What might get the Republicans to bite on the jobs bill currently under formulation on Capitol Hill? A lack of an estate tax.

The bipartisan Senate bill that may come for a vote this week is not likely to include an extension of the estate tax, which expired at the end of 2009, Reuters reported Tuesday (however, Washington's likely, second heavy storm/blizzard in a week, expected to arrive Tuesday night, may delay the vote: most federal offices were closed again Tuesday for snow clean-up).

Last Thursday, MEMC Electronic Materials (WFR) announced that CEO Ahmad Chatila won't be accepting a $500,000 bonus for 2009. Instead, the money will go to retraining 450 workers that will be laid off from two plant closings. This story somehow has flown under the radar and did not get the attention it deserves.

Like many companies last year, MEMC did not meet its performance targets for 2009. And still no different than many other companies, it, too, decided to award more than $600,000 in bonuses, using "discretionary authority." These bonuses were awarded "in consideration of achievement of individual performance objectives."

One of the world's preeminent economists and former central bankers had some good news and not-so-good news for investors.

Speaking on NBC's Meet The Press on Sunday, Former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said, "The recession is over. It bottomed back in the middle of the year."

However, Greenspan added that, as many economists agree, the economic recovery will have to continue for some time to absorb the slack in the labor force to lower the U.S. unemployment rate significantly.

Even though the economy is still sluggish, things are much better than a year ago, when it looked like the global financial system was about to fall apart. In fact, it may be a good idea to expand your business.

Keep in mind that during times of big change, there are also big opportunities. However, to take advantage of these, you really need to go beyond your own abilities. In other words, you need to think about hiring.

Unfortunately, the hiring process is scary and complicated -- with many rules and risks. But an excellent new book can help out: Hire Your First Employee (get your free copy). Actually, I had a chance to talk to the author, Rhonda Abrams.

Jobless claims are big news in the financial markets and can cause the stock market to move; politicians to scurry looking for new programs and claim to be able to create or "save" a certain number of jobs.

Just this week the Labor Department reported January unemployment dropped to 9.7%.

Unemployment rate in the U.S. unexpectedly declined in January to 9.7%, while the U.S. economy shed 20,000 more jobs during the month. Since the Labor Department released the mixed jobs data, futures recovered from their losses and now point to a higher open.

First, the good news. The 9.7% unemployment rate is the lowest level since August. Economists had expected the unemployment to remain at 10% or rise to 10.1%. The so-called underemployment rate -- which includes part-time workers who'd prefer a full-time position and people who want work but have given up looking -- also fell to 16.5% from 17.3%.

Initial claims for unemployment rose by 8,000 to a seasonally adjusted 480,000 in the week ended January 30. This surprised economists polled by Reuters who anticipated a drop in claims falling to 460,000 from a previously reported 470,000. A reason given for the rise was the backlog in filings due to short staffing at some state offices.

Meanwhile, the four-week moving average of new claims rose 11,750 to 488,750 last week. The number of workers still receiving aid after one week jumped 2,000 to 4.6 million for the week ended January 23. This too, was above expectations of 4.58 million. The percent of insured in the labor force was unchanged at 3.5%

You'll hear a great of discussion -- and hype -- relating to what will be the keys to the 2010 Congressional election, and the nation's outlook (sometimes called 'mood') in the period beyond it.

Further, although the 24-hour news networks will focus on a spectrum of issues, and while unexpected events (such an international crisis, or a scandal) can always come to the forefront -- the nation's mood is likely to determined in large part by one factor: objective economic conditions.

Can you imagine this! American International Group (AIG) is paying its employees $100 million in bonuses.

This is after AIG was bailed out to the tune of $182 billion by the U.S. government. The government owns 80% of the insurance giant. AIG employees have agreed to a $20 million cut. However, some employees are screaming that that is not enough. They claim that their contracts dated earlier than the bailout must be honored.

At the height of the financial crisis, Bank of America (BAC) acquired Merrill Lynch for $50 billion. Over the past year, Merrill's ranks have thinned from 18,000 down to 15,000.

Merrill's "thundering herd," as it was once known, was a powerhouse dealing largely with retail customers. Interestingly enough, even with the advent of electronic trading, many wealthy clients prefer to deal directly with a broker. B of A has a big book of 17 million "mass affluent" customers who need advice and services. "Mass affluent" customers are those whose income is between $100,000 and $1 million in investable assets.

The securities business is highly competitive, probably the most competitive. The pressure to secure big clients and to bring the greatest trading profits is enormous.

Right now, Goldman Sachs (GS) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM) lead the industry in trading. Goldman has high-speed trading, which generates the largest profits per trade on Wall Street. Naturally, clients are attracted to Goldman because they can give them the best executions and generate the biggest profits in their managed accounts.

You've heard chatter (mostly hype) on some of the cable news networks that inflation is on rise.

Don't believe it: unit labor costs rose 0.5% in Q4, and just 1.5% for all of 2009 -- capping the smallest increase for wages and benefits on record, the U.S. Labor Department announced Friday. Unit labor costs rose a revised 0.4% in Q3.

In 2008, unit labor costs rose 2.6%. The department began record keeping for the wage/benefits metrics in 1982.

Walmart (WMT) will be getting rid of more than 11,000 employees inside its Sam's Club wholesale stores and replacing them with outside marketers. Frankly, it's surprising the world's largest retailer didn't do this years ago.

Sam's Club offers so many products in bulk that goading some aisle surfers into buying 36-packs of portable sausages comes at a price: sampling and in-aisle live displays. The manufacturers of those products or their hired outsourcers will now get the joy of working those demo displays.

Futures have backed off a bit, thanks mainly to the Labor Department's latest report on initial jobless claims. The number of Americans claiming first-time unemployment benefits increased by 36,000 to 482,000.

This increase is greater than the expected drop to 438,000 and is the highest level of claims since November. This increase in claims breaks a streak of 19 straight declines.

Conan O'Brien is to receive $40 million dollars to walk away from NBC. O'Brien's agreement would bar him from bad mouthing his NBC bosses.

There has been a two week battle between NBC and O'Brien over the network's plan to move the comedian to a later 12:00 am time slot. Part of the plan is to reinstate Jay Leno in his old time slot at 11:30 p.m. which he has held for 17 years.