A bill that backers claimed would help close the pay gap between men and women failed to move out of the Senate today, after a vote to break a filibuster failed.

The vote to end the filibuster was short of the 60 needed votes, with 52 voting to move towards actual debate on the bill and 47 voting against. No Republicans supported the bill. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., voted against the bill in a procedural move that allows him to bring the bill up again.

The bill would have put the burden on employers to prove that a difference in pay between men and women was anything other than the result of gender, would forbid retaliation against employees who share salary information, boost Labor Department training initiatives, and provide grants for programs to help women negotiate better pay. Read 

Here’s the ugly truth the left-wing doesn’t want you to know about: There has been an ongoing capital strike in this country, and that’s one of the reasons why unemployment remains high and why two million people have given up looking for work. Of course, there’s a reason why there’s a capital strike at all. For that, you can thank the anti-business, anti-capitalist President Barack Obama.

Now, the capital strike is not the result of the wealthy deliberately keeping its boot pressed on the necks of the Left because of ideology. This isn’t Ayn Rand’s entrepreneur-hero John Galt saying that, “We are on strike, we, the men of the mind. We are on strike against self-immolation. We are on strike against the creed of unearned rewards and unrewarded duties. We are on strike against the dogma that the pursuit of one’s happiness is evil. We are on strike against the doctrine that life is guilt.”

This capital strike is because President Obama has instituted so many onerous regulations that private equity, and even public companies, do not want to invest their risk capital into industries that might be targeted. As a broker of some of the $2 trillion — that’s trillion –- of private equity sitting on the sidelines, I can report from personal experience that this is the reason. Here’s a synopsis of a situation I had with a financier of small businesses named Joe: Read 

Once an unthinkable idea even five years ago, corporations are now warming up to the idea of supporting same-sex marriage.

Within the last half-decade, corporate America has gone from shying away from support of gay marriage, in the wake of conservative group protests of companies like Ford (NYSE:F) and Home Depot (NYSE:HD) when they expressed support for same-sex marriage, to more actively supporting it.

In the recent federal appeals court case that ruled the gay marriage-banning Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional, 48 companies, including Aetna (NYSE:AET), Time Warner Cable (NYSE:TWC), Nike (NYSE:NKE) and Xerox (NYSE:XRX) signed briefs opposing DOMA.  In January, Boeing (NYSE:BA), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), and RealNetworks (NASDAQ:RNWK) voiced support for a gay marriage bill in Washington state. Last year, the CEOs of Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS), Viacom (NASDAQ:VIAB), and Alcoa (NYSE:AA) lobbied on behalf of New York’s same-sex marriage bill. Read 

Mitt Romney’s criticisms of the $535 million tax-payer backed loan to solar firm Solyndra could be losing some of their punch. A Massachusetts solar company which the former governor gave a $1.5 million state-backed loan to has filed for bankruptcy.

Konarka Technologies, along with four other renewable energy companies, received the loan in January 2003, less than three weeks into Romney’s term as governor. One of the companies, Evergreen Solar, filed for bankruptcy last year.

On Friday, Konarka Technologies announced plans to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, stating it would lay off more than 80 workers and liquidate assets. President Barack Obama’s campaign immediately pounced on the news, particularly in the wake of his recent visit to Solyndra headquarters to criticize the quick review of the company’s loan application and subsequent bankruptcy filing. Read 

A loss to President Barrack Obama in November’s election could cost GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney a lot more than just the White House.

It could cost him almost $5 million.

Or at least, Romney might have to pay that much more in taxes if Obama wins re-election and manages to push his tax plan through Congress, according to the Associated Press. Read 

Traditionally, vice presidential candidates are unveiled close to a party’s national convention — about two months before the election. However, outside advisers to the Romney campaign told Reuters the Republican nominee may go against the grain and announce his VP pick earlier in the summer.

According to one anonymous source, the Romney team has discussed the advantages of naming the No. 2 pick a few weeks earlier than usual to pump up enthusiasm during August, which could lead to an increase of fund-raising dollars.

“You double your ability to campaign, you double your ability to raise money,” one Republican official told Reuters. Read