The 1000+ Stain Remover to be sold in the UK is a Bio-Based version of the product developed through Winning Brands research and development. It meets all current European Union requirements.  All 1000+ Stain Remover deliveries in the world will be Bio-Based in due course.  With this development, Winning Brands moves its European Union product experience from the informal market testing stage to commercial transactions at the consumer level.  Serbia, which is not currently a member of the EU, was the first European market to commercialize 1000+ Stain Remover, where it has been well received in 2011.  

Winning Brands’ International Sales Manager, Daniela Relja, comments: “We are grateful to our Winning Brands Product Ambassadors in the EU. They have been anticipating the arrival of 1000+ to the European Union with real enthusiasm. We’ve received positive feedback during informal trials in the EU and are glad to be moving forward.  With a population of 500 million, the European Union is a market with vast opportunities for us.  Today’s development is a solid step forward.”

Winning Brands’ CEO, Eric Lehner, remarks:  ”We have been interested in Europe for several years but wanted confirmation, through various means, of whether Europeans are as likely to enjoy the versatility of 1000+ as our fans in North America.  Both in Serbia with retail sales and the EU through informal testing it has become clear that 1000+ can be popular there too.  With our first authorized retailer in the UK, we’ve officially “landed” in the EU.   It’s gratifying to see things ramping up for us in Europe now.”  Mr. Lehner maintains a weblog for the benefit of Winning Brands shareholders in which these developments and others of interest to shareholders are discussed:  www.WinningBrandsCorporation.com/blog.

ABOUT WINNING BRANDS CORPORATION:  Winning Brands is a manufacturer of advanced cleaning solutions including 1000+ Stain Remover, World’s Most Versatile Cleaning Solution™, an alternative to conventional cleaning solvents.  The innovative stain remover and multi-cleaner, was known during early marketing as Winning Colours.  Its interesting household, commercial and industrial cleaning characteristics can be seen on Facebook and Youtube. 1000+ Stain Remover uses 90% less packaging than conventional cleaning solutions by being highly concentrated, enabling consumers to throw away far fewer bottles into the waste stream, together with associated reduction of waste in cardboard case packaging, fuel consumption and CO2 emissions related to transportation.  The phrase “World’s Most Versatile Cleaning Solution”  and 1000+ Stain Remover are trademarks of Niagara Mist Marketing Ltd., Division of Winning Brands Corporation.

PRODUCT INFORMATION and INTERVIEWS:
Winning Brands Corporation  11 Victoria Street, Suite 220A, Barrie, Ontario, Canada L4N 6T3
Tel: (705) 737-4062 Fax: (705) 737-9793  Jean Wursten-May, Assistant to the CEO jean@winningbrands.ca

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ATHENS/PARIS (Reuters) – Greece let yet another deadline slip on Monday for responding to painful terms for a new EU/IMF bailout, as German Chancellor Angela Merkel made clear Europe’s patience is wearing thin over drawn-out negotiations among its feuding political leaders.

Failure to strike a deal to secure the 130 billion euro (0 billion) rescue risks pushing Athens into a chaotic debt default which could threaten its future in the euro zone.

Merkel turned up the heat, saying Athens had to come to terms with the “troika” of lenders – the European Commission, European Central Bank and IMF – to get the funds it needs to meet big debt repayments in March.

Greek political leaders, positioning themselves for a likely general election in April, have baulked at accepting another package of deeply unpopular wage and pension reductions, job cuts and tougher tax enforcement measures.

Speaking in Paris alongside French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Merkel said she wanted quick action from Athens.

“We want Greece to stay in the euro,” she told a news conference. But she added: “I want to make clear once again that there can be no deal if the troika proposals are not implemented. They are on the table, time is of the essence. Something needs to happen quickly.”

Merkel, whose country is Europe’s main paymaster, made clear that the deal affected not only Greece but the wider currency bloc, which fears that a default would hit much larger economies such as Spain and Italy.

“A lot is at stake for the entire euro zone,” she said.

NO ULTIMATUM

Earlier, a Greek government official denied that the three parties in the coalition government had been given an ultimatum to respond on Monday, after weeks of arguing over another wave of austerity in return for the 130 billion euro bailout.

In Brussels, the European Commission took issue with this. “We have gone beyond the deadline already,” Commission spokesman Amadeu Altafaj told a news briefing, adding that the Greek authorities had still to take the necessary decisions.

Challenged about the troika’s demand to cut Greece’s minimum wage, he said it averaged 871 euros a month, compared with 748 euros in Spain, which is not under an EU/IMF rescue program, and 566 euros in Portugal, which has received a bailout.

Talks on the bailout have dragged on for weeks.

Panos Beglitis, spokesman of the PASOK socialist party, said on Sunday that leaders of the three parties backing technocrat Prime Minister Lucas Papademos’ government had to give their responses in principle by noon (1000 GMT). On Monday he said this deadline had slipped to Tuesday.

Asked whether the parties had to respond in time for a Euro Working Group meeting of finance ministry officials in Brussels, the Greek official said: “No, there is no deadline.”

He said the entire Greek side had to agree terms of the rescue, which would be the second for Athens since 2010, with international lenders before the next meeting of the Eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers.

“The only deadline is to have a staff agreement for the second bailout and the agreement of the political leaders before Eurogroup,” said the official, who requested anonymity.

No date has yet been set for the Eurogroup meeting, and the Commission spokesman said it would be held only when Greece had made its commitments to the deal.

Leaders of PASOK, the conservative New Democracy and the far-right LAOS party – who may face an angry electorate in parliamentary polls as soon as April – still have to agree on unresolved problems.

These include labor market reform and shoring up domestic banks. Greece needs the bailout money by mid-March to meet big debt repayments but tempers are rising in the European Union over what it sees as Greek dithering on implementing reforms.

BANK HOPES

Papademos said after five hours of talks on Sunday that party chiefs had agreed measures including wage cuts and other reforms as part of spending cuts worth 1.5 percent of gross domestic product.

Hopes rose on Monday that they had also made progress on recapitalizing domestic banks, which are up to their necks in Greek government bonds now worth a fraction of their face value.

Greek bank stocks were up 6.6 percent in the afternoon on hopes that lenders would be recapitalized without being nationalized after a debt swap under the latest bailout deal, which will radically cut the value of their bond holdings.

“Banks are concerned with the way they will be recapitalized, so that they remain independent … It seems it will be done through a combination of instruments, which will reduce the risk of their nationalization,” said Natasha Roumantzi, head of analysis at Piraeus Securities.

The euro fell broadly on investor concern that the parties had yet to sign off on the terms of a new bailout with a deadline imminent, keeping alive the risk of a messy default which could rock the currency bloc.

WORN DOWN

Greeks have been worn down by a deep recession, now in its fifth year, and wave after wave of austerity measures imposed under the first bailout.

Alarmed by the prospect of yet more budget cuts, Greece’s two main trade unions said they would call a 24-hour strike for Tuesday in protest against policies they say have only driven the economy into a downward spiral.

Leftist and communist-affiliated groups will rally at around 1600 GMT on Monday to march to parliament.

With Greece facing 14.5 billion euros of debt repayments in March, a bill it cannot meet without further bailout funds, the stakes could not be higher.

Officials have emerged increasingly despondent after each round of talks, complaining that the troika of European Central Bank, European Commission and International Monetary Fund was refusing to yield on demands to cut the minimum wage, axe holiday bonuses and fire public sector workers.

New Democracy and LAOS in particular have staunchly opposed further wage and spending cuts, arguing they risk precipitating an even deeper recession and imposing more pain on Greeks. ( = 0.7621 euros)

(Additional reporting by Tatiana Fragou and Harry Papachristou in Athens, Jan Strupczewski and John O’Donnell in Brussels, Annika Breidthardt in Berlin, Daniel Flynn in Paris; Writing by David Stamp and Ingrid Melander; Editing by Paul Taylor)

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A new national security strategy reflecting an end to decade-long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan offers the opportunity to reduce defense spending and government deficits by hundreds of billions of dollars over the next 10 years — but at a cost of thousands of jobs in lawmakers’ states and districts.

Democrats as well as Republicans are resisting, looking to protect home turf from California, where the Global Hawk unmanned aircraft is built, to Wisconsin, home to speedy Littoral combat ships, to military installations all across the country.

“It’s funny that we want to save money everywhere except when it can bother us,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said in an interview. Graham is a member of the Armed Services Committee and one of the few lawmakers who favors another round of domestic base closings.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta recently outlined a 5 billion budget for next year that’s billion less than the current level. The proposal is the first step in the deficit-cutting plan that Obama and congressional Republicans agreed to last summer that calls for a reduction in projected defense spending of 7 billion over 10 years.

“Make no mistake, the savings that we are proposing will impact on all 50 states and many districts, congressional districts, across America,” Panetta said at a news conference spelling out the new strategy. “This will be a test, a test of whether reducing the deficit is about talk or about action.”

Obama submits his complete budget proposal to Congress on Feb. 13, but Panetta’s preview included enough details to stir alarm on Capitol Hill.

The budget calls for canceling the Air Force’s Global Hawk program, a high-altitude unmanned aircraft used for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. The Pentagon said the aircraft’s cost at 5 million apiece make it less cost-effective than the existing U-2 spy planes that burst on the scene in the 1950s and were critical in finding Soviet missiles in Cuba in 1962.

Northrop Grumman, the aircraft’s prime contractor, builds the planes in Palmdale, Calif., located in the district of the House Armed Services Committee Chairman Howard “Buck” McKeon.

The aircraft is based at Beale Air Force Base, near Marysville, Calif., soon to be in the redrawn congressional district of Democratic Rep. John Garamendi, a member of the committee. The program also is one of many that the Air Force manages at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in the district of Rep. Michael Turner, R-Ohio, another committee member.

McKeon has criticized the overall military cuts but has not commented specifically on the Global Hawk. The Republican did send a clear message to the Pentagon and the White House when he promised to hold hearings on the budget “keeping in mind that while the president proposes, Congress disposes.”

Garamendi questioned the Pentagon’s rationale, especially since six months ago it called the Global Hawk a critical program with no alternatives “that will provide acceptable capability to meet the joint military requirement at less cost.”

“Now we’re going in the other direction and I’m going, ‘guys you got some explaining to do. What changed? What is the reason here?” Garamendi said in an interview. He called the U-2 an “incredible machine, but it can’t stay over the target for 20 hours. Global Hawk can stay there for a day or more. So explanations are needed.”

Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter’s reason at the briefing with Panetta: “That’s the fate of things that become too expensive in a resource-constrained environment.”

But just a few months ago, the Pentagon had said that “when analyzed in the context of the Global Hawk mission, the U-2 costs 0 million per year more than the Global Hawk.”

Panetta also called for slowing the pace of building new ships and speeding up the retirement of older ones. The Pentagon blueprint said it would reduce the purchase of Littoral combat ships, the speedy boats built at shipyards in Wisconsin and Alabama, by two. It didn’t provide more specifics.

The ship is built in the city of Marinette on the Wisconsin-Michigan border, and has meant hundreds of jobs in the two states. While Wisconsin has an unemployment rate of 7.1 percent, Michigan’s jobless rate of 9.3 percent is well above the nation’s.

The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee is Michigan Democrat Carl Levin, who declined to comment about specifics of the budget proposal. Freshman Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., praised the Littoral as a ship that “just keeps us a little more nimble.”

Contributing to the nervousness on Capitol Hill — and in the defense industry — is the prospect of deeper cuts in the military. The deficit-cutting supercommittee’s failure last fall to come up with at least .2 trillion in savings last year means automatic, across-the-board cuts for defense and domestic programs beginning next January.

For the Pentagon, that would mean an additional 2 billion reduction over a decade on top of the 7 billion.

Top Republican senators have proposed reductions in the federal workforce and a freeze in federal pay to delay the automatic cuts for a year. Both the White House and congressional Democrats have rejected any move to undo the automatic cuts absent a far-reaching deficit-cutting plan.

Jeremy W. Devaney, a senior equity analyst in defense technology for BB&T Capital Markets, said contractors look at Congress and the administration, and “they don’t believe sequester is going to happen, but they don’t know how it’s not going to happen.”

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The Super Bowl may have been a nail biter, but the ads were a snooze.

Clint Eastwood waxed for two minutes about Detroit and Chrysler. An M&M candy stripped “naked” at a party. And stars from the 90s were everywhere, as were dogs and babies, of course.

Companies paid an average of .5 million for a 30-second spot for the right to duke it out Sunday in front of the expected 111 million-plus fans. But it was all so ordinary with fewer surprises.

That’s mostly because nearly half of the 70 Super Bowl advertisers put their spots out online in the days leading up to the game. That’s a big difference from last year when only a few spots were released ahead of time. And the companies that did wait until game day for the “big reveal” didn’t take many risks. In fact, most settled on cliche plots with kids, celebs, sex and humor.

“Advertisers this year are playing it very safe,” said Tim Calkins, a professor of marketing at Northwestern University. “They’re running spots that are clearly designed to appeal to a broad audience and not to offend.”

Here’s a look at the game’s ads, play by play:

SEX SELLS — OR AT LEAST ADVERTISERS HOPE IT DOES

Advertisers showed a little skin in their Super Bowl.

An ad for domain name-hosting site GoDaddy shows racecar driver Danica Patrick and fitness expert Jillian Michaels body painting a nude woman. A spot for clothing retailer H&M features soccer star David Beckham in black-and-white in his undies. And online florist Teleflora and automaker Kia both use Victoria Secret’s model Adriana Lima in their Super Bowl ads.

But perhaps the two most blatant examples of “letting it all hang out” came from car companies.

Toyota’s spot for its “reinvented” Camry features a “reinvented” couch made up of women wearing bikinis. “It also comes in male,” a voiceover in the ad says while showing a couch of shirtless men.

And among the few standouts for the night was a Fiat ad that equated seeing the car for the first time with making out with a sexy Italian super model. The tagline: “You’ll never forget the first time you see one.”

“They did a good job of showing that some decisions are made with the heart, some decisions are made with the head and the Italian car decision resides in the groin,” said Greg Dinoto, chief creative officer of advertising agency Deutsch in New York. “It was sexy and surprising and fun.”

BABIES AND DOGS, OH MY

Who doesn’t love cute animals and babies? Advertisers are banking there aren’t many among us.

That’s why Doritos used both. One Doritos spot shows a man being bribed by a dog with the chips to keep the animal’s dirty secret about a cat’s disappearance. In another spot, a grandmother uses a slingshot to hoist a baby up to grab a bag of Doritos that belongs to a boy in a tree who had been taunting the baby with the chips.

Those two ads were crowd favorites, said Peter Dabol, who analyzes advertising effectiveness at research firm Ace Metrix. The firm polled 500 viewers about the ads to find the most popular.

“It’s a typical Super Bowl, funny carries the day,” he said. “Advertisers are driving for attention and likeability.”

Likewise, Skechers shoe company introduced its new running sneaker with an ad showing a French bulldog winning a greyhound race by wearing the shoes, of course. The dog then moon walks across the finish line.

And software company 2nd Story Software’s ad used toilet bowl humor, literally. The ad to promote its free TaxAct software shows a boy who looks everywhere to find a respectable place to relieve himself. He winds up going in a pool.

The tagline: “Totally free. Feels good.”

THE STARS WERE OUT

Celebrities always draw attention. And advertisers took a gamble that using stars would be enough to grab attention.

Chrysler, one of nine automakers advertising during the game, aired a Super Bowl ad starring Clint Eastwood. The aging actor talks about the rebirth of Chrysler and Detroit. The two-minute “Imported from Detroit” ad, one of the few spots that weren’t released before the game, follows the company’s ad last year that starred rapper Eminem.

“How do we come from behind, how do we come together and how do we win?” he asks. “Detroit is showing us it can be done. What’s true about them is true about all of us.”

Chrysler’s ad was among the few standouts on Sunday. “Those very few ads that weren’t overexposed up front ended up with a real advantage,” said Raymond Taylor, a professor of marketing at the Villanova School of Business in Villanova, Penn.

Meanwhile, real-estate company Century 21′s ad shows that a real estate agent is able to outdo speed skater Apolo Ohno on the ice, business mogul Donald Trump in business and former football player Deion Sanders at an open house.

And in an ad for Pepsi, “The X Factor” winner Melanie Amaro belts out “Respect” for music icon Elton John, who plays a king in the spot. “Pepsi for all,” she says. At the end of the ad, John finds himself in the dungeon with rapper and reality TV star Flavor Flav.

REMEMBER THAT? NOSTALGIA FACTOR

Some advertisers attempted to tug at viewers’ heart strings by stirring up old, fond memories.

Honda’s ad for its compact sports-utility vehicle CR-V shows actor Matthew Broderick living a grown-up version of his 1986 hit movie “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. The ad includes two dozen references to the movie.

An Acura NSX ad features 1990s comedic titan Jerry Seinfeld battling with late-night talk show host Jay Leno over the sportscar. The ad includes Seinfeld references like a cameo by the “Soup Nazi” character.

And during Downy’s pre-game ad, the company remakes one of the most classic commercials of all time, Coke’s 1980 spot “Mean Joe Greene.” In the original, a little boy gives a gruff football player Joe Greene a Coke as he comes off the field. The Downy remake stars Greene and actress Amy Sedaris (in the little boy role) giving Greene a can of Downy fabric softener.

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Greece is racing to finalize austerity reforms needed for a new euro130 billion (1 billion) bailout without which it would face bankruptcy in late March. But in a country deep in recession, with unemployment at 19 percent, many politicians and unions oppose more austerity measures.

The three party leaders held a five-hour meeting late Sunday with Prime Minister Lucas Papademos to hammer out a deal with debt inspectors representing eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund, but failed to reach an agreement.

An announcement from Papademos’ office said the three had agreed on measures to cut spending in 2012 by 1.5 percent of gross domestic product — about euro3.3 billion (.3 billion) — improve competitiveness by cutting wages and non-wage costs, such as social security contributions, reduce auxiliary pensions and re-capitalize banks without nationalizing them.

But the three leaders — socialist George Papandreou, Antonis Samaras of conservative New Democracy and Giorgos Karatzaferis of the rightist Popular Orthodox Rally — differed as to what this would mean in detailed proposals. All three have called meetings of their party executives to consider the proposals.

Samaras said upon leaving the talks that Greece’s creditors “are asking for more recession which the country cannot bear. I am fighting, with all my means, to prevent this.”

“I will not contribute to the breakout of a revolution by the new poor that will consume the whole of Europe,” Karatzaferis said.

Papandreou objects to cutting actual wages and wants the state to take over banks, at least temporarily.

“Political party leaders are obliged to provide a first response to the proposals by” Monday morning, socialist party spokesman Panos Beglitis told reporters after the party leaders’ meeting with Papademos.

Papademos has resumed talks with representatives of the “troika” of Greece’s creditors — the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund — later Sunday and will be joined by Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos and Labor Minister Giorgos Koutroumanis.

Unions and employers’ associations have warned that private-sector wage cuts would deepen the nation’s recession, now in its fourth year.

Papademos and Venizelos also met separately with representatives of banks in an effort to complete a bond swap deal that would reduce Greece’s debt by euro100 billion (1.6 billion). The talks involved Charles Dallara, managing director of Washington-based Institute of International Finance (IIF), and Jean Lemierre, senior adviser to the chairman of French bank BNP Paribas.

Josef Ackermann, the CEO of Germany’s Deutsche Bank and the IIF’s board chairman, is also in Athens.

About 60 people gathered outside parliament Sunday evening to protest what they view as the political leaders’ readiness to make concessions to the creditors. When they tried to block traffic, they were pushed back by police using tear gas.

Communist-affiliated unionists are holding a protest rally and march Monday.

___

Derek Gatopoulos contributed to this report.

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James Ross, 58, is a founder and managing member of Rossrock, a Manhattan-based private investment firm that focuses on commercial real estate and distressed commercial mortgages. “I realize I am very fortunate, and in fact I am a member of the 1 percent,” Mr. Ross wrote in an e-mail. His résumé is studded with elite institutions: Yale, Columbia Law School and stints at the law firms Cravath, Swaine & Moore in New York and Holland & Hart in Denver. Since his company fits the category of private equity, he even has carried interest, the kind of incentive compensation that enabled Mitt Romney to pay such a low tax rate.

Yet Mr. Ross told me that he paid 102 percent of his taxable income in federal, state and local taxes for 2010. “My entire taxable income, plus some, went to the payment of taxes,” Mr. Ross said. “This does not include real estate taxes, sales taxes and other taxes I paid for 2010.” When he told friends and family, they were “astounded,” he said.

In the midst of a national debate over tax rates and tax policy, I lifted the veil last week on my income tax rates for 2010, a year in which I paid 37 percent of my adjusted gross income in federal, state and city income taxes and 74 percent of my taxable income. (Adjusted gross income — your total income minus retirement plan contributions, tax-exempt interest and other specified exclusions — is usually higher than taxable income, which is adjusted gross income minus your personal exemptions and itemized deductions. So taxes as a percentage of taxable income are almost always higher.)

I was dismayed by the comparison to Mr. Romney — who paid 13.9 percent of his adjusted gross income of .7 million and 17.5 percent of his taxable income of .1 million — as well as by the possibility that I paid a higher tax rate than just about anyone. So I invited readers to send me e-mails disclosing their tax rates and circumstances.

I was deluged with submissions, including many people who pay a higher rate than I do. But at 102 percent, Mr. Ross was in a category of his own.

 “I had no idea I was paying such a high rate,” he told me when we spoke this week. “I had trouble believing this was possible. I called my accountant, and I said, ‘Do you realize I’m paying every penny I have in taxable income? I’m dipping into savings to pay my income tax.’ He said, ‘It’s unfortunate, but at your income level’ ” — with high earned income and large itemized deductions that Mr. Ross can’t take advantage of — “ ‘that’s just the way it is.’ ” Mr. Ross’s plight illustrates something that came through in nearly every response and cuts across nearly all income levels: the disparities of the tax code don’t just pit rich against poor or middle class. It taxes people within the same income brackets at grossly unequal rates. “I cannot help but reflect on the unfairness of the current tax regime,” Mr. Ross wrote. “Why should I pay 102 percent of my taxable income in taxes when others, with far greater wealth than mine, pay a fraction of that?”

I asked Robert Willens, a tax expert and New York attorney, if such a thing were possible, and he said it was. “It’s entirely within the realm of possibility,” he said. “I can’t recall any clients quite that high, but I’ve had people come close.”

How could Mr. Ross pay so much? I thought I was the victim of a perfect storm of punitive tax policies, but Mr. Ross’s situation is worse. Like me, he lives and works in New York City, which all but guarantees a high tax rate. Nearly all of his income is earned income and thus fully taxable at top rates. (He said that’s not always the case, but given the recent dire condition of real estate, in 2010 he had few capital gains and his carried interest didn’t yield any income.) Unlike me, he can’t make any itemized deductions, which means his adjusted gross income exceeds million, the level at which New York State eliminates all itemized deductions, except for 50 percent of the value of charitable contributions. Mr. Ross said he gave 11 percent of his adjusted gross income to charity.

That means Mr. Ross can’t deduct any interest expense on the money he borrows to finance his real estate investments, which is substantial, nor can he deduct any other expenses or other itemized deductions except for part of his charitable contributions. This means he pays an enormous amount in state and local taxes. Since those are among the deductions that are disallowed when computing the federal alternative minimum tax, Mr. Ross is in turn especially hard hit by the A.M.T.

Because Mr. Ross has so many deductions, his tax as a percentage of adjusted gross income, as opposed to taxable income, is 20 percent, which is much lower than mine. Still, all those deductions, such as interest expense, are money out of Mr. Ross’s pocket, which is why he has had to draw on his savings to pay his taxes. Mr. Willens made the argument that because of that, taxable income may be a better comparison for measuring the tax burden. In any event, by either measure Mr. Ross pays a higher rate than Mr. Romney

Mr. Ross said he asked his accountant what he could do. “He said, ‘Fire everyone here and move to Florida,’ ” according to Mr. Ross. He employs 10 people in his New York office.

Mr. Ross may be a member of the 1 percent, but many people who responded and said they paid high tax rates weren’t. Eliana S. Rivero is a professor emeritus at the University of Arizona who told me she gets by on Social Security, a TIAA-CREF pension fund and a small amount of royalty income. She said she paid just over 26 percent of her adjusted gross income in income taxes.

[Also see: America's Most Overpriced Cities, 2012]

“I reacted the way you did when Romney’s tax status was revealed:  I went to my calculator,” Dr. Rivero wrote.  “Much to my dismay and, yes, outrage, I pay almost double the tax rate he does.  And I promise you, I am very far from the 1 percent crowd!!!

“I worked for 45 years in my chosen profession, helped educate quite a few of the present generation college faculty, received several teaching and scholarly awards, and yet my government taxes me right and left for the moderate wages I earned but lets the wealthy get away with paying proportionately less than I do. I truly wouldn’t mind it so much if my taxes went to pay for schools and bridges and roads but when they go to wars and loopholes for the mega-rich, I see red!”

A disproportionate number of high-rate taxpayers appear to be self-employed and many are professionals, such as lawyers, doctors, dentists and architects with mostly earned income rather than dividends and capital gains. Some are in the upper 1 percent, but most aren’t. Architects, who as a group may be the most underpaid profession relative to their education, talent and responsibility, seem especially disadvantaged by the current tax code.

Daniel Kelley is an architect who wrote from Philadelphia. “My wife and I have a 20-year-old architecture firm employing 20 to 30 full-time professional people,” Mr. Kelley said.  “In 2010, we paid 31.3 percent federal taxes on our adjusted gross income.  We paid 37.5 percent federal, state, local taxes on our adjusted gross income. If our practice was in New York, I imagine the latter would approach 45 percent. Instead of tax breaks for people who make a living from their money, perhaps there should be reduced taxes for those of us who have small businesses and employ Americans.  I don’t necessarily mind the very rich making money, but if they don’t pay a fair tax, then they are stealing from the rest of us.” 

Journalists and authors were also well represented. Jeffrey Bennett, author of “Math for Life” and numerous other books, reported that he paid 26.8 percent of his adjusted gross income in federal taxes, topping my 24 percent rate, but because he lives in Colorado, his total federal and state burden is lower than mine though still far higher than Mr. Romney’s. Ironically, a chapter in Mr. Bennett’s book discusses the “insanity of our current tax policies,” he said. “And despite our high rate, you can mark us down in the category of people who believe our rate should be increased. After all, it’s either us paying it or our children, and it’s not right to pass it on down the line.”

And for those of you who questioned how I could be a business columnist and yet be such a sap, James Cramer, the host of “Mad Money” on CNBC and founder of the financial Web site TheStreet.com, disclosed that he paid a higher rate than I do. He forwarded an e-mail from his accountant estimating that he paid 45 to 50 percent of his adjusted gross income in income taxes in 2010. Mr. Cramer’s taxes are especially high — and complicated — because he lives in New Jersey and works in New York and New Jersey, so he pays income taxes in both high-tax states (and gets a credit on his New Jersey return for his New York taxes). Most of Mr. Cramer’s income is earned, and thus is fully taxed. Although he had capital gains, they were offset by losses. “The best way to have everyone pay their fair share is to tax all income (whether earned or unearned) at the same rates,” his accountant, Jeffrey Rosenthal, said.

One thing that emerged loud and clear is that a large swath of hard-working people are paying a high rate and are furious about it — not because they object to paying taxes, even high taxes, but because so many people, even billionaires, pay at a much lower rate than they do.

The tax code, Dr. Rivero wrote, “is written to favor the rich, who have not created all those jobs they were supposed to generate.” The rich themselves are some of the most distressed. “None of the dialogue about taxes has anything to do with fairness,” Mr. Ross lamented. “Certain rich people are paying way more their fair share and other rich people are paying a lot less. I’d like to see a conversation take place along nonideological lines where everyone is asked to pay their fair share, where everyone makes some payment, even if it’s one dollar. Everyone I know is so disgusted. People aren’t stupid. They know what’s going on. At the end of the day, the system is broken.”

More From NY Times

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The Nasdaq index reached levels last seen in December 2000.

Before the market opened, the Labor Department said companies hired 243,000 employees in January. That’s the strongest job growth in nine months. The increase in hiring pushed the unemployment rate down to 8.3 percent.

The surprising data gave stocks a morning jolt. The Dow shot up 161 points in early trading before drifting slightly lower.

“In this economy only one variable matters right now and that variable is employment,” said Lawrence Creatura, an equity portfolio manager at Federated Investors.

“This report was great news. It was beyond all expectations, literally. The number (243,000 hired in January) was higher than even the highest forecast.”

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index added 17 points to 1,342, as of 1:30 p.m. Eastern time. That’s a gain of 1.3 percent. The S&P 500 is on track to rise for the fifth straight week, the longest weekly winning streak since January of 2011. It’s up 6.8 percent so far this year.

More evidence that the economy is gaining strength followed the jobs report. A trade group said the service industry expanded at the fastest pace since last February. The government also said factory orders rose 1.1 percent in December, supported by a rebound in orders for heavy machinery.

In other trading, the Dow gained 143 points to 12,849, an increase of 1.1 percent. Bank of America Corp. led the Dow, rising 4.7 percent. Only three stocks were lower: Merck, Procter & Gamble and Pfizer.

The Nasdaq composite added 44 points, or 1.6 percent, to 2,904.

Treasury prices fell lifting the yield on the 10-year Treasury to 1.94 percent. When bond prices fall, yields rise. The benchmark 10-year rate had traded below 1.79 percent earlier this week as traders bought U.S. Treasurys on renewed concern over Europe’s ongoing debt crisis.

The U.S. jobs figures helped markets in Europe rally on Friday despite further evidence that the 17-country eurozone is heading for recession. Germany’s DAX closed 1.7 percent higher, and France’s CAC-40 gained 1.5 percent.

Among companies whose stocks are making large moves:

— Genworth Financial soared 12 percent, the best gain in the S&P 500. The insurance company reported late Thursday that it swung to a profit in the most recent quarter, helped by gains in sales of life insurance.

— Weyerhaeuser gained 5 percent after reporting better quarterly earnings than analysts’ forecasts. The timber and real estate company’s earnings still sank 62 percent.

— Video game maker Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. rose 3.5 percent. The company reported a 65 percent drop in quarterly profits after the market closed Thursday, but Wall Street’s analysts expected much worse.

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Bank of America Corp. (BAC), Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) and FedEx Corp. (FDX) rallied at least 1.5 percent to pace gains among companies most- dependent on economic growth. Alcoa Inc. (AA) and Occidental Petroleum Corp. (OXY) added more than 1.9 percent as commodity producers advanced. Tyson Foods Inc. (TSN) rose 5.5 percent as profit beat estimates. Gilead Sciences Inc. surged 9.1 percent on positive data from an experimental hepatitis C drug.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 1.3 percent to 1,342.27 at 10:22 a.m. New York time. The benchmark gauge has climbed 2 percent since Jan. 27, poised for a fifth straight weekly increase. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 152.89 points, or 1.2 percent, to 12,858.30 today.

“Spectacular,” Ron Florance, managing director of investment strategy for Wells Fargo Private Bank, said in a telephone interview from Phoenix. His firm manages 9 billion. “It’s a very, very strong jobs number. It shows that companies have confidence that they see global demand growth through their products and services. The numbers indicate continued economic strength. That will support risk assets.”

The 243,000 increase in payrolls was the most since April and exceeded all forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey. The unemployment rate dropped to 8.3 percent, the lowest since February 2009. The median projection in the Bloomberg survey called for an increase of 140,000 payrolls. The Institute for Supply Management’s index of non-manufacturing industries, which account for almost 90 percent of the U.S. economy, rose to 56.8 in January from 53 a month earlier.

Earnings Outlook

Earnings in the S&P 500 are forecast to rise 9 percent this year to 4.68, according to analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. At yesterday’s close of 4.68, the index is trading at 12.7 times projected earnings in 2012 and 11.2 times predictions for 2013. The benchmark gauge for American equities has traded at an average price-earnings ratio of 16.4 since 1954, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Companies most-tied to economic growth rallied. Bank of America gained 5.1 percent to .83. Caterpillar added 2.5 percent to 3.09. FedEx increased 1.5 percent to .14.

Energy and raw material producers gained as the S&P GSCI Index of commodities added 1.1 percent. Alcoa rose 2.1 percent to .64. Occidental Petroleum jumped 1.9 percent to 0.37.

Tyson Foods rose 5.5 percent to .64. The meat processor reported first-quarter earnings of 42 cents a share. On average, the analysts surveyed by Bloomberg estimated profit of 34 cents.

Gilead, Brocade

Gilead Sciences (GILD) rallied 9.1 percent to .78. The drugmaker that acquired Pharmasset Inc. last month for its experimental hepatitis C treatments said one of the therapies produced positive clinical trial results.

Brocade Communications Systems Inc. (BRCD) rose 1.7 percent to .93. Blackstone Group LP (BX), the world’s largest private-equity firm, is studying a leveraged buyout of the company, said a person with knowledge of the situation. While Blackstone is in talks with Brocade, which has been seeking a buyer since 2009, reaching a deal may be difficult, said the person, who declined to be identified because the matter isn’t public. Brocade, a maker of switches for data-storage networks, has a market value of .65 billion.

To contact the reporter on this story: Rita Nazareth in New York at rnazareth@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Nick Baker at nbaker7@bloomberg.net

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The result pointed to a resurgent job market, and it sent stock futures surging. The Dow Jones industrial average futures, which were flat before the report, jumped more than 100 points.

The economy created 243,000 net jobs in January, the most in nine months, and the unemployment rate fell two ticks.

Employers have added an average of 201,000 jobs a month in the past three months. That’s 50,000 more jobs per month than the economy averaged in each month last year.

The Labor Department’s January jobs report was filled with other encouraging data and revisions. Hiring was widespread across many high-paying industries. Pay increased. And the economy added 200,000 more jobs in 2011 than first thought.

The unemployment rate is nearly a percentage point lower than over the summer, when many feared a recession was imminent. The last time the unemployment rate has dropped for five straight months was in late 1994.

Impressively, the job gains last month were spread across the economy.

Manufacturers added 50,000 jobs, the most in a year. Even the beleaguered construction sector added 21,000 jobs, its second month of strong gains. That has likely been aided by unseasonably warm weather this winter.

Leisure and hospitality, which includes restaurants and hotels, added 44,000 jobs. Retailers added nearly 11,000. And professional and business services, which encompasses higher paying jobs in accounting, architecture and engineering, gained 70,000, the most in 10 months.

Lower unemployment is a positive a sign for President Barack Obama’s reelection hopes. Still, he’s likely to face voters with the highest unemployment rate of any post-war president.

The unemployment rate fell even as more people began looking for work. But a much larger number said they found work.

More jobs and higher incomes should help consumers boost spending and increase economic growth.

Job gains in November and December were revised upward to show that an additional 60,000 jobs were created in those two months.

The government also issued its annual revisions to jobs data going back five years. They showed that hiring was stronger over the past two years than previously thought. The economy added about 1.82 million jobs last year, nearly twice as many as in 2010.

Even with the gains, the job market faces a long way back to full health. The nation has about 5.6 million fewer jobs than it did when the recession began in late 2007.

There are still 12.8 million people out of work, though that is the fewest since the recession ended. An additional 11 million are either working part-time but would prefer full-time work, or have stopped searching for jobs.

When all those groups are combined, nearly 24 million are considered “underemployed. The so-called “underemployment” rate ticked down in January to 15.1 percent, from 15.2 percent.

Several reports signaled this week that the economy is improving gradually. Manufacturers expanded at the fastest pace in seven months in January, a private survey showed.

And fewer people sought unemployment benefits last week, the Labor Department said. The four-week average of applications fell to its second-lowest level since June 2008. The drop shows that companies are cutting fewer jobs, which usually leads to more hiring.

Americans spent more at big chain retail stores last month compared with a year earlier. And automakers began 2012 with a strong sales gain in January. Healthier auto sales can boost a range of companies, from steel makers to parts suppliers to shippers.

The economy expanded at a 2.8 percent annual pace in the October-December quarter, a full percentage point higher than in the previous quarter.

Even so, economists expect slower growth this year. Much of the fourth quarter’s expansion was due to companies ordering more goods to restock their warehouses. Restocking is likely to slow in the first three months of this year. That would drag on growth.

Europe’s financial crisis could also slow demand for U.S. goods. And average wages failed to keep up with inflation last year. That leaves consumers with less spending power, which can hamper growth.

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The company said Friday that its net profit shot up to 4.7 billion (0 million) in the three-month period, up drastically from 3.2 billion kronor a year ago.

Shares in the company rose 2.2 percent to 92.70 kronor on the Stockholm stock exchange, bucking the wider market.

For the full year, it posted a profit of 17.8 billion kronor, up from 10.9 billion kronor in 2010.

Revenues, which were mainly driven by strong sales in its key truck unit, rose in all regions and rocketed to 86.5 billion kronor in the quarter, an 18 percent rise from the previous year.

CEO Olof Persson described it as the best posted since the company sold its car division in 1999. “If we review the full-year 2011, Volvo Group generated the highest net sales, the best operating income and the highest operating margin to date,” he said.

Profitability also increased in the quarter, as Volvo’s operating margin widened to 7.9 percent from 7.5 percent.

Persson added that Volvo’s truck brands increased their market share on the European market to a combined 26 percent.

Since it parted from the car division, Volvo has grown into one of the world’s biggest truck makers, with brands including Volvo, Mack, Renault and UD trucks. It also makes buses, engines and construction equipment. Volvo sold its car division in 1999 to Ford Motor Co., which recently offloaded it to China’s Geely.

In its outlook for the coming year, it retained its forecasts for demand of heavy-duty trucks in Europe, North America and Brazil.

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