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Karl W. Miller a senior energy executive and institutional investor issued the following statement through his advisors, regarding the state of the U.S. renewable energy and the cap-and-trade bill, called the American Clean Energy and Security Act recently passed by the Congress.

In June, the Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) for the EU and the euro area continued to improve for the third month in a row. However, in both areas, the level is still below the lows reached in the previous trough at the end of 1992. The ESI increased by 3.2 points in the EU and by 3.1 points in the euro area, to 71.1 and 73.3 respectively.

The euro-area economy is still deep in recession territory but the EU's strong and coordinated policy response is providing tangible support to economic activity and sentiment indicators and financial markets have started to send some tentative signs of improvement, the Quarterly Report on the Euro Area shows.

Economic confidence among small business owners rose slightly in June as cash flow concerns abated and the mood on the economy held steady, according to the latest Discover® Small Business WatchSM. The monthly index rose to 80.9, up from 78.1 in May.

Euro area retail business conditions continued to deteriorate in June, with sales, employment, purchasing of stock and margins all falling compared with May. The Bloomberg Euro-Zone Retail Purchasing Managers' Index ("PMI(R)"), based on a mid-month survey of more than 1,000 executives in the euro area retail sector that provides data one month ahead of government-issued figures, rose from 47.1 to 47.5 in June. Remaining below 50.0, the seasonally adjusted index pointed to a month-on-month fall in sales for the thirteenth successive month. The rate of contraction eased on May, and has recovered sharply from the record pace of decline seen last November. In fact, the average monthly decline over Q2 was the weakest since Q1 2008.

While the Obama administration's housing policy has been largely influenced by a study of the Boston housing market during the 1990-91 recession in which homes devalued by approximately 10 percent, new research suggests that a novel phenomenon is at hand in the fallout of today's more severe housing crisis - strategic default on mortgage loans. Given that homes in numerous parts of the country have lost more than 30 to 40 percent of their value, many homeowners say they would simply walk away from their loans - without fear of repercussion.

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index™ (LEI) for the Euro Area increased 1.9 percent in May to 95.4 (2004 = 100), following a 1.6 percent increase in April and no change in March. All of the components made positive contributions to the index this month.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) of the U.S. Department of Labor released 2008 results from the American Time Use Survey (ATUS). This annual release of ATUS data focuses on the average amount of time per day in 2008 that individuals worked, did household activities, cared for household children, participated in educational activities, and engaged in leisure and sports activities.

CFOs, treasurers and their staff continued to earn larger raises than other white-collar workers during 2008. However, the people who manage finance at major organizations in North America were not exempt from the effects of the current recession as their salary increases were smaller than they had received in recent years. These are the key findings of the Association for Financial Professionals' (AFP's) 2009 Compensation Report.

With the start of summer, travel plans looming and news continuing about a slow-to-rebound economy, SunTrust Banks, Inc. released the results of the latest Solid Index - revealing that 40 percent of Americans' finances have kept them from achieving the things they want in life, while another 50 percent say they have recently spent less time or money on enjoyable activities because of money concerns. Despite this, Americans still maintained the same optimism felt in April's Solid Index when asked how "solid" they felt about the state of their personal finances.