Indiana

Every state of the US suffered from unemployment in December. And 2009 forecast doesn’t sound consolatory as this year expected not to be better than previous one. The unemployment picture is obliged to get worse in every region of the country. In 2008, the country lost 2.6 million jobs, and in 2009 at least 2 million more jobs are forecast to disappear.

While digital gold currency has been widely used for some years already Indiana will be the first to promote the bill that would allow the state to offer its citizens a choice of Gold (and Silver) coin or the Electronic equivalent in payable and receivable transactions with the state. The bill was officially filed by State Senator Greg Walker of District 41, (R-Columbus).

On Wednesday December 31, 2008 First Merchants Corporation successfully completed its merger with Lincoln Bancorp. As part of the $78 million merger, shareholders of Lincoln Bancorp will receive approximately 3,040,460 shares of First Merchants Corporation common stock and approximately $16.8 million in cash in exchange for their Lincoln Bancorp common shares.