Monday, January 24, 2011

The online reputation management Czar Speaks Out

When vendors or people today fall prey to unfair opponents, irate ex-employees or disgruntled people, then a SERM will become critical within the financial survival of a company.

Firms like SERMs are critical in keeping, and in some circumstances salvaging and restoring agencies or person's status and beneficial name.




Web based searches are one of the first things that modern day consumes do prior to investing cash using a small business or person, and a single undesirable click can imply financial disaster to get a enterprise, specially on this actually rising cyber financial system. Recognition for these SERMs are escalating by leaps and bounds using the realization it isn't prudent to attempt to conduct home business on this cyber age rather than possess a SERM on retainer in addition to your accountant and your lawyer.






Businesses are also appreciating the collateral benefit of having a Popularity Management agency on-board as an integral part of their company product, its excellent promoting! While securing a company's excellent status and title online, it generates very good press and beneficial publicity that in the end adds considerably on the bottom line of a company's harmony sheet, generating the companies to actually pay out for itself in lots of circumstances.




This tends to be a very strong offering stage for corporations as well as men and women, to know that they are cleansing and defending their reputations and cyber pictures, though at the same time working an incredibly useful marketing initiative. From time to time companies entirely disregard their former promoting efforts on the net and opt for the advantages of On line Status Management.




Acquiring a SERM firm in your side is not having a doubt the way to go in this cyber age. For additional knowledge on online reputation management and corporate reputation management, Please visit us at http://removeripoffreports.net/

Making Money System

Sumitted by Mike Krieger of Kam LP

The people must be helped to think naturally about money. They must be told what it is, and what makes it money, and what are the possible tricks of the present system which put nations and peoples under control of the few.

- Henry Ford


U.S. investors should welcome, not fear, climbing commodity prices.  The increases are "largely a reflection of the fact that the pace of economic growth, particularly in the U.S., has picked up," said Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at consultants IHS in Lexington, Massachusetts, and a former Federal Reserve official who has been covering the global economy for more than 35 years. "It's not something to be worried about." 

- Bloomberg article from yesterday


Why Fiat Money is Immoral

Today’s email is going to be a little different.  A couple of weeks ago a friend of mine from NYC who is not in the business but is on my weekly email distribution list asked me to explain fiat money and why I think it is the wrong way to go.  Below I am going to paste my response to her.  There is so much disinformation out there about money it is scary.  Sadly, the strategist at my former employer added to this several weeks ago.  He wrote:  “Gold, which is effectively just another fiat currency.”

Clearly he failed to look up the definition of fiat currency.

Fiat money is money that has value only because of government regulation or law.

Definition of Fiat:  An authoritative or often arbitrary official order or decree.  THIS DOES NOT EXIST TO GOLD AS MONEY TODAY AT ALL. 

Gold is not money under “fiat” in any country at the moment.  Rather the market is making gold as money today which is the OPPOSITE of fiat money.  

With that off my chest, here is the response to my friend…

Ok, so let’s do a brief thought exercise on why I believe commodity money is preferable to fiat money.  When you have fiat money, a government, or in the case of the United States today, a banking cartel (the Federal Reserve), is granted exclusive authority to create the nation’s money.  Laws are used to enforce the use of this money otherwise people probably wouldn’t use it.  Under a commodity money system, where let’s say the U.S. issues dollars but those dollars are backed or convertible to a commodity (in many cases gold but it can be other things) there is a limit to the amount the government or banking cartel can print or issue and this is in relation to the amount of the commodity that exists or is available to the government or central bank.  The current propaganda that is rife throughout economics textbooks and the like tell is the notion that commodity money is bad since it stifles human innovation in relation to the amount of gold or whatever commodity used.  They say this is bad and that there should be no “limit” on money creation based on something as arbitrary as a commodity and that this is bad for growth.  This is complete nonsense and is used to keep people in the current fiat system where money power is exercised most egregiously by the few against the many.  The reason they defend the current system is simple.  With the power to create unlimited currency at will (via the Federal Reserve) you possess total and absolute power over almost EVERYTHING in the economy and society at large.  The Fed not only creates the money but they distribute it where they want.  In QE1 and QE2  they decided to buy specific assets.  In the case of QE1 where they bought toxic assets, this was just another bailout of the banks and others that made poor investment decisions.  Did the money go to build new schools?  No.  Did the money go to build high speed trains as is done in China?  No.  Did it go to building out massive alternative energy infrastructure?  No.  It went to save the banks because at the end of the day the Fed exists as a backstop to the banks and it is to the banks that the Fed answers to at the end of the day.  It is a brilliant scam that 95% of Americans do not comprehend.  So in this case all of the money is going to the banks (which destroyed the global economy in the first place) and other players in the financial world.  Remember, the banks ARE the Fed and the Fed creates the money.  Gate keepers at the Federal Reserve and academia make understanding economics, the Fed and money seem so “complex” but the scam is really VERY simple.  

I am not saying that I necessarily back the classic gold standard but it is much more of a moral and genuine capitalistic system than what we have today.  One of the arguments against the gold standard is that the rich have all the gold anyway and they will still have the power.  Ok, well let’s suppose this is true.  Under a gold standard they would need to mobilize this gold to exercise their power and influence and pay people off to do their bidding.  This has a real cost to them.  Gold will be spent.  At some point they will choose not to spend it on this or that and ultimately they will lose their power/money by spending too much gold.  They can’t just create more out of thin air to exercise unlimited money power on the populace. 

This is in complete contrast to how things work today.  With the dollar they can create more and more everyday and buy people off without ANY cost in the short term (until the dollar itself collapses).  This is why the most dangerous thing that can happen would be a global fiat currency to replace the U.S. dollar.   They could start over in their never ending system of money power with a new currency that can be printed at will and used to buy up the world and all its resources at no cost to them.  The end result would be slavery for the masses of humanity.  The global monetary system as it stands is one of the most immoral social structures ever created by man.  Most of us in America do not understand this since we have been the beneficiaries of it up until now.  We are like the feudal lords in pre-revolutionary that couldn’t see the world beyond their favored social status until they lost their heads.  The system as it stands has led extreme exploitation and corruption, not true capitalism.  If we continue on this path the next stop is a feudalistic fascism. 
 
In a Fiat System Banks Must be Like Utilities

At the Sanford Bernstein conference several years ago Joseph Stiglitz spoke and said a good and healthy financial system is a small financial system.  I couldn’t agree more.  This is especially the case in a purely fiat money system.  Money is too important to allow greedy children in expensive suits on Wall Street and dangerous academics at the Fed to play around with.  I do not claim to know what the ideal money system is but I want to be very clear on this point.  If we have a fiat system like today the banks should be the most regulated industry on the planet and operate like utilities.  They are supposed to help the productive economy innovate and create wealth.  They are not supposed to be parasites that suck the lifeblood out of the real economy and compose 16% of the weight in the S&P500 (only technology is bigger at 17%).  Something is VERY, VERY wrong here. 

I placed the quote at the top of the email to demonstrate just how entirely disconnected the corrupt elite class is in the United States is today from the average citizen.  Many historians assert that Marie Antoinette never said “let them eat cake,” but surely she made comments similar to those at the top of this email from the Bloomberg article.  What is happening now is nothing new.  It has happened over and over again for millennium.  The elites of every era always think they will stay in control no matter what.  They will be wrong once again.

Watching the circus from Colorado,
Mike





In the same Good Morning America interview in which he said that Jared Lee Loughner "wasn't on the left, he wasn't on the right," former Loughner friend Zach Osler mentioned a documentary film called Zeitgeist, which he says heavily influenced the alleged Tucson gunman.


Osler, who George Stephanopoulos described as perhaps "Loughner's last close friend," said, "I really think that this Zeitgeist documentary had a profound impact upon Jared Loughner's mindset, and how he viewed the world that he lives in."



And though by Osler's account he and Loughner stopped hanging out two years ago, and there's no way of knowing what Loughner thinks of the documentaries today, there are a few resonances between the film and the online videos attributed to Loughner.



Zeitgeist: The Movie, produced in 2007 by a man named Peter Joseph, is actually the first film in what's now a trilogy. A sequel, Zeitgeist: Addendum, came out in 2008, and a third film, Zeitgeist: Moving Forward, was scheduled to be released over the weekend. Together, they form the foundation for The Zeitgeist Movement, which, according to the movement's website, "works globally to spread information about a new social system called a Resource Based Economy." The website claims 420,000 people have registered as part of the movement, and says "estimates" put the number of online views of the original Zeitgeist: The Movie at over 100 million. (In March 2009, The New York Times reported on a "Z-Day" event in New York City.)



The first film (which you can watch in its entirety here) "debunks" myths and "exposes" conspiracies about religion, monetary policy, wars and 9/11. The film features a nameless narrator, and combines graphics, news footage and trippy animations with words from famous thinkers, stand up comedians and public officials, topping it all off with commentary from various conspiracy theorists. Among other things, the movie critiques the central bank model, controlled by the "ruthless banking interests," which it says leads inexorably to debt.



"The end result of this system is essentially slavery," the narrator says. "For it is technically impossible for a government and thus the public to ever come out of this self-generating debt."



Getting rid of the gold standard, according to the film, was a way to rob the public of wealth, and lock it into a system controlled by an elite few.



"The only thing that gives our money value is the public faith and how much of it is in circulation," the narrator says. "Therefore, the power to regulate the money supply is also the power to regulate its value, which is also the power to manipulate and control entire economies."



In online videos attributed to him, Loughner shows an obsession with "currency" that echoes the arguments from Zeitgeist. He spoke of "mind control" and government control. One video, titled "Introduction: Jared Loughner," was concerned with the creation of "new currency."



"No! I won't pay debt with a currency that's not backed by gold and silver!" Loughner wrote. "No! I won't trust in God!"



[TPM SLIDESHOW: TPM Retraces Shooting Suspect's Steps]



In another video, titled "hello," Loughner writes, "the current government officials are in power for their currency, but I'm informing you for your new currency!"



After Osler mentioned his movie to the press, Peter Joseph issued a statement criticizing the media for making any connection between the massacre that occurred in Tucson and his film.



It has come to my attention that various mainstream news organizations are beginning to run an association between my 2007 performance piece/film, "Zeitgeist: The Movie" and the tragic murders conducted by an extremely troubled young man in Tucson, Arizona. They are also slowly beginning to bleed the obvious line between my 2007 documentary work, my film series as a whole and The Zeitgeist Movement, which I am the founder. Frankly, I find this isolating, growing association tremendously irresponsible on the part of ABC, NBC and their affiliates - further reflecting the disingenuous nature of the America Media Establishment today.


Make no mistake: The Social System is to blame for the rampage of Jared
Loughner - not some famous online documentary which is known as the most viewed documentary of all time in internet history. Are the other 200 million people who have seen the film also preparing for murder sprees? I think not.






bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews

Interviewing Thomas Sowell On Basic Economics | Right Wing <b>News</b>

Right Wing News is the best source on the net for conservative news, views, & interviews.

Mideast Peace As Seen on TV « Liveshots

The Palestinian/ Israeli conflict and the fragile Peace Process is now back on the priority list of.

Tiger Woods dev unfazed by controversy <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

Read our news of Tiger Woods dev unfazed by controversy.


bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews

Interviewing Thomas Sowell On Basic Economics | Right Wing <b>News</b>

Right Wing News is the best source on the net for conservative news, views, & interviews.

Mideast Peace As Seen on TV « Liveshots

The Palestinian/ Israeli conflict and the fragile Peace Process is now back on the priority list of.

Tiger Woods dev unfazed by controversy <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

Read our news of Tiger Woods dev unfazed by controversy.


bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews

Interviewing Thomas Sowell On Basic Economics | Right Wing <b>News</b>

Right Wing News is the best source on the net for conservative news, views, & interviews.

Mideast Peace As Seen on TV « Liveshots

The Palestinian/ Israeli conflict and the fragile Peace Process is now back on the priority list of.

Tiger Woods dev unfazed by controversy <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

Read our news of Tiger Woods dev unfazed by controversy.


bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews

Interviewing Thomas Sowell On Basic Economics | Right Wing <b>News</b>

Right Wing News is the best source on the net for conservative news, views, & interviews.

Mideast Peace As Seen on TV « Liveshots

The Palestinian/ Israeli conflict and the fragile Peace Process is now back on the priority list of.

Tiger Woods dev unfazed by controversy <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

Read our news of Tiger Woods dev unfazed by controversy.


bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews

Interviewing Thomas Sowell On Basic Economics | Right Wing <b>News</b>

Right Wing News is the best source on the net for conservative news, views, & interviews.

Mideast Peace As Seen on TV « Liveshots

The Palestinian/ Israeli conflict and the fragile Peace Process is now back on the priority list of.

Tiger Woods dev unfazed by controversy <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

Read our news of Tiger Woods dev unfazed by controversy.


bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews

Interviewing Thomas Sowell On Basic Economics | Right Wing <b>News</b>

Right Wing News is the best source on the net for conservative news, views, & interviews.

Mideast Peace As Seen on TV « Liveshots

The Palestinian/ Israeli conflict and the fragile Peace Process is now back on the priority list of.

Tiger Woods dev unfazed by controversy <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

Read our news of Tiger Woods dev unfazed by controversy.


bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews

Interviewing Thomas Sowell On Basic Economics | Right Wing <b>News</b>

Right Wing News is the best source on the net for conservative news, views, & interviews.

Mideast Peace As Seen on TV « Liveshots

The Palestinian/ Israeli conflict and the fragile Peace Process is now back on the priority list of.

Tiger Woods dev unfazed by controversy <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

Read our news of Tiger Woods dev unfazed by controversy.


bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews

Interviewing Thomas Sowell On Basic Economics | Right Wing <b>News</b>

Right Wing News is the best source on the net for conservative news, views, & interviews.

Mideast Peace As Seen on TV « Liveshots

The Palestinian/ Israeli conflict and the fragile Peace Process is now back on the priority list of.

Tiger Woods dev unfazed by controversy <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

Read our news of Tiger Woods dev unfazed by controversy.


bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews

Interviewing Thomas Sowell On Basic Economics | Right Wing <b>News</b>

Right Wing News is the best source on the net for conservative news, views, & interviews.

Mideast Peace As Seen on TV « Liveshots

The Palestinian/ Israeli conflict and the fragile Peace Process is now back on the priority list of.

Tiger Woods dev unfazed by controversy <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

Read our news of Tiger Woods dev unfazed by controversy.


bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews

Interviewing Thomas Sowell On Basic Economics | Right Wing <b>News</b>

Right Wing News is the best source on the net for conservative news, views, & interviews.

Mideast Peace As Seen on TV « Liveshots

The Palestinian/ Israeli conflict and the fragile Peace Process is now back on the priority list of.

Tiger Woods dev unfazed by controversy <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

Read our news of Tiger Woods dev unfazed by controversy.


bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews

Interviewing Thomas Sowell On Basic Economics | Right Wing <b>News</b>

Right Wing News is the best source on the net for conservative news, views, & interviews.

Mideast Peace As Seen on TV « Liveshots

The Palestinian/ Israeli conflict and the fragile Peace Process is now back on the priority list of.

Tiger Woods dev unfazed by controversy <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

Read our news of Tiger Woods dev unfazed by controversy.


bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews

Interviewing Thomas Sowell On Basic Economics | Right Wing <b>News</b>

Right Wing News is the best source on the net for conservative news, views, & interviews.

Mideast Peace As Seen on TV « Liveshots

The Palestinian/ Israeli conflict and the fragile Peace Process is now back on the priority list of.

Tiger Woods dev unfazed by controversy <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

Read our news of Tiger Woods dev unfazed by controversy.


bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews

Interviewing Thomas Sowell On Basic Economics | Right Wing <b>News</b>

Right Wing News is the best source on the net for conservative news, views, & interviews.

Mideast Peace As Seen on TV « Liveshots

The Palestinian/ Israeli conflict and the fragile Peace Process is now back on the priority list of.

Tiger Woods dev unfazed by controversy <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

Read our news of Tiger Woods dev unfazed by controversy.


bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews

Interviewing Thomas Sowell On Basic Economics | Right Wing <b>News</b>

Right Wing News is the best source on the net for conservative news, views, & interviews.

Mideast Peace As Seen on TV « Liveshots

The Palestinian/ Israeli conflict and the fragile Peace Process is now back on the priority list of.

Tiger Woods dev unfazed by controversy <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

Read our news of Tiger Woods dev unfazed by controversy.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

How to Making Money






  • Daily Intel
    Murray Hill is a Never-Ending Frat Party


  • Vulture
    Heroes Creator Scores With Touch


  • Daily Intel
    Funeral Homes Now Also Wedding Venues


  • Daily Intel
    Wikileaks Reported Threat Exaggerated


  • Vulture
    Ben Affleck Eyes American Bullshit


  • Vulture
    The Weinsteins Take on TV—Again


  • Daily Intel
    Columbia Drug Ringleader Can't Go Home


  • Vulture
    Watch Jeremy Piven’s Bathroom Freak-out


  • Vulture
    The 30 Differences Between the American and British Skins


  • Vulture
    NBC Delays Returns of Law & Order: LA, Marriage Ref


  • The Cut
    Elle Macpherson’s Gown Had a Very Long Tail


  • The Cut
    Burberry’s Sales Boom Is Supposedly Due to Asian Men Buying Satchels


  • Grub Street New York
    Sure Enough, the Paty’s Taco Truck Gets Towed


  • Vulture
    George Lucas Fears 2012 Apocalypse, Says Seth Rogen


  • Daily Intel
    Bill Frist Tells GOP to Snuggle With Health-Care Reform


  • Daily Intel
    Peace Corps Founder Sargent Shriver Dies


  • Grub Street New York
    Lucky’s Famous Burgers Returns to the Lower East Side; Park Slope Loses La Taqueria and Willie’s Dawgs


  • The Sports Section
    So What Did the Jets Do Right Against the Steelers in Week 15?


  • Vulture
    Watch a Super-Cut of People Excusing Themselves in Movies


  • The Cut
    Christina Hendricks Almost Lost an $850,000 Bracelet at the Golden Globes and Then Stashed It in Her Bosom for Safekeeping


  • Vulture
    See the Entire Cast of X-Men: First Class in Costume


  • Daily Intel
    Does Today’s Stock Rally and Gonzo Earnings Mean Apple Can Thrive Without Steve Jobs?


  • Vulture
    Watch a Large, Drunk Puppet Stumble Around Ireland


  • Grub Street New York
    Brio Brightens Up Long Dark Lunetta Space


  • Vulture
    Former American Idol Finalist Alex Lambert Is Homeless






Values, Value and Valuation — The money is all relative


Oh how timing sometimes works out to be funny. I was driving home tonight and started thinking about the value of products, the valuation of companies and how the values that a company portrays can change the rest. No sooner had I sat down to write this piece than the news of Goldman Sachs investing $500 million into Facebook broke and refreshed the entire thing in my mind. So let’s look at these three things, and try to see if one manages to sway the rest.


Values


Do you, like me, find yourself more inclined to use or purchase something that comes from a company that you can believe in? The ethos of a company can — for me at least — completely break me away from the product. That very fact, because I feel that I’m likely not alone in my actions (or lack thereof) can have a serious impact on the bottom line of a company.


Look at Facebook, for instance. When the Social Graph was announced and the new privacy changes went into effect, many people threw up their hands in disgust. But many others continued with life as usual, even if a bit annoyed. Why? Because Facebook has this outward appearance of a company that’s simply trying to do cool things, and it needs information in order to do them. The company’s values seem, for the most part, to be in line with the things that we Internet users want. As such, there was a lot more wagging and a lot less barking from the angry dogs crowd.


You’re starting a company? There’s likely something to be said for developing an ethos ahead of time, making it known and then sticking to it. Would Google be where it is today if not for the “don’t be evil” tag line? Even if you don’t fully believe that the company runs that way, you still remember it. Point made.


Value


When value exceeds cost, even by a single cent, the purchase will be made – Grant Cardone


That quote is one that has stuck with me for some time now. A few years ago I was making my living selling cars and it is sometimes exceedingly difficult to overcome the objection of price. In the technology world, we’re constantly being offered products for “free”. The only cost? A bit of information, a slice of our privacy or somethings similar. But then, after using those “free” products, we start to build our own value for them.


Don’t believe me? Just look at some of the things that you likely use every day. Gmail? You’d pay for that. Twitter? You don’t want to admit it, but it’s likely become a valuable asset to your daily Internet life. The same can be said for so many things and yet we get them for “free”. But there’s a down side to this issue as well — it becomes very difficult for a maker to charge for a product when there are free alternatives. Don’t believe that? When was the last time that a box office movie didn’t get a torrent version?


And yet, even as companies try to build value in their products, still others think that the economy allows for them to set their own values and tell us what something is worth. TV networks are probably the most well-known perpetrators of this heresy. Apple TV launched, ABC and Fox decided to jump on board and see what would happen. Some of the rest? They decided that $.99 was devaluing the product and yet as the provider of the product, there is no one entity that is more unqualified to name the value.


Consider it a lesson in business, I suppose. The potential buyer will determine the value of your product. Always.


Valuation


Now here’s a sticky one. Valuation is one of those strange things because it means so many different things to different people. To the potential investors, it’s a measure of how much money can be made. To the business owner it’s a gauge of how well the business has done. To the end user? It’s…honestly not much.


As a case in point, around TNW we love Twitter. We want to see it succeed and we are sure that it will. The valuation continues to climb prior to any IPO and yet, as users of the service, it really doesn’t matter much to us. Sure, it would matter if the site closed its doors, but beyond that there simply isn’t anything about the valuation number that matters.


And so, as an entrepreneur you have to ask yourself where the balance lies. Do your company values allow you to build value in your product? If so, then the chances are that your valuation will end up right where it needs to be. There’s a fair amount of truth in the thought that, if you handle the small stuff, the big stuff will fall into place.


So with that, I offer you a thought going into the new year — start with your values. The rest will fall into place.




Source:http://removeripoffreports.net/

Casting <b>News</b>: Anne Hathaway to Guest on &#39;Glee,&#39; Marissa Jaret <b>...</b>

Anne Hathaway must've made a good impression on 'Glee' creator Ryan Murphy at the Golden Globes this weekend, because he's already confirmed she will.

Iranian men to be stoned to death over gay sex - Pink <b>News</b>

Two young men who filmed themselves having sex have been sentenced to death by stoning in Iran. The film was discovered on the mobile phones of Ayub and Mosleh, 20 and 21 years old, by agents of the Iranian regime in the Kurdistan city ...

<b>News</b> of the World feigns shock at new twist in the phone-hacking <b>...</b>

Who is the paper trying to fool with its 'internal investigation' - the public or Rupert Murdoch?


Friday, January 14, 2011

Free rental agreement forms no prescription

[blogsearch]

Free rental agreement forms online canada

Small Business <b>News</b>: Building Better Strategy

Building a better strategy should be the constant goal of every small business owner and entrepreneur. Think your business is running as well as it can, has.

Harvard Undergrads Launch Newsle To Find <b>News</b> About Your Friends <b>...</b>

Social news has many flavors. Twitter and Facebook function as social news feeds with your friends pushing out stories they find interesting. But what about news about your friends or other people you care about? Two Harvard sophomores ...

No, your zodiac sign hasn&#39;t changed – This Just In - CNN.com Blogs

Tattoo parlor owners must be salivating. An assertion in a Minneapolis Star Tribune article that our understanding of the zodiac is off by about a month -- and that therefore people have been identifying themselves with the wrong sign ...


Thursday, January 13, 2011

Women Making Money


Nevertheless, Dolan's belief that the "practice [of abortion] is unlikely to end but that it was important 'to tell people what is happening' and help pregnant women come to terms with their choices" presents the cleric with a perfect opportunity.

This year's Super Bowl XLV is slated for Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, which has a seating capacity of 80,000.  Immediately following Bill O'Reilly's sure-to-be-softball Obama Super Bowl Sunday interview, Archbishop Timothy Dolan can present the second annual spoil-the-party, Ted-Tebow, sobering-pro-life Super Bowl half-time ad.  The archbishop can show a panoramic view of the full expanse of Cowboys Stadium and "tell people what is happening" by explaining that in 2009, in New York City alone, a similar number of people were deprived of the right to life thanks to Barack Obama's "safe, legal, and rare" abortion policies.

Rick Thompson is hoping that lightning strikes another time. Thompson was the chairman and co-founder of Playdom, the social game company that Disney bought last year for as much as $763 million. Now he has started a new game company, Wild Needle, focused on social games with a location twist.


“Wild Needle represents a shift in the way smart money is thinking of social games,” Thompson said in an interview.


It used to be smart to invest in a game company making social games for Facebook. But Thompson is putting money on the idea that mobile is becoming a larger opportunity. His six-person company will focus on making games for the iPhone and then expand to other mobile platforms. Japan’s DeNA validated this “mobile first” strategy when it bought iPhone game publisher Ngmoco earlier this year for $403 million.


Thompson said he isn’t looking for a similar transaction anytime soon. But because of Zynga’s dominance and Facebook’s crackdown on viral distribution, he doubts that small startups can make an impact on Facebook.


Mountain View, Calif.-based Wild Needle has raised $2.5 million in funding from Thompson and Shasta Ventures. Thompson said that he didn’t need the money to start the company, but he did want access to Shasta’s managing director, Robert Coneybeer, who is joining Wild Needle’s board. Wild Needle’s other top executives include Heidi Carson (vice president of product), Chris Kirmse (vice president of engineering), and Minglei Xu (software architect). Thompson also was founding chairman of online ad networks Flycast and Adify. Kirmse is a veteran game developer who worked at Xfire and was the co-creator of Meridian 59, the world’s first 3D massively multiplayer online game.


Thompson said that there is enormous untapped potential in mobile games that use a device’s location awareness and its always-on connectivity to a social network. Mobile games have lower distribution costs and potentially new kinds of game play around location awareness. Smartphones are also likely to be ubiquitous.


“Things go in cycles,” Thompson said. “Facebook is very challenging for startups now because of high-distribution costs and lack of virality. He said he has investments in a couple of Facebook game companies, one of which is Funzio.


Thompson said Wild Needle is aggressively hiring now. Dan Yue, co-founder of Playdom, and John Pleasants, who was CEO of Playdom, remain at Disney. Thompson said the company’s first game will be targeted at women and feature cool game play. He said he doesn’t think he has direct rivals, but other location-based game companies include Foursquare, Gowalla and Booyah.


Next Story: Media frenzy about Verizon iPhone fails to move the needle on stocks Previous Story: Live at Verizon’s iPhone event: iPhone 4 will be available early next month




bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews

Apple, <b>News</b> Corp. Delay &quot;Daily&quot; iPad Newspaper | Peter Kafka <b>...</b>

Turns out you'll have to wait a bit longer to see The Daily, Rupert Murdoch's long-awaited iPad news service. Apple and News Corp. have made a joint decision to push back next week's planned launch.

Verizon and Apple Q&amp;A (video) - CNET <b>News</b>

At the iPhone 4 Verizon unveiling, Dan Mead, President of Verizon Wireless, and Tim Cook, COO of Apple, answer questions from the press.

Obama&#39;s Tucson Speech Fails To Accommodate Cable <b>News&#39;s</b> Attention <b>...</b>

Did you watch the memorial service in Tucson last night? It sure seemed to me to be a cavalcade of statemanship -- presidents of nations and universities and student bodies, governors new and old, political figures ...


bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews

Apple, <b>News</b> Corp. Delay &quot;Daily&quot; iPad Newspaper | Peter Kafka <b>...</b>

Turns out you'll have to wait a bit longer to see The Daily, Rupert Murdoch's long-awaited iPad news service. Apple and News Corp. have made a joint decision to push back next week's planned launch.

Verizon and Apple Q&amp;A (video) - CNET <b>News</b>

At the iPhone 4 Verizon unveiling, Dan Mead, President of Verizon Wireless, and Tim Cook, COO of Apple, answer questions from the press.

Obama&#39;s Tucson Speech Fails To Accommodate Cable <b>News&#39;s</b> Attention <b>...</b>

Did you watch the memorial service in Tucson last night? It sure seemed to me to be a cavalcade of statemanship -- presidents of nations and universities and student bodies, governors new and old, political figures ...

Apple, <b>News</b> Corp. Delay &quot;Daily&quot; iPad Newspaper | Peter Kafka <b>...</b>

Turns out you'll have to wait a bit longer to see The Daily, Rupert Murdoch's long-awaited iPad news service. Apple and News Corp. have made a joint decision to push back next week's planned launch.

Verizon and Apple Q&amp;A (video) - CNET <b>News</b>

At the iPhone 4 Verizon unveiling, Dan Mead, President of Verizon Wireless, and Tim Cook, COO of Apple, answer questions from the press.

Obama&#39;s Tucson Speech Fails To Accommodate Cable <b>News&#39;s</b> Attention <b>...</b>

Did you watch the memorial service in Tucson last night? It sure seemed to me to be a cavalcade of statemanship -- presidents of nations and universities and student bodies, governors new and old, political figures ...


bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews

Apple, <b>News</b> Corp. Delay &quot;Daily&quot; iPad Newspaper | Peter Kafka <b>...</b>

Turns out you'll have to wait a bit longer to see The Daily, Rupert Murdoch's long-awaited iPad news service. Apple and News Corp. have made a joint decision to push back next week's planned launch.

Verizon and Apple Q&amp;A (video) - CNET <b>News</b>

At the iPhone 4 Verizon unveiling, Dan Mead, President of Verizon Wireless, and Tim Cook, COO of Apple, answer questions from the press.

Obama&#39;s Tucson Speech Fails To Accommodate Cable <b>News&#39;s</b> Attention <b>...</b>

Did you watch the memorial service in Tucson last night? It sure seemed to me to be a cavalcade of statemanship -- presidents of nations and universities and student bodies, governors new and old, political figures ...


bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews

Apple, <b>News</b> Corp. Delay &quot;Daily&quot; iPad Newspaper | Peter Kafka <b>...</b>

Turns out you'll have to wait a bit longer to see The Daily, Rupert Murdoch's long-awaited iPad news service. Apple and News Corp. have made a joint decision to push back next week's planned launch.

Verizon and Apple Q&amp;A (video) - CNET <b>News</b>

At the iPhone 4 Verizon unveiling, Dan Mead, President of Verizon Wireless, and Tim Cook, COO of Apple, answer questions from the press.

Obama&#39;s Tucson Speech Fails To Accommodate Cable <b>News&#39;s</b> Attention <b>...</b>

Did you watch the memorial service in Tucson last night? It sure seemed to me to be a cavalcade of statemanship -- presidents of nations and universities and student bodies, governors new and old, political figures ...


bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews

Apple, <b>News</b> Corp. Delay &quot;Daily&quot; iPad Newspaper | Peter Kafka <b>...</b>

Turns out you'll have to wait a bit longer to see The Daily, Rupert Murdoch's long-awaited iPad news service. Apple and News Corp. have made a joint decision to push back next week's planned launch.

Verizon and Apple Q&amp;A (video) - CNET <b>News</b>

At the iPhone 4 Verizon unveiling, Dan Mead, President of Verizon Wireless, and Tim Cook, COO of Apple, answer questions from the press.

Obama&#39;s Tucson Speech Fails To Accommodate Cable <b>News&#39;s</b> Attention <b>...</b>

Did you watch the memorial service in Tucson last night? It sure seemed to me to be a cavalcade of statemanship -- presidents of nations and universities and student bodies, governors new and old, political figures ...


bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews

Apple, <b>News</b> Corp. Delay &quot;Daily&quot; iPad Newspaper | Peter Kafka <b>...</b>

Turns out you'll have to wait a bit longer to see The Daily, Rupert Murdoch's long-awaited iPad news service. Apple and News Corp. have made a joint decision to push back next week's planned launch.

Verizon and Apple Q&amp;A (video) - CNET <b>News</b>

At the iPhone 4 Verizon unveiling, Dan Mead, President of Verizon Wireless, and Tim Cook, COO of Apple, answer questions from the press.

Obama&#39;s Tucson Speech Fails To Accommodate Cable <b>News&#39;s</b> Attention <b>...</b>

Did you watch the memorial service in Tucson last night? It sure seemed to me to be a cavalcade of statemanship -- presidents of nations and universities and student bodies, governors new and old, political figures ...


bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews

Apple, <b>News</b> Corp. Delay &quot;Daily&quot; iPad Newspaper | Peter Kafka <b>...</b>

Turns out you'll have to wait a bit longer to see The Daily, Rupert Murdoch's long-awaited iPad news service. Apple and News Corp. have made a joint decision to push back next week's planned launch.

Verizon and Apple Q&amp;A (video) - CNET <b>News</b>

At the iPhone 4 Verizon unveiling, Dan Mead, President of Verizon Wireless, and Tim Cook, COO of Apple, answer questions from the press.

Obama&#39;s Tucson Speech Fails To Accommodate Cable <b>News&#39;s</b> Attention <b>...</b>

Did you watch the memorial service in Tucson last night? It sure seemed to me to be a cavalcade of statemanship -- presidents of nations and universities and student bodies, governors new and old, political figures ...


bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews

Apple, <b>News</b> Corp. Delay &quot;Daily&quot; iPad Newspaper | Peter Kafka <b>...</b>

Turns out you'll have to wait a bit longer to see The Daily, Rupert Murdoch's long-awaited iPad news service. Apple and News Corp. have made a joint decision to push back next week's planned launch.

Verizon and Apple Q&amp;A (video) - CNET <b>News</b>

At the iPhone 4 Verizon unveiling, Dan Mead, President of Verizon Wireless, and Tim Cook, COO of Apple, answer questions from the press.

Obama&#39;s Tucson Speech Fails To Accommodate Cable <b>News&#39;s</b> Attention <b>...</b>

Did you watch the memorial service in Tucson last night? It sure seemed to me to be a cavalcade of statemanship -- presidents of nations and universities and student bodies, governors new and old, political figures ...


bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews

Apple, <b>News</b> Corp. Delay &quot;Daily&quot; iPad Newspaper | Peter Kafka <b>...</b>

Turns out you'll have to wait a bit longer to see The Daily, Rupert Murdoch's long-awaited iPad news service. Apple and News Corp. have made a joint decision to push back next week's planned launch.

Verizon and Apple Q&amp;A (video) - CNET <b>News</b>

At the iPhone 4 Verizon unveiling, Dan Mead, President of Verizon Wireless, and Tim Cook, COO of Apple, answer questions from the press.

Obama&#39;s Tucson Speech Fails To Accommodate Cable <b>News&#39;s</b> Attention <b>...</b>

Did you watch the memorial service in Tucson last night? It sure seemed to me to be a cavalcade of statemanship -- presidents of nations and universities and student bodies, governors new and old, political figures ...


bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews

Apple, <b>News</b> Corp. Delay &quot;Daily&quot; iPad Newspaper | Peter Kafka <b>...</b>

Turns out you'll have to wait a bit longer to see The Daily, Rupert Murdoch's long-awaited iPad news service. Apple and News Corp. have made a joint decision to push back next week's planned launch.

Verizon and Apple Q&amp;A (video) - CNET <b>News</b>

At the iPhone 4 Verizon unveiling, Dan Mead, President of Verizon Wireless, and Tim Cook, COO of Apple, answer questions from the press.

Obama&#39;s Tucson Speech Fails To Accommodate Cable <b>News&#39;s</b> Attention <b>...</b>

Did you watch the memorial service in Tucson last night? It sure seemed to me to be a cavalcade of statemanship -- presidents of nations and universities and student bodies, governors new and old, political figures ...


bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews

Apple, <b>News</b> Corp. Delay &quot;Daily&quot; iPad Newspaper | Peter Kafka <b>...</b>

Turns out you'll have to wait a bit longer to see The Daily, Rupert Murdoch's long-awaited iPad news service. Apple and News Corp. have made a joint decision to push back next week's planned launch.

Verizon and Apple Q&amp;A (video) - CNET <b>News</b>

At the iPhone 4 Verizon unveiling, Dan Mead, President of Verizon Wireless, and Tim Cook, COO of Apple, answer questions from the press.

Obama&#39;s Tucson Speech Fails To Accommodate Cable <b>News&#39;s</b> Attention <b>...</b>

Did you watch the memorial service in Tucson last night? It sure seemed to me to be a cavalcade of statemanship -- presidents of nations and universities and student bodies, governors new and old, political figures ...


bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews

Apple, <b>News</b> Corp. Delay &quot;Daily&quot; iPad Newspaper | Peter Kafka <b>...</b>

Turns out you'll have to wait a bit longer to see The Daily, Rupert Murdoch's long-awaited iPad news service. Apple and News Corp. have made a joint decision to push back next week's planned launch.

Verizon and Apple Q&amp;A (video) - CNET <b>News</b>

At the iPhone 4 Verizon unveiling, Dan Mead, President of Verizon Wireless, and Tim Cook, COO of Apple, answer questions from the press.

Obama&#39;s Tucson Speech Fails To Accommodate Cable <b>News&#39;s</b> Attention <b>...</b>

Did you watch the memorial service in Tucson last night? It sure seemed to me to be a cavalcade of statemanship -- presidents of nations and universities and student bodies, governors new and old, political figures ...


bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews

Apple, <b>News</b> Corp. Delay &quot;Daily&quot; iPad Newspaper | Peter Kafka <b>...</b>

Turns out you'll have to wait a bit longer to see The Daily, Rupert Murdoch's long-awaited iPad news service. Apple and News Corp. have made a joint decision to push back next week's planned launch.

Verizon and Apple Q&amp;A (video) - CNET <b>News</b>

At the iPhone 4 Verizon unveiling, Dan Mead, President of Verizon Wireless, and Tim Cook, COO of Apple, answer questions from the press.

Obama&#39;s Tucson Speech Fails To Accommodate Cable <b>News&#39;s</b> Attention <b>...</b>

Did you watch the memorial service in Tucson last night? It sure seemed to me to be a cavalcade of statemanship -- presidents of nations and universities and student bodies, governors new and old, political figures ...

Monday, January 10, 2011

personal finance programs



Promoting your home state is one thing but having a personal jet and billing the state $500,000 for iffy travel is a bit much. He's all for cutting social programs in a state that survives due to more federal money than it pays into Washington, but somehow cuts don't apply to him. He has a lifestyle to maintain, economic crisis be damned. It's good to be da' king.

The flight logs obtained by POLITICO indicate that Mississippi has spent more than $500,000 over the past three years on Barbour's air travel. That total does not include security and other logistical costs associated with his trips. And through a quirk in Mississippi law, whenever the governor is out of state, Mississippi must pay the lieutenant governor a salary differential as acting governor.

Barbour has reimbursed the state for a handful of flights, but he has more often scheduled obscure official business to coincide with the business of politics, according to the manifest and logs, which were obtained from the Mississippi Department of Finance and Administration under a Mississippi Public Records Act request by a Democrat who has worked in the state, who provided them to POLITICO.

Critics say the flights suggest that Barbour has continued to live the lifestyle of a highflying lobbyist as he's slashed his state's budget for government services across the board since taking office in 2004.



On Monday, I linked to this op-ed from Tom Esvlin, Vermont's "stimulus czar," lamenting the way the money got spent. "Although I'd like to think Vermont did better than many states, much of the money ended up continuing bloated programs rather than providing a transition to a sustainable future," he wrote. That same day, Brookings' Gary Burtless e-mailed in a rebuttal that's worth quoting at length, as it's a very clear description of where the stimulus funds actually went, and why such a small percentage was directly devoted to building things. So here it is, with some edits for space:



The main problem with that silly op-ed is that it refers to only a small slice of the actual federal spending on stimulus authorized by the Feb. 2009 legislation. So far, the overwhelming share of that stimulus has been devoted to three items: Tax cuts for households; direct benefits to people adversely affected by the severe recession, mostly the unemployed or poor; and fiscal relief to state and local governments. Vermont did not need any "Czar" to receive or administer funds under these programs. The money for them quickly left the U.S. Treasury without any effort on the part of the Czar who penned this highly misleading op-ed piece. People in Vermont *directly* received benefits from the stimulus as: (1) lower federal tax withholding from their paychecks; (2) extended unemployment benefits; (3) premium subsidies so they could maintain their health insurance after they were laid off from a job in which they received health protection; (4) miscellaneous benefits (e.g., for college costs) under one provision or another; and (5) aid from the Treasury that permitted Vermont and its localities to finance their Medicaid and K-12 education programs without hiking taxes or lowering other public spending. The kinds of infrastructure spending for which the WSJ's "Czar" had some responsibility constituted a small percentage of the stimulus the Congress authorized for 2009 and 2010.



In FY 2009 and 2010, the EXPECTED spending on infrastructure and other items for which the Vermont “Czar” may have had partial responsibility accounted for just 11% of anticipated spending under the stimulus legislation. The other 89% had nothing to do with the programs criticized by Vermont’s supposed Czar. Thus, all of his complaints – even if justified – are essentially irrelevant to the programs mainly supported by the stimulus law … at least so far. Obviously, in the years 2011-2019, that kind of stimulus spending would have accounted for a vastly larger share of outlays. But (and perhaps Vermont’s Czar has not kept up with this because he does not read a daily paper) the Congress just passed and the President just signed ANOTHER stimulus program consisting of more than 90% personal and business tax cuts and less than 10% extensions in unemployment benefits. So far as I know, very little additional spending has been authorized for those hated infrastructure / technology investment projects. Below is the CBO’s year-by-year analysis of the spending authorized under the Feb. 2009 stimulus law:





My own private view is that the country would probably have been better off if *MORE* of the original stimulus had been devoted to infrastructure / technology investment (more of it would have been spent on goods and services produced in the U.S. rather than China, East Asia, and Europe). Setting aside that consideration for a minute, what infuriates me about the piece cited in your blog is that it reinforces the very widespread but totally erroneous impression that Congress and the Administration were unaware of the administrative hurdles to fast spending that the “Czar” points out in his op-ed. Those hurdles were understood from the very beginning, which is precisely the reason that infrastructure/technology investment projects constituted such a small percentage of the total package. It is perfectly legitimate to criticize the pace of spending on these projects, but it is utterly deranged to think that the slow rate of spending on the projects constitutes a serious indictment of the spending authorized under the Feb. 2009 stimulus program. Very little of the expected spending under the stimulus program (at least so far) was supposed to be devoted to those projects.



bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews

Transfer <b>news</b>: Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti targets AC Milan <b>...</b>

Chelsea boss targets AC Milan striker, Aston Villa plot player swap for Newcastle star and Real Madrid warn Man United, Man City and Chelsea off defender.

Andy Borowitz: Fox <b>News</b> Warns That Without Angry Rhetoric It Will <b>...</b>

Fox is preparing for a "worst-case scenario" in which it was pressured to air responsible statements in place of its current programming: "If it comes to that, God forbid, we'll just air 24 hours of 24."

Fox <b>News</b> | Gabrielle Giffords | Sarah Palin | Mediaite

Fox News Hits 'Kill Switch' on Giffords Vigil as Mourner Says 'And I Say to You, Sarah Palin'


bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews

Transfer <b>news</b>: Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti targets AC Milan <b>...</b>

Chelsea boss targets AC Milan striker, Aston Villa plot player swap for Newcastle star and Real Madrid warn Man United, Man City and Chelsea off defender.

Andy Borowitz: Fox <b>News</b> Warns That Without Angry Rhetoric It Will <b>...</b>

Fox is preparing for a "worst-case scenario" in which it was pressured to air responsible statements in place of its current programming: "If it comes to that, God forbid, we'll just air 24 hours of 24."

Fox <b>News</b> | Gabrielle Giffords | Sarah Palin | Mediaite

Fox News Hits 'Kill Switch' on Giffords Vigil as Mourner Says 'And I Say to You, Sarah Palin'


bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews

Transfer <b>news</b>: Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti targets AC Milan <b>...</b>

Chelsea boss targets AC Milan striker, Aston Villa plot player swap for Newcastle star and Real Madrid warn Man United, Man City and Chelsea off defender.

Andy Borowitz: Fox <b>News</b> Warns That Without Angry Rhetoric It Will <b>...</b>

Fox is preparing for a "worst-case scenario" in which it was pressured to air responsible statements in place of its current programming: "If it comes to that, God forbid, we'll just air 24 hours of 24."

Fox <b>News</b> | Gabrielle Giffords | Sarah Palin | Mediaite

Fox News Hits 'Kill Switch' on Giffords Vigil as Mourner Says 'And I Say to You, Sarah Palin'


bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews

Transfer <b>news</b>: Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti targets AC Milan <b>...</b>

Chelsea boss targets AC Milan striker, Aston Villa plot player swap for Newcastle star and Real Madrid warn Man United, Man City and Chelsea off defender.

Andy Borowitz: Fox <b>News</b> Warns That Without Angry Rhetoric It Will <b>...</b>

Fox is preparing for a "worst-case scenario" in which it was pressured to air responsible statements in place of its current programming: "If it comes to that, God forbid, we'll just air 24 hours of 24."

Fox <b>News</b> | Gabrielle Giffords | Sarah Palin | Mediaite

Fox News Hits 'Kill Switch' on Giffords Vigil as Mourner Says 'And I Say to You, Sarah Palin'


bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews

Transfer <b>news</b>: Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti targets AC Milan <b>...</b>

Chelsea boss targets AC Milan striker, Aston Villa plot player swap for Newcastle star and Real Madrid warn Man United, Man City and Chelsea off defender.

Andy Borowitz: Fox <b>News</b> Warns That Without Angry Rhetoric It Will <b>...</b>

Fox is preparing for a "worst-case scenario" in which it was pressured to air responsible statements in place of its current programming: "If it comes to that, God forbid, we'll just air 24 hours of 24."

Fox <b>News</b> | Gabrielle Giffords | Sarah Palin | Mediaite

Fox News Hits 'Kill Switch' on Giffords Vigil as Mourner Says 'And I Say to You, Sarah Palin'


bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews

Transfer <b>news</b>: Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti targets AC Milan <b>...</b>

Chelsea boss targets AC Milan striker, Aston Villa plot player swap for Newcastle star and Real Madrid warn Man United, Man City and Chelsea off defender.

Andy Borowitz: Fox <b>News</b> Warns That Without Angry Rhetoric It Will <b>...</b>

Fox is preparing for a "worst-case scenario" in which it was pressured to air responsible statements in place of its current programming: "If it comes to that, God forbid, we'll just air 24 hours of 24."

Fox <b>News</b> | Gabrielle Giffords | Sarah Palin | Mediaite

Fox News Hits 'Kill Switch' on Giffords Vigil as Mourner Says 'And I Say to You, Sarah Palin'


bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews

Transfer <b>news</b>: Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti targets AC Milan <b>...</b>

Chelsea boss targets AC Milan striker, Aston Villa plot player swap for Newcastle star and Real Madrid warn Man United, Man City and Chelsea off defender.

Andy Borowitz: Fox <b>News</b> Warns That Without Angry Rhetoric It Will <b>...</b>

Fox is preparing for a "worst-case scenario" in which it was pressured to air responsible statements in place of its current programming: "If it comes to that, God forbid, we'll just air 24 hours of 24."

Fox <b>News</b> | Gabrielle Giffords | Sarah Palin | Mediaite

Fox News Hits 'Kill Switch' on Giffords Vigil as Mourner Says 'And I Say to You, Sarah Palin'


bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews

Transfer <b>news</b>: Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti targets AC Milan <b>...</b>

Chelsea boss targets AC Milan striker, Aston Villa plot player swap for Newcastle star and Real Madrid warn Man United, Man City and Chelsea off defender.

Andy Borowitz: Fox <b>News</b> Warns That Without Angry Rhetoric It Will <b>...</b>

Fox is preparing for a "worst-case scenario" in which it was pressured to air responsible statements in place of its current programming: "If it comes to that, God forbid, we'll just air 24 hours of 24."

Fox <b>News</b> | Gabrielle Giffords | Sarah Palin | Mediaite

Fox News Hits 'Kill Switch' on Giffords Vigil as Mourner Says 'And I Say to You, Sarah Palin'


bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews

Transfer <b>news</b>: Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti targets AC Milan <b>...</b>

Chelsea boss targets AC Milan striker, Aston Villa plot player swap for Newcastle star and Real Madrid warn Man United, Man City and Chelsea off defender.

Andy Borowitz: Fox <b>News</b> Warns That Without Angry Rhetoric It Will <b>...</b>

Fox is preparing for a "worst-case scenario" in which it was pressured to air responsible statements in place of its current programming: "If it comes to that, God forbid, we'll just air 24 hours of 24."

Fox <b>News</b> | Gabrielle Giffords | Sarah Palin | Mediaite

Fox News Hits 'Kill Switch' on Giffords Vigil as Mourner Says 'And I Say to You, Sarah Palin'


bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews

Transfer <b>news</b>: Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti targets AC Milan <b>...</b>

Chelsea boss targets AC Milan striker, Aston Villa plot player swap for Newcastle star and Real Madrid warn Man United, Man City and Chelsea off defender.

Andy Borowitz: Fox <b>News</b> Warns That Without Angry Rhetoric It Will <b>...</b>

Fox is preparing for a "worst-case scenario" in which it was pressured to air responsible statements in place of its current programming: "If it comes to that, God forbid, we'll just air 24 hours of 24."

Fox <b>News</b> | Gabrielle Giffords | Sarah Palin | Mediaite

Fox News Hits 'Kill Switch' on Giffords Vigil as Mourner Says 'And I Say to You, Sarah Palin'


bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews

Transfer <b>news</b>: Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti targets AC Milan <b>...</b>

Chelsea boss targets AC Milan striker, Aston Villa plot player swap for Newcastle star and Real Madrid warn Man United, Man City and Chelsea off defender.

Andy Borowitz: Fox <b>News</b> Warns That Without Angry Rhetoric It Will <b>...</b>

Fox is preparing for a "worst-case scenario" in which it was pressured to air responsible statements in place of its current programming: "If it comes to that, God forbid, we'll just air 24 hours of 24."

Fox <b>News</b> | Gabrielle Giffords | Sarah Palin | Mediaite

Fox News Hits 'Kill Switch' on Giffords Vigil as Mourner Says 'And I Say to You, Sarah Palin'


bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews

Transfer <b>news</b>: Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti targets AC Milan <b>...</b>

Chelsea boss targets AC Milan striker, Aston Villa plot player swap for Newcastle star and Real Madrid warn Man United, Man City and Chelsea off defender.

Andy Borowitz: Fox <b>News</b> Warns That Without Angry Rhetoric It Will <b>...</b>

Fox is preparing for a "worst-case scenario" in which it was pressured to air responsible statements in place of its current programming: "If it comes to that, God forbid, we'll just air 24 hours of 24."

Fox <b>News</b> | Gabrielle Giffords | Sarah Palin | Mediaite

Fox News Hits 'Kill Switch' on Giffords Vigil as Mourner Says 'And I Say to You, Sarah Palin'


bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews

Transfer <b>news</b>: Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti targets AC Milan <b>...</b>

Chelsea boss targets AC Milan striker, Aston Villa plot player swap for Newcastle star and Real Madrid warn Man United, Man City and Chelsea off defender.

Andy Borowitz: Fox <b>News</b> Warns That Without Angry Rhetoric It Will <b>...</b>

Fox is preparing for a "worst-case scenario" in which it was pressured to air responsible statements in place of its current programming: "If it comes to that, God forbid, we'll just air 24 hours of 24."

Fox <b>News</b> | Gabrielle Giffords | Sarah Palin | Mediaite

Fox News Hits 'Kill Switch' on Giffords Vigil as Mourner Says 'And I Say to You, Sarah Palin'


bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews

Transfer <b>news</b>: Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti targets AC Milan <b>...</b>

Chelsea boss targets AC Milan striker, Aston Villa plot player swap for Newcastle star and Real Madrid warn Man United, Man City and Chelsea off defender.

Andy Borowitz: Fox <b>News</b> Warns That Without Angry Rhetoric It Will <b>...</b>

Fox is preparing for a "worst-case scenario" in which it was pressured to air responsible statements in place of its current programming: "If it comes to that, God forbid, we'll just air 24 hours of 24."

Fox <b>News</b> | Gabrielle Giffords | Sarah Palin | Mediaite

Fox News Hits 'Kill Switch' on Giffords Vigil as Mourner Says 'And I Say to You, Sarah Palin'

Friday, January 7, 2011

foreclosure statistics


In his book, Thompson's search for the American dream ends at the burned-out husk of a former nightclub, a fitting metaphor for a city that went from the fastest-growing to the most-foreclosed city in America in the space of a year. As our article and its accompanying video document, today more than 80% of Vegas mortgages are underwater, and empty or abandoned home pepper the city.

Sunshine and Stricken Suburbs

Vegas is hardly the only region whose housing sector fed on dreams. In Florida, the third-most foreclosed state, dreams have fed the area's growth ever since Ponce de Leon ventured there in search of the fountain of youth. Our piece from Florida explores a different kind of dream: an uncompleted "Italian resort themed" suburban neighborhood that's now filled with cows. In order to save on taxes in the now-unprofitable real estate venture, the area's developer had the area reclassified as farmland and moved in livestock. As for the people who live there, the swanky neighborhood they signed on for is now a barbed-wire bonanza.

And dreams continue to be deferred across the country. In Modesto, Calif., Todd Lappin documents empty streets, hastily boarded-up windows and stagnant swimming pools in the fourth most foreclosed state. With his images of rusting barbecues, overgrown yards and abandoned homes, Lappin sketches a near-apocalyptic landscape, the scattered leavings of a once-posh suburban development.

Meanwhile, a promising development in Vickery, Ga., has started transforming into a money pit. To the dismay of the area's residents, the bankruptcy of Vickery's developer and rising foreclosures have sent neighborhood fees through the roof, even as property values have tumbled. As the author notes, it's unclear if the bucolic neighborhood will ever recoup its lost property values.

Small-Town Destitution

One doesn't have to travel to a sun-kissed wonderland to find a dream that came crashing down. As David Schepp documents in "The Housing Mess Hits One New York Town Hard," Mount Vernon, a scruffy suburb of New York City has also watched its property values plummet. With a majority African-American and Hispanic populace, the working-class city was heavy targeted by subprime lenders, a factor that helps explain why prices have fallen by 37% across the city and by as much as 72% in some neighborhoods.

...statistics show that despite Countrywide's representations, a much higher percentage of borrowers did not occupy the mortgaged properties:

...Overall, 18.3% of the loans sampled had recalculated LTV ratios of more than 10% higher than was claimed in the offering materials, and 6% of the loans sampled had recalculated LTV ratios of more than 25% higher than what was claimed in the offering circular. This overvaluation affected numerous statistics in the Offering Materials...For instance, the Offerings each made representations about the percent
of loans that had LTVs higher than 90% provide the lender little value
cushion to protect against borrower default and loss upon foreclosure.
However, the AVM indicates that a much higher percentage of the loans
had LTVs higher than 90%
.

The Offerings uniformly represented that none of the Mortgage Loans that collateralized the Certificates had LTV ratios greater than 100 percent, meaning that the size of the loan is greater than the value of the property. (aka: being "underwater") Loans with over 100% LTV afford the lender no equity cushion and leave the lender with inadequate collateral from the outset of a loan. Allstate's analysis has found that, despite Countrywide's representations, a substantial number of Mortgage Loans had LTVs greater than 100%, as follows:

Allstate has also analyzed the weighted average LTV of the Mortgage Loans in each pool and has found that the weighted average LTV was also overstated, because of the overstatement of individual Mortgage Loans within the pools.

All these lies, and much, much more, can be found detailed in the filing below. At the risk of cheeiness, this is just a sampling of the sampling. And it demonstrates as all those who purchased loans from CFC/BofA that were repped to be in order, will find, following sampling or loan by loan analysis, that Brian Moynihan's bank committed acts of fraud after fraud, putting not only itself, but its underwriter counsel at risk time again. In fact, if there was anything remotely close to a working legal system in the US, what happened to Lehman's Repo 105 auditor, E&Y, should promptly befall every single underwriter's counsel which is jointly liable in representing that the data set forth by the underwriter is correct. But just as importantly, it means that of the hundreds of hundreds billions in loans sold by BofA to hapless dimwits, arguably the bulk of it is now subject to putbacks, and is of far worse quality than previously expected. It also means that the GSEs: those infinite receptacles of mortgage biohazard, are lying consistently when representing the state of their own books, which are likely orders of magnitude worse than the monthly status reports will indicate. 

This is just starting to get interesting.

The full Allstate filing which is a must read for everyone is presented below.

 




free rental agreement forms

BMI.com | <b>News</b> | Nielsen Signs Off on Radio Ratings

Though Nielsen declined to elaborate on its decision to exit the U.S. radio-ratings business, the news came just days after the Arbitron-Clear Channel deal was announced — hardly a coincidence, suggested some media observers. ...

Huffington Post: Reinventing the “Big <b>News</b>” Experience with IE9 <b>...</b>

Huffington Post is a leading social news and opinion site, "The Internet Newspaper." They want to serve their customers relevant and timely “Big News” content and get them engaged to respond through blogs and social posts. ...

Will an ad network work for your <b>news</b> website? Or are you just <b>...</b>

The journalism industry's traditional ethical "wall" dividing advertising and editorial has left some journalists so frightened by the idea of selling to potential advertisers that they choose not even to try launching their own news ...