Thursday, December 30, 2010

personal finance planning




National unemployment rose to 9.8 percent during November, equaling 15.1 million Americans out of work.   While foreclosure rates have fallen in recent months, the number of people delinquent on their mortgages doesn't seem to be changing, instead it appears banks are becoming more lenient on late payers in an attempt to stem the flood of foreclosed properties on the market.

How does this affect Christmas?


Many American families are planning on having fewer gifts under the tree this year.    But, what does that translate to in real dollars?  Per this Gallup poll, Americans plan to spend an average of $715 on gifts for the 2010 holiday season.

For some of you this will seem like an outrageous amount of money and for others, this may not seem like enough.  So for purposes of perspective, let's consider this based upon percentage of annual income. Per this article, the average American income is right around $44,000 per year. The median income is approximately $33,000 per year.


Average - $715/$44,000 = 1.6% of gross income spent on Christmas presents.


Median - $715/$33,000 = 2.2% of gross income on Christmas presents. How does this fit with your personal spending plans?  Does it seem on track?

For further perspective, the woman's husband that I lent money to in Cambodia earns $4 US per day.  What we typically spend on Christmas is nearly his entire annual salary.


Why do we spend so much?There are plenty of external pressures to spend more and more each year.

Per Wikipedia:

"Consumerism is a social and economic order that is based on the systematic creation and fostering of a desire to purchase goods or services in even greater amounts."


How are the pressures pushing consumerism?


Christmas ads starting in September.


Keeping up with the Jones's,


Outdoing an ex-spouse perhaps,

  • Status symbol of your success,
  • American cultural trend that how much I spend on you is a direct reflection of how much I care about you...

What are we trying to accomplish, really?


Are we spending for the sake of our children?


Per this NY Times article, parents' average contribution to their child's college costs vary between $3,500 and $18,000 depending on income bracket.   Of those funds, $700 to $2,800 is borrowed by the parents. How about we cut Christmas expenditures in half and put it into college savings instead?

Continued on the next page




National unemployment rose to 9.8 percent during November, equaling 15.1 million Americans out of work.   While foreclosure rates have fallen in recent months, the number of people delinquent on their mortgages doesn't seem to be changing, instead it appears banks are becoming more lenient on late payers in an attempt to stem the flood of foreclosed properties on the market.

How does this affect Christmas?


Many American families are planning on having fewer gifts under the tree this year.    But, what does that translate to in real dollars?  Per this Gallup poll, Americans plan to spend an average of $715 on gifts for the 2010 holiday season.

For some of you this will seem like an outrageous amount of money and for others, this may not seem like enough.  So for purposes of perspective, let's consider this based upon percentage of annual income. Per this article, the average American income is right around $44,000 per year. The median income is approximately $33,000 per year.


Average - $715/$44,000 = 1.6% of gross income spent on Christmas presents.


Median - $715/$33,000 = 2.2% of gross income on Christmas presents. How does this fit with your personal spending plans?  Does it seem on track?

For further perspective, the woman's husband that I lent money to in Cambodia earns $4 US per day.  What we typically spend on Christmas is nearly his entire annual salary.


Why do we spend so much?There are plenty of external pressures to spend more and more each year.

Per Wikipedia:

"Consumerism is a social and economic order that is based on the systematic creation and fostering of a desire to purchase goods or services in even greater amounts."


How are the pressures pushing consumerism?


Christmas ads starting in September.


Keeping up with the Jones's,


Outdoing an ex-spouse perhaps,

  • Status symbol of your success,
  • American cultural trend that how much I spend on you is a direct reflection of how much I care about you...

What are we trying to accomplish, really?


Are we spending for the sake of our children?


Per this NY Times article, parents' average contribution to their child's college costs vary between $3,500 and $18,000 depending on income bracket.   Of those funds, $700 to $2,800 is borrowed by the parents. How about we cut Christmas expenditures in half and put it into college savings instead?

Continued on the next page


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Stubborn Joblessness Among Vets Darkens US Economy - AOL <b>News</b>

The newly reported drop in jobless claims belies continued rough going for America's Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, who are experiencing 10 percent unemployment.

Police: Fox <b>News</b> Flubbed &#39;Granny Terrorist&#39; Story | TPMMuckraker

Law enforcement officials says Fox News' report of a probe into a Indiana grandmother for alleged terrorist ties was taken out of context and that the reporter based her report of an investigation off her own tip.

Good <b>news</b>: School officials destroy girl&#39;s college plans over <b>...</b>

Good news: School officials destroy girl's college plans over knife mix-up.


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Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Making Money Your




Top Stories



Obama's budget has been delayed a week, reports Jonathan Weisman: "President Barack Obama's budget proposal for fiscal 2012 will be released in mid-February, a little more than a week after its planned release date. The administration is scrambling to assemble what could be a pivotal document following a six-week delay in the confirmation of the White House's new budget director, a senior administration official said Monday. The budget's release date will be pushed back from Monday, Feb. 7, to some time the following week, the official said. The White House's new budget director, Jacob Lew, saw his confirmation put on hold by Louisiana Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu, who was protesting the administration's moratorium on offshore oil drilling. Mr. Lew was confirmed Nov. 19."



Members of Congress are finding ways besides earmarks to fund pork projects, reports Ron Nixon: "Lettermarking, which takes place outside the Congressional appropriations process, is one of the many ways that legislators who support a ban on earmarks try to direct money back home. In phonemarking, a lawmaker calls an agency to request financing for a project. More indirectly, members of Congress make use of what are known as soft earmarks, which involve making suggestions about where money should be directed, instead of explicitly instructing agencies to finance a project. Members also push for increases in financing of certain accounts in a federal agency’s budget and then forcefully request that the agency spend the money on the members’ pet project. Because all these methods sidestep the regular legislative process, the number of times they are used and the money involved are even harder to track than with regular earmarks.



Real talk: The move from earmarking to lettermarking, phonemarking, hearingmarking, etc, wasn't just predictable. It was inevitable. And make no mistake: Within three-to-five years, we're likely to be back to earmarking as well.



Corporations are using their cash supplies to fuel mergers, not job growth, reports Jia Lynn Yang: "The volume of global mergers this year rose 19 percent, according to Dealogic, ticking up for the first time since 2007 as firms looked for ways to deploy the record amount of cash sitting on their balance sheets...Conditions are ripe for a comeback in mergers and acquisitions because U.S. companies are holding a record nearly $2 trillion in cash. They have been hesitant to use these massive piles of funds to hire as they wait to see whether the economic recovery picks up more speed. Instead, this year they've been making safer bets: buying back stocks to help boost their share prices and spending money on modestly sized mergers."



Fuzz-pop interlude: Wavves plays "King of the Beach".



Got tips, additions, or comments? E-mail me.



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Still to come: Foreign banks benefited from a Federal Reserve program; being unemployed is bad for your health; Obama's federal pay freeze is being extended to more civil service workers; the incoming House Energy and Commerce chair outlines his plan to derail the EPA's climate regulations; and a genetically engineered singing mouse.

Economy



The Obama administration is cracking down on banks that are delinquent on their TARP payments, reports Zachary Goldfarb: "The Obama administration has begun monitoring the high-level board meetings of nearly 20 banks that received emergency taxpayer assistance but repeatedly failed to pay the required dividends, according to Treasury Department officials and documents. And it may soon install new directors on some of their boards. The moves come as the number of banks that failed to make at least one dividend payment to the government rose to 132 in the last quarter. These 'deadbeats,' as they are sometimes called, are virtually all community lenders and collectively received billions of dollars in taxpayer assistance. In addition to those firms, seven others have failed, resulting in the total loss of the government's investment."



Looking for a rigorous overview of the various methodological difficulties involved in assessing stimulus proposals? Alan Auerbach, William Gale, and Benjamin Harris have you covered (pdf).



Non-US banks have benefited from Federal Reserve credit, report Robin Harding, Bernard Simon, and Christian Oliver: "Some of the world’s strongest banks have profited from an emergency credit facility set up by the US Federal Reserve to shore up confidence in the global financial system, according to a Financial Times analysis of data released by the Fed. More than half of lending under the Fed’s term auction facility - the largest of its crisis programmes - went to foreign banks. Details of the varied uses to which they put it may add to political criticism of the Fed. The Taf was set up in December 2007 to provide one-month loans to creditworthy banks as markets dried up for lending longer than overnight. In August 2008, it began offering three-month loans as well."



A new study suggests startups are central to job growth: http://on.wsj.com/fDs2eV



There's much Obama could do for the economy that wouldn't require congressional approval, write Paul Krugman and Robin Wells: "Democrats could pressure the administration to fix the inexcusable mess at the HAMP (mortgage modification) program--a program whose Kafkaesque complexity has in many cases made matters so bad for home owners that it has triggered the foreclosures it was supposed to avoid. In addition, mortgage relief would benefit the wider economy. Furthermore, the scope of mortgage relief could be made much wider if Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were used to guarantee mortgage refinancing. Other proposals go even further: for example, that Fannie and Freddie engineer reductions in mortgage principals. All of this could be done, conceivably, by executive order."



Prizes for spurring innovation work, writes Annie Lowrey: http://slate.me/dFXZgh



A survey of jobless workers shows the extent of their suffering, writes Bob Herbert: "More than 15 million Americans are officially classified as jobless. The professors, at the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers, have been following their representative sample of workers since the summer of 2009. The report on their latest survey, just out this month, is titled: 'The Shattered American Dream: Unemployed Workers Lose Ground, Hope, and Faith in Their Futures.' Over the 15 months that the surveys have been conducted, just one-quarter of the workers have found full-time jobs, nearly all of them for less pay and with fewer or no benefits. 'For those who remain unemployed,' the report says, 'the cupboard has long been bare.'



The American political system is corrupted in favor of the upper classes, writes Jeffrey Sachs: http://bit.ly/icPQdh



Extreme sports interlude: Russian-style bungee jumping.



Health Care



Enrollment is lower and costs higher than expected in health care reform's high-risk pools, reports Amy Goldstein: "An early feature of the new health-care law that allows people who are already sick to get insurance to cover their medical costs isn't attracting as many customers as expected. In the meantime, in at least a few states, claims for medical care covered by the 'high-risk pools' are proving very costly, and it is an open question whether the $5 billion allotted by Congress to start up the plans will be sufficient... According to some health-policy researchers, the success or failure of the pools also could foreshadow the complexities of making broader changes in health insurance by 2014, when states are to open new marketplaces - or exchanges - for Americans to buy coverage individually or in small groups."



Real talk: High-risk health-care pools never work very well. The Democrats knew that when they rejected Republican plans that would've put them at the center of the health-care system for sick individuals. Then, of course, they turned around and made them one of health-care reform's early deliverables. I'm skeptical of arguments that say they "foreshadow" larger market reforms, which work very differently than segregating a tiny fraction of sick patients in state-run insurance programs.



Unemployment could cause serious health damage, reports David Wessel: "A new National Bureau of Economic Research paper suggests that increases in unemployment lead to a decrease in fruit and vegetable consumption, with potentially long-lived effects on workers’ health. 'Among those who are predicted to be at the highest risk of unemployment, a one percentage point increase in the resident’s state unemployment rate is associated with a 2% to 4% reduction in the frequency of fruits and vegetable consumption, and an 8% reduction in the consumption of salad,' economists Dhaval Dave of Bentley University in Waltham, Mass., and Inas Rashad Kelly of Queens College in Flushing, N.Y, said...Research by Daniel Sullivan and Till von Wachter finds that mortality rates in the year following a layoff among high-seniority male workers increases sharply."



The White House denies its new regulation on end-of-life care represents a policy change: http://politi.co/gkMbRZ



Domestic Policy



The federal pay freeze is being extended to more civil servants, reports Lisa Rein: "The two-year pay freeze that is now law for federal employees on the pay scale known as the General Schedule will also apply to hundreds of thousands of civil servants whose wages are set under a separate salary system, according to an executive order signed last week by President Obama. Employees covered by the so-called Administratively Determined pay scale - not legislated by Congress but set by federal agencies - make up about 30 percent of the workforce of 2 million. They include public health doctors and nurses, medical personnel in the Veterans Affairs system, administrative law judges and attorneys, auditors and other staff at financial agencies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission."



Nobelist James Heckman is urging early childhood education as a path toward economic growth, reports James Warren: " James J. Heckman, who has won the Nobel in economic science, offered a provocative idea for reducing spiraling budget deficits and strengthening the economy: investing in early childhood development. Mr. Heckman marshals ample data to suggest that better teaching, higher standards, smaller classrooms and more Internet access 'have less impact than we think,' as he put it at the Spertus Institute. To focus as intently as we do on the kindergarten to high school years misses how 'the accident of birth is the greatest source of inequality,' he said. He urges more effectively educating children before they step into a classroom where, as Chicago teachers tell me, they often are clueless about letters, numbers and colors -- and lack the attentiveness and persistence to ever catch up."



Public universities are getting creative about tuition fees: http://on.wsj.com/ifgrV1



Obama should push for Social Security reform, writes Michael Gerson: "Obama's liberal base contends that the Social Security trust fund is not in immediate trouble. But this argument depends on an elaborate accounting trick. The trust fund is not filled with assets - gold bullion and Apple stock. It is filled with debt issued by the government to itself. The surpluses of the trust fund are in fact liabilities for the government as a whole. And these illusory surpluses are regularly used to subsidize the rest of the budget. The scheme begins to collapse in 2037, when promised benefits for Social Security recipients will suddenly drop by about 25 percent - unless the system is reformed...Obama's urgent political need is to polish his image among Independents on spending and debt."



Fun with genetic alterations interlude: Scientists create a singing mouse.



Energy



Congress should stop the EPA from regulating carbon emissions, write House Energy and Commerce chair Fred Upton and Todd Phillips: "The best solution is for Congress to overturn the EPA's proposed greenhouse gas regulations outright. If Democrats refuse to join Republicans in doing so, then they should at least join a sensible bipartisan compromise to mandate that the EPA delay its regulations until the courts complete their examination of the agency's endangerment finding and proposed rules. Like the plaintiffs, we have significant doubt that EPA regulations can survive judicial scrutiny. And the worst of all possible outcomes would be the EPA initiating a regulatory regime that is then struck down by the courts."



The EPA is well within its rights to regulate carbon emissions, writes Brad Plumer: "Over at The Atlantic, Conor Friedersdorf thinks the EPA is 'disregarding separation of powers.' But why? How? The Clean Air Act is a law that was passed by Congress and amended several times. The law originally focused on specific toxins like lead and sulfur-dioxide, but it was intended to be updated periodically, as new science on pollution and human health came in. The Supreme Court ruled that greenhouse gases fit within this framework--and, so, the Obama administration has begun enforcing the relevant laws. Set aside whether you agree with the policy outcome. What about this is constitutionally troubling?"



The Department of Energy is circulating a "list of accomplishments" from the past year: http://bit.ly/gbQFTh



Sen. Jay Rockefeller is challenging the administration on mine safety, reports Andrew Restuccia: "Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) is raising questions about whether the federal agency charged with mining safety is adequately funded. In a letter to Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, Rockefeller said he is concerned that the Senate’s inability to pass an omnibus spending bill that would have increased funding for mine safety could 'undermine the progress that is being made and further limit MSHA's [Mine Safety and Health Administration] ability to fulfill its mission.' Instead of the broad omnibus spending bill, the Senate passed a narrow continuing resolution that largely funds the government at current levels until March."



John Tierney makes the case for optimism about the world's energy supply: http://nyti.ms/fKyVGN



Closing credits: Wonkbook is compiled and produced with help from Dylan Matthews, Mike Shepard, and Michelle Williams. Photo credit: White House.





...hopelessly outgunned presidential campaign as if it was a business, not even spending more money than he had in hand. C'mon now, how laughable is that in this day and age in modern America that someone who wants to run the federal government should live within his own campaign means? Just like normal people who live on a real budget with no ability to vote themselves a pay raise and a higher debt ceiling when no one is watching C-SPAN!


When the ultimate Democratic winner, in league with the extraordinary gentleman Harry Reid and the tough-talking San Francisco grandma who's House speaker, has decided to spend a gazillion more dollars than any non-federal calculator has digits to display.


These people, for Nancy's sake, are already spending the income taxes of the unborn grandchildren of those 4,000 babies that Paul delivered. A shocking realization that may be helping to fuel the recent re-examination of Ron Paul, who never met a federal dollar that needed spending -- unless it was going back to his district near Houston.


Ron Paul came within something like 1,000 delegates of catching John McCain for the Republican nomination in St. Paul. But when he finally gave up, Paul still had about $5 million left over. He's been investing it traveling around the country to speak and helping like-minded RFR's (Republicans For Real) organize all over. And, who knows, maybe sell a few books.


But now, just as his fierce supporters fearlessly predicted all along, many in American politics are coming around to think that maybe RP's crazy ideas, for example, of auditing and controlling the Federal Reserve, are maybe not quite so crazy.


Our news colleague in Washington, Don Lee, details the sea-change in opinion in a comprehensive look at the old guy's rebirth for weekend print editions, which we're sharing here this morning as a distinguished guest post for Ticket readers around the world.


And for any surviving Ron Paulites, who won't dare leave their typically snippy comments below because that would require them acknowledging that their favorite fiction about a MSM conspiracy to ignore the old guy is fiction.


-- Andrew Malcolm


Because no federal funds are involved, Ron Paul would want you to click here for Twitter alerts of each new Ticket item. Or follow us @latimestot. Or join us over here on The Ticket's new Facebook FAN page.


Here's Lee's reported news item:


For three decades, Texas congressman and former presidential candidate Ron Paul's extreme brand of libertarian economics consigned him to the far fringes even among conservatives. Not a few times, his views put him on the losing end of 434-1 votes on Capitol Hill.


No longer. With the economy still struggling and political divisions deepening, Paul's ideas not only are gaining a wider audience but also are helping to shape a potentially historic battle over economic policy -- a struggle that will affect everything including jobs, growth and the nation's place in the global economy.

Already, Paul's long-derided proposal to give Congress supervisory power over the traditionally independent Federal Reserve appears to be on its way to becoming law.

His warnings on deficits and inflation are now Republican mantras.

And with this year's congressional election campaign looming, the Texas congressman's deep-seated distrust of activist government has helped fuel protests such as the tea-party movement, harden partisan divisions in Washington and stoke public fears about federal spending and the deficit.

"People are wondering what went wrong. And they're not happy with what the....



....government is offering up," said James Grant, editor of Grant's Interest Rate Observer, offering an explanation for why seemingly wonkish arguments over interest rate policy and the money supply are spilling over onto ordinary Americans.

Some of Paul's most extreme views are still beyond the pale for most economists. Despite the eroding value of the dollar, no one expects the U.S. to return to the gold standard, as Paul advocates; most economists think that could wreck the economy.

In their less drastic forms, however, Paul's ideas are being welcomed by conservatives and viewed with foreboding by liberals. For conservatives, runaway inflation constitutes the biggest potential threat to the nation's future. Liberals worry that cutting back stimulus efforts too soon could slow or even halt the current recovery.

The debate over that question -- what the basic thrust of U.S. economic policy should be -- is likely to dominate the coming elections and Washington policymaking.

And so far, Paul and his fellow conservatives are on the offensive. President Obama and congressional Democrats are repeatedly pledging not to increase the deficit and to begin cutting back soon.

"I think we're going to be in for more revival of fiscal responsibility," said William Niskanen of the Cato Institute, who headed the Council of Economic Advisors under President Reagan.

Niskanen sees the Texas Republican's increasing influence as stemming from the continued economic weakness. "To this extent, Ron Paul gains voice," he said.

Paul would go a lot further in cutting back the government's role than even free-marketers like Niskanen support. If Paul had it his way, for instance, he would do away with the Fed entirely. In his bestselling book "End the Fed," he lambasted the central bank as an "immoral, unconstitutional . . . tool of tyrannical government."

Such rhetoric might once have been dismissed as extremism.


But Paul's anti-Fed message has drawn broad support because of the central bank's failure to restrain the flood of cheap money and excessive risk-taking in the years leading up to the financial crisis.

It has stirred rallies on college campuses and supportive commentaries from Wall Street pundits. More than 300 representatives in Congress have embraced Paul's ideas for reining in the Fed.

The response "is even more than I ever dreamed," Paul said in an interview, reminiscing about one evening during his 2008 White House run when University of Michigan students chanted "End the Fed" and burned dollar bills.

Paul, a skinny 74-year-old with a hangdog expression, understands that historical circumstances have thrust his ideas to the fore. "An intellectual fight is going on," he said.

Paul traces his economic views to his frugal upbringing in Pittsburgh at the tail end of the Depression. He saved pennies from delivering newspapers and helping out his father's small dairy business.

And his first economics class at Gettysburg College was an eye-opener, Paul said. When a professor explained how banks keep only a tiny part of their deposits on hand and earn money by lending out the rest, Paul discovered one of the "tricks" of the financial system.

Beyond that, Paul's ideas are grounded in the work of economic thinkers from an earlier era who focused on problems similar to those besetting the U.S. today.

In particular, Paul is a disciple of Ludwig von Mises, an Austrian theorist born at the end of the 19th century who contended that government intervention in an economy would fail because free markets were better at allocating resources and fueling growth.

Having lived through Germany's devastating hyperinflation in the early 1920s, which helped pave the way for Hitler, Mises wrote long before the Great Depression that over-generous credit policies would encourage excessive borrowing, creating a boom and then a bust.

Mises' ideas became central to what is known as the Austrian School of economics, which emphasized tight controls on credit and money supply, a strategy that discouraged financial ups and downs but tended to slow growth.

By 1940, when Mises arrived in America, most Western economists had embraced the competing theories of Britain's John Maynard Keynes, who called for government to stimulate the economy by spending on infrastructure and cutting interest rates.

Obama has largely followed the Keynesian script, as President George W. Bush did when the economic crisis broke.

Paul's once-lonely espousal of the Austrian School's ideas has gotten new impetus from conservative economists and Republican political strategists.

"A lot of good ideas were shoved aside because of the Depression and the rise of the Keynesian view of the world," said George Selgin, an economics professor at the University of Georgia.

Paul contends that Austrian economics explains the most recent financial meltdown: "It says if you inflate too much, if you have no restraint on monetary authorities, you're going to bring on a crisis." Now, Paul says, administration policies are leading the country toward disaster.

Selgin and many mainstream economists agree that pumping too much money into the economy can lead to trouble, but they say Paul goes too far.

In the 1930s, say Selgin and many other economists, including Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, the U.S. economy began pulling out of the Depression thanks to federal easing of monetary policy.

The economy tipped back into depression after the reins were tightened too soon.

"In this aspect of the monetary system, he's just blown it," Selgin said of Paul.

However, like Mises, whose portrait hangs on his Washington office wall, Paul is intransigent, and that has earned him an ardent following.


"His views are strong and hardheaded, but you've got to stand firm or you'll get blown over in this world," said Mark Skousen, editor of the newsletter Forecasts & Strategies and a former economics professor at Columbia University.


-- Don Lee


Photo: Larry Downing / Reuters; Orlin Wagner / Associated Press; Associated Press (Paul argues with Mike Huckabee in a GOP primary debate).


 



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bench craft company scam

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bench craft company scam

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Fugitive Banker Surrenders in $1.2 Million Fraud Case - AOL <b>News</b>

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bench craft company scam

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bench craft company scam

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"NBC Nightly News" continued its long-running ratings streak in the fourth quarter of 2010, beating its rivals at ABC and CBS by substantial margins. The Brian Williams-hosted program drew 8.72 million viewers in the fourth quarter.

Fugitive Banker Surrenders in $1.2 Million Fraud Case - AOL <b>News</b>

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The blowout comes on the heels on Fox News' surging 2009, when the News Corp.-owned channel posted its highest-rated year in the network's 13-year history. (Overall, cable news audiences were down across the board -- though FNC's ...


bench craft company scam

&#39;NBC Nightly <b>News</b>&#39; Wins 4th Quarter Ratings

"NBC Nightly News" continued its long-running ratings streak in the fourth quarter of 2010, beating its rivals at ABC and CBS by substantial margins. The Brian Williams-hosted program drew 8.72 million viewers in the fourth quarter.

Fugitive Banker Surrenders in $1.2 Million Fraud Case - AOL <b>News</b>

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bench craft company scam

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Thursday, December 23, 2010

Making Money Ideas


Ok Go Explains There Are Lots Of Ways To Make Money If You Can Get Fans

from the everything's-possible dept

Over the last few years, we've covered many of the moves by the band Ok Go -- to build up a fanbase often with the help of amazingly viral videos, ditch their major record label (EMI), and explore new business model opportunities. In the last few days, two different members of Ok Go explained a bit more of the band's thinking in two separate places, and both are worth reading. First up, we have Tim Nordwind, who did an interview with Hypebot, where he explained the band's general view on file sharing:


Obviously we'd love for anyone who has our music to buy a copy. But again, we're realistic enough to know that most music can be found online for free. And trying to block people's access to it isn't good for bands or music. If music is going to be free, then musicians will simply have to find alternative methods to make a living in the music business. People are spending money on music, but it's on the technology to play it. They spend hundreds of dollars on Ipods, but then fill it with 80 gigs of free music. That's ok, but it's just a different world now, and bands must learn to adjust.

Elsewhere in the interview, he talks about the importance of making fans happy and how the band realizes that there are lots of different ways to make money, rather than just selling music directly:

Our videos have opened up many more opportunities for us to make the things we want to make, and to chase our best and wildest ideas. Yes, we need to figure out how to make a living in a world where people don't buy music anymore. But really, we've been doing that for the last ten years. Things like licensing, touring, merch, and also now making videos through corporate sponsorship have all allowed us to keep the lights on and continue making music.

Separately, last Friday, Damian Kulash wrote a nice writeup in the Wall Street Journal all about how bands can, should and will make money going forward. In many ways the piece reminds me a bit of my future of music business models post from earlier this year -- and Kulash even uses many of the same examples in his article (Corey Smith, Amanda Palmer, Josh Freese, etc.). It's a really worthwhile read as well. He starts by pointing out that for a little over half a century, the record labels had the world convinced that the "music" industry really was just the "recorded music" industry:

For a decade, analysts have been hyperventilating about the demise of the music industry. But music isn't going away. We're just moving out of the brief period--a flash in history's pan--when an artist could expect to make a living selling records alone. Music is as old as humanity itself, and just as difficult to define. It's an ephemeral, temporal and subjective experience.



For several decades, though, from about World War II until sometime in the last 10 years, the recording industry managed to successfully and profitably pin it down to a stable, if circular, definition: Music was recordings of music. Records not only made it possible for musicians to connect with listeners anywhere, at any time, but offered a discrete package for commoditization. It was the perfect bottling of lightning: A powerful experience could be packaged in plastic and then bought and sold like any other commercial product.

But, he notes, that time is now gone, thanks in large part to the internet. But that doesn't mean the music business is in trouble. Just the business of selling recorded music. But there's lots of things musicians can sell. He highlights Corey Smith and Smith's ability to make millions by giving away his music for free, and then touring. But he also points out that touring isn't for everyone. He covers how corporate licensing has become a bigger and bigger opportunity for bands that are getting popular. While he doesn't highlight the specific economics of it, what he's really talking about is that if your band is big, you can sell your fan's attention -- which is something Ok Go has done successfully by getting corporate sponsorship of their videos. As he notes, the sponsors provide more money than the record labels with many fewer strings:

These days, money coming from a record label often comes with more embedded creative restrictions than the marketing dollars of other industries. A record label typically measures success in number of records sold. Outside sponsors, by contrast, tend to take a broader view of success. The measuring stick could be mentions in the press, traffic to a website, email addresses collected or views of online videos. Artists have meaningful, direct, and emotional access to our fans, and at a time when capturing the public's attention is increasingly difficult for the army of competing marketers, that access is a big asset.



...



Now when we need funding for a large project, we look for a sponsor. A couple weeks ago, my band held an eight-mile musical street parade through Los Angeles, courtesy of Range Rover. They brought no cars, signage or branding; they just asked that we credit them in the documentation of it. A few weeks earlier, we released a music video made in partnership with Samsung, and in February, one was underwritten by State Farm.



We had complete creative control in the productions. At the end of each clip we thanked the company involved, and genuinely, because we truly are thankful. We got the money we needed to make what we want, our fans enjoyed our videos for free, and our corporate Medicis got what their marketing departments were after: millions of eyes and goodwill from our fans. While most bands struggle to wrestle modest video budgets from labels that see videos as loss leaders, ours wind up making us a profit.

Of course, that only works if you have a big enough fanbase, but that doesn't mean there aren't things that less well known bands can use to make money as well. He talks about an up-and-coming band in LA that doesn't even have a manager that was able make money:

The unsigned and unmanaged Los Angeles band Killola toured last summer and offered deluxe USB packages that included full albums, live recordings and access to two future private online concerts for $40 per piece. Killola grossed $18,000 and wound up in the black for their tour. Mr. Donnelly says, "I can't imagine they'll be ordering their yacht anytime soon, but traditionally bands at that point in their careers aren't even breaking even on tour."

The point, Kulash, notes, is that there's a lot of things a band can sell, focusing on "selling themselves." And, the thing he doesn't mention is that, when you're focusing on selling the overall experience that is "you" as a musician or a band, it's something that can't be freely copied. People can copy the music all they want, but they can't copy you. "You" are a scarce good that can't be "pirated." That's exactly what more and more musicians are figuring out these days, and it's helping to make many more artists profitable. And, no, it doesn't mean that any artist can make money. But it certainly looks like any artist that understands this can do a hell of a lot better than they would have otherwise, if they just relied on the old way of making money in the music business.



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Representative Dennis Kucinich has introduced a bill to end the Fed. Unfortunately his proposal grants Congress ability to create money at will for virtually any purpose. Kucinich specifically mentions full employment, stabilizing social security, and to "lend new money into circulation as authorized by Congress and to provide means for public investment in capital infrastructure".

In other words Kucinich want Congress to have the power to print money into existence for any reason it wants. Here are a few snips from Kucinich's End the Fed Bill that show what I mean.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Mr. KUCINICH introduced the following bill

To create a full employment economy as a matter of national economic defense; to provide for public investment in capital infrastructure; to provide for reducing the cost of public investment; to retire public debt; to stabilize the Social Security retirement system; to restore the authority of Congress to create and regulate money, modernize and provide stability for the monetary system of the United States, retire public debt and reduce the cost of public investment, and for other public purposes.

To enable the Federal Government to invest or lend new money into circulation as authorized by Congress and to provide means for public investment in capital infrastructure.

SEC. 201. ENTRY OF U.S. MONEY INTO CIRCULATION.

The Secretary shall cause United States Money to enter into circulation by and through any of the following means:

Any origination or disbursement of funds to accomplish Federal expenditures authorized and appropriated by an Act of the Congress.

Any disbursement to retire outstanding instruments of indebtedness of the Federal Government or the Secretary of the Treasury as such instruments become due.

Any exercise of "lender of last resort" emergency authorities under the emergency procedures specified in section 305.

Any other means, and for any other purpose explicitly authorized by an Act of the Congress that becomes law after the effective date of this Act.
Support for the Bill

I saw this bill a few days ago thinking it was so insane no one could possibly stand up in favor of it. I was sadly mistaken.

I am hoping Karl Denninger's excuse is he failed to read the entire bill. Otherwise I am at a loss to explain Dennis Kucinich: Delete The Fed
I'm stunned.

Really.

Dennis Kucinich, which many people have (properly) labeled as one step removed from a communist in the past, and who has a reputation as having a hard-core left slant in his politics, has just written up and introduced a bill that will fundamentally restore the free market - for real - to banking and credit.

We're about to find out if people like Ron and Rand Paul really stand for what they claim, or if they're empty suits. If they do, then I expect to see them on the Tee Vee within hours demanding passage of this bill, and joining with Mr. Kucinich in making sure that it is immediately reintroduced in the new Congress - and passed.

If that does not happen then these two claimants of a demand for "sound money" have been immediately and permanently exposed as FRAUDS, as will any so-called "Tea Party" members of Congress.

This is a bill that must become law.
I'm Stunned Too

Denninger is not the only one who is stunned. I am stunned that anyone could support this preposterous idea, assuming they read it and are sober.

Neither sound money nor the free market comes from printing money into existence. Arguably the only thing worse than the Fed printing money out of thin air is Congress printing money out of thin air for the purpose of full employment and/or any other absurd ideas Congress has.

The last thing we need, the very last thing we need is Congress lending money into existence to pay the bills or to do anything it wants for any reason. Those looking for hyperinflation can find the roots of it in that bill.

Kucinich did mention abolish fractional reserve banking, in a clumsily worded paragraph difficult to interpret precisely. A second paragraph was more precise "fractional reserve lending is ended".

I am 100% in favor of eliminating fractional reserve lending.

Ironically, Denninger once challenged me on that score, defending the practice. Please see Fractional Reserve Lending Constitutes Fraud for the debate.

Hopefully Denninger has changed his mind.

All things considered, and in spite of horrendous flaws, it may be a plus that someone has actually submitted a bill in Congress to end Fractional Reserve Lending. Now all we to do is throw away the entire rest of the bill and let Ron Paul draft a proper bill ending FRL as the central idea.

Fractional Reserve Lending Is Fraud

There are two easy to read, and free online books that make the case.

  • What Has Government Done to Our Money?
  • The Case Against the Fed

Here are hardcopy versions you can order.

  • The Case Against The Fed by Murray Rothbard
  • What Has Government Done To Our Money by Murray Rothbard
  • End The Fed by Ron Paul

If you haven't read them, read them. If you have read them, read them again. Then meet with your legislative representatives and get them to read the books. Better yet, buy them a hardcopy so you can be sure of it.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List



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Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Help Making Money









Customers



First of all, Krigsman says customers need to know why they are doing the project. He says customers often see enterprise IT projects as different from normal business projects but that customers shouldn't view technology projects differently. Like any other project, IT projects have a budget and need a plan, a clear set of goals and a clear idea of the expected benefit.



To improve the project planning process, Krigsman suggests that customers take a hard look at what could go wrong early in the process. He says denial is a serious issue for many enterprise customers. He has written about this subject before in a post called "The twin evils of IT gridlock and denial." Krigsman wrote:



Project progress continues, despite lack of consensus. In denial situations, the team does not address disagreements, agreeing to wait until sometime in the future to resolve open issues. Problems then simmer below the surface only to "unexpectedly" erupt later, usually in more severe form.


Customers need to add conflict resolution into the earliest stages of the planning process.



System Integrators and Other Professional Services Providers



Krigsman says system integrators and other professional services providers need to remember to put customer's interests first and foremost.



Krigsman suggests one way consultants can improve customer's projects: demand clarity from the customer, especially at the start of a project. "System integrators should view project efficiency as a worthy goal, even if they make less money in the short run," Krigsman says. Making sure your customers have a clear idea of what they want done will help you over the life of the project.



There's a benefit for consultants here too, though: "Some customers take unfair advantage of their integrator during the initial bid process by pretending that a poorly planned project is well defined," Krigsman wrote.



Vendors



Meanwhile, Krigsman says vendors need to do a better job of simplifying products and educating the customer so that the customer can make wise technology decisions regarding their product.



Krigsman suggests that vendors could tie sales compensation to successful project outcomes. A sales representative would be rewarded not just for the size of a sale but for the customer's success in implementing the project. This would discourage sales people from doing pointless upselling and incentivize customer education.



Perhaps other teams, such as engineering and product management, could be similarly compensated to bring all parties on the vendor side into alignment?



It's All About the Long Run



The common theme seems to be that each part of the Devil's Triangle needs to focus on the long-term. Customers need to consider problems and solve disputes before spending money on a project. Vendors and consultants need to prioritize their reputation and the success of their customers over short-term sales and billings. It sounds simple when put that way, but it's always easier said than done.



For some examples of what not to do, check out Biggest ERP Failures of 2010, which includes commentary from Krigsman.















Not so long ago, comparison shopping required actually going to several stores or sifting through every circular in the Sunday paper. And even as at-home internet access became commonplace, that didn't really help if you'd gone to the store without doing the legwork in advance. But the rapid growth of web-enabled phones could be leading to better retail prices and more informed consumers.



A recent Wall Street Journal story cites some interesting statistics to lend credence to this theory. First, there's the report by Coremetrics that says the number of customers using mobile devices to access retail websites on Black Friday in 2010 was more than 50 times greater than just a year earlier.



Second, the Journal quotes a retail consultant as saying that 45% of smartphone users had used their mobile devices for purposes of comparison shopping.



With this increasing transparency for prices, retailers may be forced to either cut prices to keep customers in the store or offer items that can't be purchased elsewhere.



Many stores have already put an end to the practice of offering a lower online price than you'd get at a retail location. "Those days are over," says the president of PriceGrabber.com. "The line between offline and online has been blurred."



Some retailers are attempting to use smartphones to their advantage. For example, Best Buy has partnered with a price comparison app so that whenever someone searches for something at Walmart that could also be purchased at Best Buy, the user will be shown ads for these comparable BB products.



"That is an opportunity to steal a sale right when someone is in the throes of making a decision. That is what makes mobile so powerful," says Best Buy Chief Marketing Officer.



Have you been using your smartphone to compare prices this holiday season?



Phone-Wielding Shoppers Strike Fear Into Retailers



Thanks to Lyn for the tip!







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Bad <b>news</b> from freed detainee: The Jews used witchcraft on me at <b>...</b>

Bad news from freed detainee: The Jews used witchcraft on me at Gitmo.

Obama <b>news</b> conference: liveblog – CNN Political Ticker - CNN.com Blogs

Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama held a news conference Wednesday to discuss the lame duck session of Congress and plans for the upcoming year.

Fox <b>News</b> Dubs Elie Wiesel &#39;Holocaust Winner&#39;

shitlox news........are we morons........you decide? right wingnut garbage...delivered in a carnival barker style ! Reply. 5. 6. Flag as Offensive. Seems fair on Dec 22, 2:03 PM said: Since it never happened. Who cares? ...


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Bad <b>news</b> from freed detainee: The Jews used witchcraft on me at <b>...</b>

Bad news from freed detainee: The Jews used witchcraft on me at Gitmo.

Obama <b>news</b> conference: liveblog – CNN Political Ticker - CNN.com Blogs

Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama held a news conference Wednesday to discuss the lame duck session of Congress and plans for the upcoming year.

Fox <b>News</b> Dubs Elie Wiesel &#39;Holocaust Winner&#39;

shitlox news........are we morons........you decide? right wingnut garbage...delivered in a carnival barker style ! Reply. 5. 6. Flag as Offensive. Seems fair on Dec 22, 2:03 PM said: Since it never happened. Who cares? ...


bench craft company scam

Bad <b>news</b> from freed detainee: The Jews used witchcraft on me at <b>...</b>

Bad news from freed detainee: The Jews used witchcraft on me at Gitmo.

Obama <b>news</b> conference: liveblog – CNN Political Ticker - CNN.com Blogs

Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama held a news conference Wednesday to discuss the lame duck session of Congress and plans for the upcoming year.

Fox <b>News</b> Dubs Elie Wiesel &#39;Holocaust Winner&#39;

shitlox news........are we morons........you decide? right wingnut garbage...delivered in a carnival barker style ! Reply. 5. 6. Flag as Offensive. Seems fair on Dec 22, 2:03 PM said: Since it never happened. Who cares? ...


bench craft company scam

Bad <b>news</b> from freed detainee: The Jews used witchcraft on me at <b>...</b>

Bad news from freed detainee: The Jews used witchcraft on me at Gitmo.

Obama <b>news</b> conference: liveblog – CNN Political Ticker - CNN.com Blogs

Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama held a news conference Wednesday to discuss the lame duck session of Congress and plans for the upcoming year.

Fox <b>News</b> Dubs Elie Wiesel &#39;Holocaust Winner&#39;

shitlox news........are we morons........you decide? right wingnut garbage...delivered in a carnival barker style ! Reply. 5. 6. Flag as Offensive. Seems fair on Dec 22, 2:03 PM said: Since it never happened. Who cares? ...


bench craft company scam

Bad <b>news</b> from freed detainee: The Jews used witchcraft on me at <b>...</b>

Bad news from freed detainee: The Jews used witchcraft on me at Gitmo.

Obama <b>news</b> conference: liveblog – CNN Political Ticker - CNN.com Blogs

Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama held a news conference Wednesday to discuss the lame duck session of Congress and plans for the upcoming year.

Fox <b>News</b> Dubs Elie Wiesel &#39;Holocaust Winner&#39;

shitlox news........are we morons........you decide? right wingnut garbage...delivered in a carnival barker style ! Reply. 5. 6. Flag as Offensive. Seems fair on Dec 22, 2:03 PM said: Since it never happened. Who cares? ...


bench craft company scam

Bad <b>news</b> from freed detainee: The Jews used witchcraft on me at <b>...</b>

Bad news from freed detainee: The Jews used witchcraft on me at Gitmo.

Obama <b>news</b> conference: liveblog – CNN Political Ticker - CNN.com Blogs

Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama held a news conference Wednesday to discuss the lame duck session of Congress and plans for the upcoming year.

Fox <b>News</b> Dubs Elie Wiesel &#39;Holocaust Winner&#39;

shitlox news........are we morons........you decide? right wingnut garbage...delivered in a carnival barker style ! Reply. 5. 6. Flag as Offensive. Seems fair on Dec 22, 2:03 PM said: Since it never happened. Who cares? ...


bench craft company scam

Bad <b>news</b> from freed detainee: The Jews used witchcraft on me at <b>...</b>

Bad news from freed detainee: The Jews used witchcraft on me at Gitmo.

Obama <b>news</b> conference: liveblog – CNN Political Ticker - CNN.com Blogs

Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama held a news conference Wednesday to discuss the lame duck session of Congress and plans for the upcoming year.

Fox <b>News</b> Dubs Elie Wiesel &#39;Holocaust Winner&#39;

shitlox news........are we morons........you decide? right wingnut garbage...delivered in a carnival barker style ! Reply. 5. 6. Flag as Offensive. Seems fair on Dec 22, 2:03 PM said: Since it never happened. Who cares? ...


bench craft company scam