.

Especially alarming to defense lawyers was the possibility that DNA samples were cross-contaminated and led to false convictions, or could do so in the future.

“Up to this point,” Mr. Banks said, “they have not made information available to us, as the primary defender in New York City, to determine whether there’s an injustice that’s been done in past cases, pending cases, or allowing us to be on the lookout in future cases.” He added, “If it could happen with one analyst, how does anyone know that it stops there?”

The medical examiner’s office has said that the risk of cross-contamination was extremely low and that it does not appear that anyone was wrongly convicted in the cases that have been reviewed so far. And officials in at least two of the city’s district attorneys’ offices — for Brooklyn and Manhattan — said they had not found any erroneous convictions.

But Mr. Banks said the authorities needed to do more, and that their statements thus far were the equivalent of “trust us.”

“Given what’s happened,” he said, “that’s cold comfort.”

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Mutual Funds Found Big 2012 Gains, Despite Political Worry

ECONOMIC growth remained sluggish and politics often intruded on the markets, yet stocks achieved solid returns last year all the same. It wasn’t the first time that investors scaled a wall of worry, but it might be the only instance when the main source of concern, at least in the fourth quarter, was thought to be a cliff.

Tim Kelly/Reuters

A computer factory in Kobe, Japan. A resurgence in China's economic growth this year could help the stocks of various kinds of companies, including commodity providers.

The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index rose 13.4 percent for the year, even with a 1 percent decline in the fourth quarter. In those last months, doubts rose about whether Congress and President Obama could reach an agreement on taxes and spending in time to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff — and the recession that was thought to lie below.

The drama in Washington was one of several throughout the year that kept investors focused more on capitols than corporate boardrooms. European leaders were continually devising plans to rescue the euro and some of the economies that use it, and China underwent a change of leadership.

Although the fourth-quarter loss was worse soon after Election Day and stocks raced ahead at the start of the new year, investors’ concerns may yet prove well founded. The immediate concerns related to taxes were resolved only at the 11th hour — just past midnight, really — and much remains to be sorted out on spending. Investment advisers said that politics, at home and abroad, would continue to guide markets.

“The political environment and uncertainty revolving around policy decisions has been a really big factor,” said Jeremy DeGroot, chief investment officer of the fund provider Litman Gregory. “There are significant deficit issues that developed economies are facing, and the markets are hanging on every development.”

One bit of uncertainty was eliminated on Jan. 1, when Congress agreed to limit the scope of scheduled tax increases, although the deal still resulted in higher tax rates on payrolls, dividends and capital gains.

Worries also abated when European Union finance ministers agreed in the fourth quarter to place big banks under the supervision of the European Central Bank. That followed the bank’s announcement that it would support the bond markets of weaker economies, which are concentrated along the region’s southern periphery.

THE moves on both sides of the Atlantic helped stock funds achieve modest fourth-quarter gains. The average domestic fund in Morningstar’s database rose 0.9 percent. International funds fared better, up 4.8 percent, on average, with portfolios that focus on European stocks returning 7.4 percent and emerging-market funds rising 6.2 percent. Full-year returns exceeded 14 percent for all four categories.

Yields on short- and long-term debt remained low all year as the Federal Reserve and other central banks maintained the easy monetary policies in force since the 2008 crisis. While that could account for much of stocks’ strength during 2012, the influence on bond returns, at least on high-quality government issues, may be waning.

The average bond fund rose a healthy 8.4 percent on the year, but the fourth-quarter gain was a slim 1.3 percent, dragged lower by a 1.1 percent loss for portfolios of long-term government bonds. High-yield bond funds rose 3.1 percent for the quarter, on average, and funds that specialize in debt issued in emerging economies gained 3.9 percent.

Just how helpful low interest rates were for economic growth is hard to discern. American economic output has continued to expand at a sluggish pace. And Europe is widely seen to be in recession.

“The trend of deterioration in Europe is not slowing down,” said Virginie Maisonneuve, head of global and international equities at Schroder Investment Management. She noted, though, that some indicators suggested that conditions were stabilizing at very low levels along the continent’s troubled southern fringe.

Whatever the economic impact of low interest rates, they seem to be helping corporate America. Corporate debt issuance last year exceeded $1 trillion for the first time.

Increased indebtedness provides leverage that lifts profit margins, said Jeremy Grantham, chief investment strategist of the fund management company GMO. Margins have reached record levels as a proportion of economic output and are “weirdly high,” in his opinion, “unless we’re in one of those wonderful secular shifts that people talk about but almost never see.” He doesn’t glimpse any such new normal, however, and cites high margins as a reason to be cautious about most stocks.

Rising debt of another kind is a pressing concern for many investors. With the national debt above $16 trillion, the second part of the fiscal cliff debate, focusing on spending cuts, is expected to be played out over the next month or so in Washington.

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The Lede Blog: Updates on the Gun Violence Debate

The Lede is following the debate on gun violence in the wake of the shootings in Newtown, Conn., with reports from our correspondents and from around the Web.

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Sprint confirms it will launch BlackBerry 10 later this year

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Seattle bankruptcy hearing to decide Tully's sale

SEATTLE (AP) — The auction for beleaguered coffee company Tully's will likely conclude Friday in federal bankruptcy court, with an ownership group led by actor Patrick Dempsey in position to take over the chain. But Starbucks isn't' out of the running.

Dempsey — dubbed "McDreamy" in the "Grey's Anatomy" hospital TV drama — claimed victory last week after an auction.

But a company that teamed up with Starbucks to bid for the Tully's chain filed an objection Wednesday. AgriNurture Inc. says it's still willing to proceed with its combined bid with Starbucks of about $10.6 million. The bid from Dempsey's company, Global Baristas LLC, was for $9.2 million.

Tully's has 47 shops in Washington and California with more than 500 employees. It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October.

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Well: Calling All Cauliflower

At my house we eat cauliflower like popcorn. Using a simple recipe from Alice Waters, we slice it thin, toss in olive oil and salt, and roast. One head of cauliflower is never enough.

This week in Recipes for Health, Martha Rose Shulman takes us on a trip to Sicily, where cauliflower is a favorite food. She writes:

Every once in a while I revisit the cuisine of a particular part of the world (usually it is located somewhere in the Mediterranean). This week I landed in Sicily. I was nosing around my cookbooks for some cauliflower recipes and opened my friend and colleague Clifford A. Wright’s very first cookbook, “Cucina Pariso: The Heavenly Food of Sicily.” The cuisine of this island is unique, with many Arab influences – lots of sweet spices, sweet and savory combinations, saffron, almonds and other nuts. Sicilians even have a signature couscous dish, a fish couscous they call Cuscusù.

Cauliflower is a favorite vegetable there, though the variety used most often is the light green cauliflower that we can find in some farmers’ markets in the United States. I adapted a couple of Mr. Wright’s pasta recipes, changing them mainly by reducing the amount of olive oil and anchovies enough to reduce the sodium and caloric values significantly without sacrificing the flavor and character of the dishes.

I didn’t just look to Sicily for recipes for this nutrient-rich cruciferous vegetable, but I didn’t stray very far. One recipe comes from Italy’s mainland, and another, a baked cauliflower frittata, is from its close neighbor Tunisia, fewer than 100 miles away across the Strait of Sicily.

Here are five new ways to cook with cauliflower.

Sicilian Pasta With Cauliflower: Raisins or currants and saffron introduce a sweet element into the savory and salty mix.

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Baked Ziti With Cauliflower: A delicious baked macaroni dish that has a lot more going for it nutritionally than mac and cheese.

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Cauliflower and Tuna Salad: Tuna adds a new element to a classic Italian antipasto of cauliflower and capers dressed with vinegar and olive oil.

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Tunisian Style Baked Cauliflower Frittata: A lighter and simpler version of an authentic Tunisian frittata.

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Sicilian Cauliflower and Black Olive Gratin: A simple gratin that is traditionally made with green cauliflower, but is equally delicious with the easier-to-obtain white variety.

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