Obama-Romney on taxes: How much should the rich pay?

Though the presidential candidates both say they want to keep taxes low for the middle class, they have very different ideas about what high-income households should pay.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- When it comes to taxes, the 2012 presidential election comes down to one question: How much should the rich pay?

After months of debate, Americans on Tuesday must choose between two presidential candidates who have starkly different views on the issue.

They both say they want to keep taxes low on the middle class, which both define broadly.

But President Barack Obama wants high-income households to pay higher tax rates on income and investments. His stated goals: to help reduce deficits, to help the country make critical investments and to increase fairness in the tax code.

Mitt Romney doesn't think taxes should play a role in deficit reduction. Rather, he wants to embark on revenue-neutral tax reform.

Romney wants to cut everyone's income tax rates by 20% but wants the top 5% of households to pay the same share of taxes they do today. To ensure that, he plans to rein in their tax breaks.

One tax break he doesn't want to touch: the lower rates they pay on their capital gains and dividends, which are often major sources of their income. (Related: Why corporate taxes may go up)

One other point of difference between the two: Obama wants to preserve the estate tax, and Romney wants to get rid of it.

Here's a closer look at what each candidate has proposed:

Individual income tax rates

Currently the Bush-era tax rates are 10%, 15%, 25%, 33% and 35%. Those rates are scheduled to expire at the end of the year and higher rates will take their place. The increases would affect those who report wage and business income on individual returns.

Obama: Would make those rates permanent for everyone except those making more than $200,000 ($250,000 if married). For those high-income households, Obama would preserve the rates at the low end (10%, 15% and 25%) but raise the top two rates to 36% and 39.6%.

Romney: Would reduce each of the Bush-era income tax rates by 20%. So the top rate would fall to 28% and the bottom rate would fall to 8%.

Romney would also like to repeal the 2010 health reform law. If he succeeds, that would mean a repeal of the 0.9 percentage point increase in the Medicare tax on high-income households called for under that law.

Alternative Minimum Tax

Currently, unless Congress makes special adjustments for inflation to the amount of income exempt from the AMT, the so-called wealth tax would hit tens of millions in the middle class. Making the adjustment is costly; getting rid of the AMT altogether is really costly.

Obama: Would permanently adjust the AMT for inflation.

Romney: Would abolish the AMT.

Investment income tax rates

Long-term capital gains and qualified dividends are currently taxed at 15%. Interest is subject to ordinary income tax rates. For those at or below the 15% income tax bracket, however, they have a 0% capital gains and dividend rate.

Obama: Would raise the capital gains rate to 20% and tax dividends at ordinary income tax rates for those making more than $200,000 ($250,000 if married).

Romney: Would maintain the current 15% investment income tax rate, but exempt from taxation all capital gains, dividends and interest for those with adjusted gross incomes up to $100,000 ($200,000 for married couples).

Repeal of the health reform law would result in the elimination of the new 3.8% Medicare tax on investment income for high-income households. The new tax is scheduled to go into effect next year.

Carried interest tax rate

Managers of private equity, venture capital and hedge funds are taxed at 15% on the portion of their compensation known as carried interest -- which represents a share of the profits from the funds they manage.

Obama: Would tax carried interest as ordinary income, meaning rates for fund managers would more than double.

Romney: Has said in the past that the rate should not be raised. But during this campaign cycle, Romney's advisers have left open the possibility that he'd consider increasing it.

Tax breaks

Tax credits, deductions and other breaks reduce revenue by more than $1 trillion every year. To pay for lower income tax rates and reduce deficits, many breaks -- including the largest and most popular -- have to be eliminated or curtailed, experts say.

Obama: Has proposed limiting the value of itemized deductions and other tax breaks such as exclusions for those with adjusted gross income over $200,000. Today, many filers in that group can deduct 33% or 35% of a qualified expense. Obama would limit that to 28%.

Obama also has proposed making permanent some expanded tax breaks for the middle class, such as one for college costs.

Romney: Has promised to pay for his $5 trillion tax plan by curbing tax breaks, primarily for high-income filers. One idea he's mentioned: capping the total value of one's itemized deductions. That's not sufficient to pay for his plan, though. If that's the route he chooses, he might also curb the value of personal exemptions and the tax-free benefit workers get when their employers provide their health insurance.

Estate tax

Until the end of this year, only estates valued at more than $5.12 million are subject to an estate tax up to a 35% top rate. Barring congressional action, all estates worth more than $1 million will be subject to the estate tax at a top rate of 55% next year.

Obama: Would reinstate the estate tax at 2009 levels -- meaning estates worth more than $3.5 million would be subject to the tax and face a top rate of 45%.

Romney: Would repeal the estate tax but preserve the gift tax rate at 35%.

First Published: November 6, 2012: 5:25 AM ET

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Fiscal cliff: Next president's first big problem to solve

Whoever wins on Tuesday will have a big fiscal mess on his hands.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- No matter who wins the election on Tuesday, the next president will have to immediately stare down the country's largest, most pressing domestic problem: the fiscal cliff.

That cliff -- which starts to take effect in January -- includes $7 trillion worth of tax increases and spending cuts over a decade.

Among the policies at issue are reductions in both defense and non-defense spending, the expiration of the Bush tax cuts, the end of a payroll tax holiday and extended unemployment benefits, and the onset of reimbursement cuts to Medicare doctors.

Lawmakers must choose whether to leave in place some or all of them, replace them, postpone them or cancel them entirely. The decision will affect the economy, the country's credit rating and the U.S. debt burden.

If left in place, the fiscal cliff would lead to the biggest single-year drop in the annual deficit as a percent of the economy since 1969.

But because it would be so abrupt and arbitrary, it also could throw the United States back into a recession next year, when more than $500 billion will be taken out of the economy. (Related: Americans face $3,500 fiscal cliff hit)

Neither President Obama nor Mitt Romney has said much about the cliff, though each has been vocal on two components: the expiring Bush tax cuts and defense spending cuts.

And neither has said anything about the debt ceiling, which likely would be part of a fiscal cliff deal. The country's borrowing limit will be reached by the end of the year, but the Treasury Department says it can employ "extraordinary" measures to let the government pay its bills in full until early in 2013.

So how would the two men vying for the White House handle things?

Obama: Tax hike on rich key

Like many Democrats and Republicans, the president doesn't like the automatic, across-the-board spending cuts called for under the so-called sequester. He wants them replaced.

At the same time, the White House budget office said the president's senior advisers would "recommend" he veto any bill that averts the defense cuts while leaving intact the non-defense cuts or that "fails to ask the most fortunate Americans to pay their fair share."

Meanwhile, senior administration officials said recently that Obama would veto any fiscal cliff package if it does not include an increase in tax rates for top earners.

The president himself, however, hasn't used the word "veto." Instead, he urges Congress to "work on those things we can agree on" -- namely, to extend the Bush tax cuts for the majority of Americans.

In his last debate with Romney, Obama pointedly said the defense cuts "won't happen" even though both parties -- at least publicly -- aren't budging from their negotiating positions. Then, in an interview with the Des Moines Register, Obama went further, expressing confidence that a "grand bargain" on debt reduction could occur within six months of his second term if he's elected.

Elsewhere, Obama has not pushed for an extension of another key part of the fiscal cliff: the temporary 2% payroll tax cut passed at the end of 2010. But that doesn't mean he won't. "We'll evaluate the question of whether we need to extend it at the end of the year when we're looking at a whole range of issues," Carney said in September.

Mitt Romney: Give me time

Romney wants time to deal with the fiscal cliff.

In August, Romney told Time Magazine's Mark Halperin that if elected he would rather Obama and Congress postpone the tax increases and spending cuts.

"Let's have at least a year of runway or even six months of runway after the new president is elected so that we can have the tax reform and the military spending plans and the budget plans that are consistent with that individual self-leadership and views."

In May, he said he would want to "deal with these issues on a ... permanent basis as opposed to a stopgap effort that would require unraveling and re-evaluation," he said.

Romney opposes the nearly $500 billion in cuts to defense spending called for under the so-called sequester. And he doesn't want the Bush-era tax cuts to expire for anyone.

At the same time, he has promised to balance the budget in eight to 10 years without cutting defense or raising taxes.

Best-case scenario

Lawmakers and policy experts say the best a lame-duck Congress can probably do before the end of the year is come up with a "bridge" or "framework" deal.

Broadly, that might mean lawmakers postpone fiscal cliff measures for several months to a year, negotiate a small amount of spending cuts and agree to strike a large deficit-reduction deal by a date certain next year, perhaps according to agreed-upon targets for spending and revenue.

But then if lawmakers failed to deliver next year, the fiscal cliff or something similar would take effect.

- Jessica Yellin, CNN's senior White House correspondent, contributed to this report.

First Published: November 6, 2012: 5:19 AM ET

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Why you can't vote online yet

Online voting companies like Everyone Counts, whose system is shown here, face a slew of obstacles in the U.S. - even as other countries take the digital plunge.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Online voting is taking off in local elections, particularly overseas. But Americans shouldn't expect to vote for the president on their laptop or iPad anytime soon.

The battle over whether to digitize the voting process has become a full-blown war in the U.S., even as countries like Canada, Norway and Australia have increasingly adopted online systems. Proponents say going digital will boost voter turnout, while naysayers cite hacking and other security threats as risks too great to overcome in the near future.

"It's such a different world than it was 20 years ago, and yet very little has changed in our voting process," says Rob Weber, a former IT professional at IBM (IBM, Fortune 500), who started the blog Cyber the Vote in 2010.

Like many supporters of online voting, Weber points out that many young Americans don't vote. Bringing the voting process to a format they're familiar with -- a website on a PC, tablet, or even a mobile phone -- would overcome the "enthusiasm gap," he believes.

But that argument hasn't been enough to bring online voting into the mainstream. For that, Weber places the blame squarely on election officials whom he says aren't interested in changing the status quo.

"They find online voting culturally distasteful," Weber says. "They bring up theoretical hacking situations in order to make people afraid of the concept of change. And unfortunately it works."

Security researchers don't think those concerns are merely theoretical. Michael Coates, chair of the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) and director of security assurance at Firefox maker Mozilla, says hackers will attack anything worth hacking.

"It's guaranteed that such a system [online voting] would be attacked, for sure," Coates says. "All important systems, from financial to government, face skilled hackers. There are security flaws in every system; it's a matter of how you detect and respond to them."

Home PCs, in particular, are susceptible to a myriad of cyberattacks that could be used to alter a user's vote.

"Until we can reliably foil malware and viruses -- and who knows when that will be -- it's hard to consider a system in which we vote from our home computers," Coates says.

Such issues have felled some past attempts at online voting in the U.S.

In 2004, the military began testing the Secure Electronic Registration and Voting Experiment (SERVE), which would have let service members stationed overseas vote online in the general election. But Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz scrapped the plan after government-commissioned studies warned of extensive security flaws.

Another oft-cited failure came in 2010, when Washington, D.C., conducted a pilot project to allow overseas or military voters to download and return absentee ballots over the Internet. Before opening the system to real voters, D.C. invited the public to evaluate whether the system could be hacked.

It was. Within 36 hours of going live.

A University of Michigan team "found and exploited a vulnerability that gave us almost total control of the server software, including the ability to change votes and reveal voters' secret ballots," professor J. Alex Halderman later wrote in a blog post about the hack.

Halderman termed the system "brittle" and proclaimed online voting too dangerous to implement anytime soon.

"It may someday be possible to build a secure method for submitting ballots over the Internet, but in the meantime, such systems should be presumed to be vulnerable based on the limitations of today's security technology," he wrote.

Such high-profile debacles are a difficult obstacle for online voting companies like Everyone Counts, says CEO Lori Steele.

"The problem with the D.C. hacking is that it was a less-than-mediocre system run by people who had no experience," Steele says. "When people use it as an example, it's like, c'mon -- those issues were all security 101."

Bad PR for any online voting attempt undermines the entire cause, Steele says. Still, California-based Everyone Counts has run online elections for local and municipal contests in U.S. locations including West Virginia, Honolulu, El Paso, Chicago and Washington state, in addition to the United Kingdom and Australia.

Everyone Counts uses "military-grade encryption" for its ballots, and can also provide a paper trail for clients who want it, Steele says. A "transparent code" policy allows any client to inspect the company's source code.

While Steele admits that online voting, like any system, is susceptible to attacks, she thinks the sheer number of devices in the wild would make it difficult for would-be hackers to hit their targets.

"They don't know which PCs or tablets or phones will be used for voting," Steele says. "Plus, people talk about paper being the Holy Grail of security, but that is so far from reality."

The biggest limitation of paper ballots was on display last week, when Hurricane Sandy decimated parts of the northeastern U.S. The storm's destruction cut many voters off from their scheduled polling station.

On Saturday, the state of New Jersey announced that displaced storm victims will qualify as "overseas voters," meaning they are eligible to vote via e-mail or fax.

"The storm was awful, but it could serve as a wider reminder that we need to reform the system," says Michelle Shafer, director of communications at Spanish company Scytl, which has conducted online voting in over 30 countries worldwide.

In the U.S., Scytl is just getting its foot in the door. It completed online "ballot delivery" -- digitally delivering a replica of a paper ballot that voters can fill out, scan and submit -- in six U.S. states. Those digital ballots are typically used by military members and overseas residents.

"I don't think we'll be voting online by [ 2016's general election], but my hope is that we'll continue to take slow and measured steps toward that eventuality," she adds.

While the U.S. takes it slow, countries like Canada and Norway continue to expand online voting.

Dean Smith, president and founder of Canada's leading online-voting firm, Intelivote, says the divide between his home country and the U.S. is vast. Popular Canadian labor unions have used online voting for years -- which means users have grown accustomed to the process -- and the country's ballots tend to be far less complex than those in the U.S.

"In general, people here see the benefits of online voting and there's an acceptance," Smith says of Canada. "The U.S. would be a great coup, but there are so many academics who made their name by being naysayers. There's so much fighting about it. Right now, we don't need the additional problems."

First Published: November 6, 2012: 5:34 AM ET

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Behind the gas panic: One expert explains

Superstorm Sandy has sparked a gas panic in the North East. This Seaford, N.Y. station had one line for cars and one for walkers with containers on Friday, Nov. 2.

WASHINGTON (CNNMoney) -- Superstorm Sandy has left a gasoline panic in its wake.

The storm had barely left the Northeast last week, when a frightening sight became common in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut -- dozens of shivering people standing in lines with jerry cans for gasoline to power up their darkened homes with generators, and cars stretching out miles deep, some waiting four hours to fill up.

Conjuring up images of the 1970s oil crisis, the lines spilled on to bridges and highways, as police officers secured some stations and directed traffic to keep peace. In New Jersey, stations in 12 counties are rationing gas, tying access to license plate numbers.

Amid this chaos, it's hard to believe that there's actually no gas shortage, as one well-known oil and gas expert explained to CNNMoney. Rather it's fear and panic that has gripped residents from these states.

Such behavior is actually common after large storms -- long gas lines plagued South Florida in the days after Hurricane Wilma, and were widespread in the Gulf Coast after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, all storms that hit the nation in 2005.

CNNMoney caught up with Tom Kloza, chief analyst at the Oil Price Information Service, to explain the phenomena. Kloza says the panic has been fueled by social media, which has led to the equivalent of flash mobs at gas stations. He expects the panic to subside this coming week because millions of gallons of gasoline are waiting underground and will start flowing once power is restored.

Here are edited excerpts from the conversation.

Why are the gas lines so long?

Why do people rush the exits at a European soccer game? Why do people behave irrationally at times? Because of fear and panic. What might otherwise be just an annoyance turns into a momentary crisis, because everyone starts to top off their tanks when they believe there is an underlying gasoline shortage.

So, there's no energy crisis?

This is really a crisis of crowds. You can imagine, when everyone automatically assumes, "I better get gas today -- I'm going to top off my tank," you have behavior like the '70s. This is the not the '70s. Richard Nixon is not president. We're not wearing bell bottoms. We're not listening to eight tracks. Hopefully, we're not on acid trips. We're looking at something that's going to be resolved in a few days, despite all the madness of crowds.

What's different with this gas panic?

In this case, social media has created the equivalent at flash mobs at various stations. People are saying: "Oh, I hear the Hess station has gasoline." The word spreads. And boom -- the crowd goes there.

So, there's actually enough gas?

There's actually plenty of gasoline in the New York harbor area. And all the big storage tanks along the Jersey turnpike, plenty of those are filled with gas. The problem is, without electricity these facilities can't open, and it's very difficult to access the fuel. You see lines after a storm, because people perceive there's no gasoline, when in fact, it's a question of access.

The gas supply is there, it's either underground at stations that have yet to have electricity back on or in New York harbor, in terminals, but one needs electricity to access those terminals.

Related: Gas shortage continues in areas hit by Sandy

How much gasoline is out there?

Some of these bulk storage tanks have 250,000 barrels or 10 million gallons. Plus, the refineries in Texas and Louisiana continue to pump fuel up this way. The refineries on the Delaware River never lost power and continue to pump fuel. We lost about 300,000 barrels a day from refineries in the Linden, New Jersey area, but that's about 1/50th of the current U.S. supply.

Part of the reason it's going slowly is: You want to make sure everything is safe and secure and that you don't have the possibility for leaks.

When will these long lines end?

If we had normal demand, and we didn't have the panic out there, I'd suggest it would be in a few days. I still think that after the election this week, from Wednesday on, it'll gradually be restored to normal. It's moving from the South to the North. South Jersey is already getting better and some of the panic is easing.

Will we see a hike in gas prices?

In New Jersey and New York, the price is essentially staying the same right now.

U.S. refineries are making plenty of fuel and the price of crude is cheap. Prices will actually be lower a week from now. In the next week or two, prices will drop to about $2.99 a gallon gasoline in many parts of the country. This morning the price nationally was $3.47 a gallon.

First Published: November 4, 2012: 12:40 PM ET

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Brooklyn restaurants and bars boom post-Sandy

Wings and grilled cheese were all that was left by 9 p.m. Wednesday at Pork Slope, a roadhouse-inspired bar and restaurant.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- It was one of The Gate's busiest Tuesdays since the Brooklyn bar opened 15 years ago.

It happened the day after New York was slammed by Superstorm Sandy, the devastating storm that flooded the subway system and knocked off power for millions.

And yet as much of New York went dark and transportation ground to a halt, neighborhoods hummed to life at places where people could meet others and share stories: Bars, restaurants, coffee shops.

"It was like 9/11 in many ways," said Bobby Gagnon, who owns The Gate, a bar in New York's Park Slope neighborhood. "People who went through it really needed a place to go -- bars, churches ... they become community centers."

Sandy's small business victims: We don't want loans!

Regulars mixed with new faces, sales soared, and food and drinks started running out.

"Usually, we recognize about 60% of the people who come in here," said Gemma Redwood, who owns coffee shop Sit & Wonder along with her husband Lucien. "But this week it's been incredible how many new faces there have been."

Pork Slope, a roadhouse-inspired bar and restaurant in Park Slope, "became a weird safe haven for people," said Dale Talde, a co-owner. It opened four hours early for much of the week, which meant by the end of the night, food and drink options were limited.

"By 9 p.m. Wednesday, we were out of all our food except wings and grilled cheese," said Talde. "And by the end of the night, we'd even sold out of those."

"Whiskey, too!" said John Bush, another co-owner of Pork Slope. "The top shelf went first, and then down from there."

Many gas stations were closed and suppliers were reeling from the storm, which meant delivery trucks were delayed -- or unable to make it in at all. Pork Slope received about half their deliveries on Thursday, but were out of brisket -- a staple at the comfort-food joint -- until Friday.

Sit & Wonder's coffee is supplied by Portland, Ore.-coffee company Stumptown, which saw its East Coast roaster -- located in Red Hook, Brooklyn -- completely destroyed by flooding.

Many of the business owners live near their establishments, and some in apartments upstairs. This gave them an unusual advantage of being able to be agile in the midst of the storm's uncertainty.

Gagnon opened The Gate at 1 p.m. instead of 3 each day after the storm.

"People really didn't want to be at home," he said. "It was during the early part of the day that we could really feel the difference."

Brooklyn bar Crown Inn stayed open throughout the storm -- even Monday night as the hurricane raged.

"It was packed," said co-owner Zhenya Kampanets. "There was such camaraderie between people there. Everyone wanted to stick together and talk about it."

19 bags of rotting food, and a business at risk

Business spiked at the Brooklyn locales. Crown Inn was filled "wall to wall"; Sit & Wonder saw sales increase roughly 30% during the week.

It did leave some owners with a sense of "survivor's guilt" for doing well at a time when so many other businesses -- and lives -- were destroyed.

"It's a range of emotions," said Talde. "We were blessed to be in a portion unfazed by the storm, but then so many other restaurants were ruined. It's heartbreaking."

Gagnon is donating some of the profits from next week's events at The Gate to hurricane relief; the Redwoods partnered with Shambala Yoga -- another local business -- to bring donations to parts of Brooklyn that suffered significant damage.

First Published: November 4, 2012: 2:01 PM ET

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Economy central for China's new leadership

China is embarking on a once-per-decade leadership transition. The new crop of officials face tough questions on the economy.

HONG KONG (CNNMoney) -- China's ruling Communist Party is preparing to shuffle its top ranks, an opaque process that will affect the country's economy and stability for years to come.

The transition, set to start just two days after Americans go to the polls, will set a new cast for the powerful Politburo Standing Committee -- a small group of officials who will wield tremendous power over China's tightly-controlled economy for years to come.

That economy, the world's second largest, has sprinted to prominence over the past three decades with year after year of sustained 10% growth.

But China's economic growth has slowed recently. In the third quarter, the government reported GDP expansion of only 7.4%. The economy's performance, while not a disaster, was still the slowest quarterly growth posted in years and underscored concerns about the sustainability of Beijing's model.

At the heart of these concerns is a set of structural problems, all of which require reforms that the previous party leadership -- divided over policy -- was unable to complete.

China's economy is too reliant on investment, a trend that has distorted the country's housing market and placed great emphasis on exports.

While regulators have pursued some changes, the rules governing the country's equity markets make raising capital difficult for some businesses. State-owned enterprises, which dominate entire sectors of China's economy, are too frequently the recipients of favorable loans and treatment from the government.

There are other problems as well. Even though China has a growing middle class, income inequality is a concern. And the country's top leadership has been embarrassed by a recent wave of scandals involving graft, embezzlement and corruption.

The path forward, most analysts agree, requires China to move toward an economy in which consumption drives growth.

Increased domestic consumption would mean less reliance on direct government investment -- intervention that often distorts capital markets and rewards companies closely affiliated with the state.

China has been edging toward many of the necessary reforms. But even with the installation of a new executive leadership, movement may not immediately accelerate.

Debate: Is China a friend or foe?

"We are not expecting an abrupt shift in policy stance," analysts at Capital Economics wrote recently. Instead, because new leaders will largely reflect the interests and preferences of the previous group, adherence to the current incremental path is more likely.

Indeed, stability is likely to be the primary goal during the transition. Beijing changes out its leadership in this manner only once every ten years, and the turnover occurs at the regional and local levels of government as well.

"The new leadership will need a few years to consolidate power before they are able to initiate major policy changes," researchers at HSBC told clients in a recent note. "The outgoing leaders will probably maintain their political influence for a while."

Related: U.S. companies betting big in China

The labor market will be a particular focus for policymakers, according to HSBC. Even with weaker GDP growth, strength in employment data has allowed monetary and fiscal policymakers to remain measured in their response to the slowdown.

Still, much remains uncertain. The makeup of the next standing committee is a closely guarded secret. Xi Jinping, a chemical engineer with a prestigious pedigree, is likely to be tapped as the next party boss and president. But even after the committee is named, the deliberations that brought Xi to the top post will remain private.

"The transition itself has been absorbing significant amounts of energy," Capital Economics wrote. "There is a chance that policy reform gains fresh momentum once the transition is out of the way."

First Published: November 4, 2012: 9:10 PM ET

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Red Cross sees flurry of donations

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- In the days since Superstorm Sandy pummeled much of the Northeast with severe winds and torrential flooding, donations to the American Red Cross have been pouring in.

The agency received nearly $35 million through early Friday morning, said Karen Stecher, a Red Cross spokesperson. "The public has been generous," she said.

The Red Cross has been operating shelters and offering food, water and relief supplies to areas struck hard by Sandy. On Thursday night, it housed almost 6,800 people in nearly 100 Red Cross shelters across 8 states. The agency has delivered more than 852,000 ready-to-eat meals and snacks so far, and served more than 215,000 meals.

Donations for Sandy have already exceeded the $8 million given over the entire recovery period for Hurricane Isaac, which struck the Gulf Coast earlier this year, according to Neal Litvack, chief development officer at the Red Cross.

While the initial outpouring has been strong, the destruction has been huge. Helping the millions left without power and thousands temporarily lacking homes or food is likely to cost the agency "tens of millions" of dollars, said Litvack.

Related: Sandy's economic cost up to $50 billion

The Red Cross has received some big corporate donations in the wake of the storm. Companies that have pledged to give $1 million or more include: JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500), Walt Disney (DIS, Fortune 500), News Corp (NWS)., Kohl's (KSS, Fortune 500), Morgan Stanley (MS, Fortune 500), Mercedes-Benz USA, and Enterprise Holdings Foundation.

As of midday Friday, businesses had contributed more than $38 million in cash and employee-matching or customer-matching programs to the Red Cross and other relief agencies, according to a tally from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Meanwhile, performers including Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, Christina Aguilera and Billy Joel will use their star power to solicit Red Cross donations at a benefit concert hosted by NBC, airing Friday at 8 p.m. ET.

How to help

If you'd like to donate to the Red Cross online, go to www.redcross.org. You can also mail a check to: the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, D.C., 20013. To donate by phone, call 1-800-RED-CROSS or give up to $10 by texting the word "REDCROSS" to 90999.

Visit CNN's Impact Your World for more information about the best ways to help hurricane victims, as well as how to volunteer for cleanup efforts.

First Published: November 2, 2012: 4:08 PM ET

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Sandy victims can get unemployment help

Workers left jobless by Hurricane Sandy may qualify for disaster relief payments.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Residents of three states pummeled by Hurricane Sandy could be eligible for disaster assistance payments if they lost their job due to the storm.

To qualify for the funds, people must be unemployed as a direct result of the storm and be ineligible for traditional unemployment benefits, according to the National Employment Law Project, an advocacy group. Residents of New York City and 14 counties in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut that were declared federal disaster areas are eligible.

One of the costliest disasters in the nation's history, Sandy could generate nearly $50 billion in losses, both from physical damage and lost business revenue, according to estimates.

Payments, which can last up to 26 weeks, range from $405 a week in New York to $648 in Connecticut. Recipients must show that for every week they collect DUA, their unemployment continues to be the direct result of the disaster, not other factors.

Hurricane Sandy could hit jobs in November

According to NELP, those who may be eligible for disaster relief and typically could not collect regular state unemployment benefits include:

--Self-employed people who lost their business or suffered a substantial interruption of activities as a direct result of a major disaster;

--Unemployed workers who have become the major supporter of their household due to the death of the head of their household directly related to the disaster;

--Workers unemployed due to an injury caused by the disaster;

--Workers who cannot reach their employment as a result of the disaster;

--People who were scheduled to start work but became unemployed because they no longer have a job due to the disaster.

First Published: November 2, 2012: 6:16 PM ET

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Earnings at Buffett's Berkshire jump 70%

Click the chart for more info.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway reported third-quarter earnings Friday that surged more than 70% versus a year ago.

Net earnings came in at $3.9 billion, buoyed by investment gains and larger profits from the company's railroad business.

Operating earnings, which exclude some investment and derivative gains, were $3.4 billion, or $2,057 per Class A share, short of the $2,062 estimate from analysts at Thomson Reuters. Berkshire (BRKB) shares were flat in after-hours trading.

Much of Berkshire's derivatives are bets on the value of global stock indexes like the S&P 500. Berkshire's position improves when these index values rally, as they did in the third quarter. The company also booked nearly $600 million in investment gains from sales of securities and loan repayments.

Berkshire is a broad-based investment conglomerate whose holdings include everything from Geico insurance to Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad to Dairy Queen. It also has stakes in a variety of other large firms.

Earlier Friday, Berkshire announced that it was buying Oriental Trading Company, a leading maker of party favors and novelties based in Omaha, Neb.

The price of the transaction was not disclosed, though The Wall Street Journal reported that it was a $500 million deal.

Buffett said in a recent television interview that Berkshire was interested in making acquisitions, but was finding prices for companies too high. He said low interest rates are driving up prices because other companies are more willing to use leverage to make purchases.

Berkshire uses equity or cash rather than borrowed money to buy companies, so the prices it's willing to pay don't change with interest rates.

The aging Buffett has not publicly revealed a succession plan, but says he has informed Berkshire's board about his preferred candidates. Earlier this year, he underwent radiation treatment for prostate cancer, though he said the illness was "not remotely life-threatening."

First Published: November 2, 2012: 6:33 PM ET

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Red Cross sees flurry of donations

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- In the days since Superstorm Sandy pummeled much of the Northeast with severe winds and torrential flooding, donations to the American Red Cross have been pouring in.

The agency received nearly $35 million through early Friday morning, said Karen Stecher, a Red Cross spokesperson. "The public has been generous," she said.

The Red Cross has been operating shelters and offering food, water and relief supplies to areas struck hard by Sandy. On Thursday night, it housed almost 6,800 people in nearly 100 Red Cross shelters across 8 states. The agency has delivered more than 852,000 ready-to-eat meals and snacks so far, and served more than 215,000 meals.

Donations for Sandy have already exceeded the $8 million given over the entire recovery period for Hurricane Isaac, which struck the Gulf Coast earlier this year, according to Neal Litvack, chief development officer at the Red Cross.

While the initial outpouring has been strong, the destruction has been huge. Helping the millions left without power and thousands temporarily lacking homes or food is likely to cost the agency "tens of millions" of dollars, said Litvack.

Related: Sandy's economic cost up to $50 billion

The Red Cross has received some big corporate donations in the wake of the storm. Companies that have pledged to give $1 million or more include: JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500), Walt Disney (DIS, Fortune 500), News Corp (NWS)., Kohl's (KSS, Fortune 500), Morgan Stanley (MS, Fortune 500), Mercedes-Benz USA, and Enterprise Holdings Foundation.

As of midday Friday, businesses had contributed more than $38 million in cash and employee-matching or customer-matching programs to the Red Cross and other relief agencies, according to a tally from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Meanwhile, performers including Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, Christina Aguilera and Billy Joel will use their star power to solicit Red Cross donations at a benefit concert hosted by NBC, airing Friday at 8 p.m. ET.

How to help

If you'd like to donate to the Red Cross online, go to www.redcross.org. You can also mail a check to: the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, D.C., 20013. To donate by phone, call 1-800-RED-CROSS or give up to $10 by texting the word "REDCROSS" to 90999.

Visit CNN's Impact Your World for more information about the best ways to help hurricane victims, as well as how to volunteer for cleanup efforts.

First Published: November 2, 2012: 4:08 PM ET

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