Business_Finance

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Victoria Cabrera, recovered now from major heart surgery in late August, throws out the first pitch for the Tigres de Aragua in Venezuela on Monday. Washington Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos helped Cabrera and her mother, Marfa Mata, raise the money for her surgery. (Photo courtesy of Marfa Mata)

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House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) speaks at a press conference on the fiscal cliff negotiations at the U.S. Capitol Building, Washington, D.C., Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2012. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

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** FILE ** President Barack Obama speaks about negotiations regarding the fiscal cliff as he takes questions from reporters, Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2012, at the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

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Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, joined by the Republican leadership speaks to reporters about the fiscal cliff negotiations with President Obama following a closed-door strategy session, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

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** FILE ** Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, joined by Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, left, and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., right, as they finish a news conference about the fiscal cliff negotiations after a closed-door GOP strategy session, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

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Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., talks on the phone on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

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** FILE ** Dominique Strauss-Kahn, former managing director of the International Monetary Fund, leaves his apartment building in Paris on Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012. (AP Photo/Jacques Brinon)

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House Speaker John A. Boehner says the Republicans’ “Plan B” would protect American taxpayers making less than $1 million and would have all of their current tax rates extended. Democrats have said the proposal is a non-starter. (Associated Press)

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President Obama has given ground on the issue of entitlement cuts in talks to avert the “fiscal cliff,” which arrives in two weeks. (Associated Press)

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ASSOCIATED PRESS Sen. Tom Harkin looks over the shoulder of Paul Dunfee, a hot mill operator, during a tour of PMX Industries in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The metals company donated $250,000 to an institute at Iowa State University that bears Mr. Harkin’s name, and its CEO did the same. Mr. Harkin is pushing for a dollar coin that could generate tens of millions of dollars in new business for the company.

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D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, a Democrat, showed resistance to a proposal to cap money-order contributions to campaigns at $25, saying the cap seemed too low and that money orders do leave some record of the purchase. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

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Cars are parked in the lot outside the Dick's Sporting Goods store in Cranberry, Pa., on Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012. The sporting goods chain says it's suspending sales of modern rifles nationwide because of the school shooting in Connecticut. They also say it's removing all guns from display at its store closest to Newtown, where the massacre took place. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic) ** FILE **