Monday, March 14, 2011

Making Money Tips


DailyWorth, the personal finance daily email and community for women, has raised $850,000 in funding led by Robin Hood Ventures with Eric Schmidt’s TomorrowVentures, Howard Lindzon’s Social Leverage, 500 Startups, Venture51, Investors’ Circle, Joanne Wilson, David Cohen, Scott Becker, and Carol Chow participating in the round.


Founded in 2009 by Amanda Steinberg, DailyWorth is a daily email newsletter that includes information on financial literacy and money management skewed towards a female audience. DailyWorth’s subjects range from how to organize your finances to tax tips to saving advice. And DailyWorth has an impressive editorial staff to create content. MP Dunleavey, previously a personal finance columnist with the New York Times and currently a contributor with Money magazine, is leading DailyWorth’s editorial team.


With 55,000 subscribers, the newsletter currently makes money via advertising and already has sponsorships in place with a number of financial institutions including ING and H&R Block. And DailyWorth plans to hold sponsored educational events as an additional revenue channel. The new funding will be used to expand audience reach with customized email newsletters; develop the startup’s website; add video content and to host sponsored events.


DailyWorth is similar in many ways to LearnVest, a personal finance community for women. But DailyWorth is committed to the email newsletter model (which are making a comeback). And there’s definitely room for many personal finance sites oriented towards women.



A roundup of economic news from around the Web.


Mortgage Interest Deduction: Howard Gleckman points to research looking at the cost of reducing the mortgage interest tax deduction. “The deduction for interest on home mortgages may be the most beloved of all tax subsidies. A politician needs only to muse about repealing or restructuring the deduction to be set upon by suburban mobs (led, perhaps, by real estate agents and mortgage lenders). But a new analysis by my Tax Policy Center colleagues Ridathi Chakravarti and Dan Baneman finds that most taxpayers would barely notice the change in their tax bill even if Congress dramatically restructured the subsidy. And with some changes, many of us would end up paying lower taxes than we do today. In the unlikely event Congress simply repeals the mortgage deduction, the average tax bill would increase by $710. But those who earn between $30,000 and $40,000 would pay an average of about $70 more while those making more than $1 million would pay an additional $4,000. “


Crowding Out: Menzie Chinn sees no evidence of the public sector crowding out private investment. “Relative to my September post, the ten year TIPS is slightly up, but the five year remains at zero (well, actually negative). This means that whatever upward pressure there is on government interest rates due to the large supply of government debt, it is being offset by low demand from the private sector (or by demand from offshore sources). Of course, the crowding out of investment phenomenon relies upon a variety of assumptions. It follows from a two asset model (money, bonds), with the right parameter values. With three assets, one can get “crowding in”. And even if interest rates had risen, if investment depends upon income (or the change in income), one could still get a net increase in investment from a positive fiscal impulse. Another implication of having interest rates at zero (at least the five year real) is that if fiscal policy is made more contractionary (as in some recent plans), then the contractionary impact should be large (this is just the mirror image of fiscal policy effectiveness in a liquidity trap).”


Global Imbalances: Kenneth Rogoff looks at global imbalances. “With policymakers and pundits railing against sustained oversized trade imbalances, we need to recognize that the real problems are rooted in excessive concentrations of debt. If G-20 governments stood back and asked themselves how to channel a much larger share of the imbalances into equity-like instruments, the global financial system that emerged just might be a lot more robust than the crisis-prone system that we have now. Unfortunately, we are very far from the idealized world in which financial markets efficiently share risk.”


Compiled by Phil Izzo





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Friday, March 11, 2011

Making Money Working

Founded in 2009 by Amanda Steinberg, DailyWorth can be a each day e-mail newsletter that features facts on financial literacy and moolah management skewed in the direction of a female audience. DailyWorth’s topics variety from learn how to organize your finances to tax tips to conserving information. And DailyWorth has an remarkable editorial workers to create subject material. MP Dunleavey, formerly a personal finance columnist with all the New york Times and at present a contributor with Cash magazine, is top DailyWorth’s editorial staff.

Despite unions’ prolonged hatred of Scott Walker, the new governor is shifting to deal with each the symptoms with the illness along with the condition itself-the public-sector union scheme that has molested Wisconsin’s taxpayers and their youngsters by gaming the process. Unions like Wisconsin’s teachers’ union [WEAC] (which was Wisconsin’s biggest-spending lobby in 2009) are actually extraordinarily adept at repairing the model because of shelling out millions to elect politicians who, in flip, reward the unions at the expense with the taxpayers.

the Wisconsin battle, when as compared to private-sector negotiations is about: one) the Scope of Bargaining, two) Union “Income” Protection [Right-to-Work vs. Compelled Dues], 3) no matter if Wisconsin have to be the unions’ dues collection company [payroll deduction of dues], and four) irrespective of whether public-sector unions should certainly be ‘recertified’ by holding elections each 12 months.

place the pics over the internet to exhibit our jobs team at msnbc.com, and photographer Jim Seida mentioned, why don’t we just publish it as a slide exhibit? I was skeptical initially - would that crimp the writing? - but inside the finish I used to be advocating performing it this way once the picture team was skeptical. I thought much more men and women would browse due to it this way, and it would be well worth an experiment.”


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Women Making Money

On Monday night time, I watched my first, The Last Phrase host Lawrence O’Donnell.
While O’Donnell laudably attempted to concentrate the audience’s consideration onand hopefully last, Charlie Sheen trainwreck interview, courtesy of the tragic undertow that threatens to pull Sheen below for fantastic, I was overtaken, not through the pulling around the thread, and the voracious audience he serves. It didn’t make me sad, it made me angry.

Regarding celebrities, we are able to be considered a heartless country, basking in their misfortunes like nude sunbathers at Schadenfreude Seashore. The impulse is understandable, to some diploma. It could be grating to listen to complaints from people who have fun with privileges that most of us can not even envision. When you can’t muster up some compassion for Charlie Sheen, who may make additional revenue for a day’s deliver the results than the majority of us will make inside a decade’s time, I guess I can’t blame you.



With the quick speed of events on the net and then the knowledge revolution sparked through the Online world, it is extremely effortless for the technology industry to feel it is distinctive: perpetually breaking new ground and executing things that no one has ever before performed earlier than.

But you will find other kinds of home business that have currently undergone some of the same exact radical shifts, and also have just as good a stake with the long run.

Consider healthcare, as an illustration.

We usually believe of it like a vast, lumbering beast, but in truth, medicine has undergone a sequence of revolutions inside past 200 many years that happen to be a minimum of equal to those we see in technological know-how and details.

Less understandable, but however inside the norms of human nature, is the impulse to rubberneck, to slow down and look into the carnage of Charlie spectacle of Sheen’s unraveling, but of your blithe interviewer Sheen’s life as we pass it in the correct lane of our each day lives. To get straightforward, it might be challenging for people to discern the difference among a run-of-the-mill attention whore, and an honest-to-goodness, circling the drain tragedy-to-be. On its own merits, a quote like “I Am On a Drug. It’s Labeled as Charlie Sheen” is sheer genius, and we can’t all be anticipated to get the complete measure of someone’s lifestyle any time we listen to anything funny.

Swiftly ahead to 2011 and I am seeking to look into suggests of getting a bit more business-like about my hobbies (generally music). By the end of January I had manned up and began to promote my weblogs. I had established a variety of several blogs, which had been contributed to by mates and colleagues. I promoted these routines by way of Facebook and Twitter.


2nd: the minor abomination the Gang of 5 around the Supream Court gave us a 12 months or so back (Citizens Inebriated) really incorporates a bit bouncing betty of its personal that could incredibly perfectly go off while in the faces of Govs Wanker, Sacitch, Krysty, and J.O. Daniels. Seeing that this ruling prolonged the idea of “personhood” to both equally corporations and unions, to attempt to deny them any appropriate to run within just the legal framework that they were organized underneath deprives these “persons” of the freedoms of speech, association and movement. Which implies (once again, quoting law school educated friends and family) that possibly the courts must uphold these rights for the unions (as person “persons” as assured by the Federal (and most state) constitutions, or they have to declare that these attempts at stripping or limiting union rights need to use to major companies, also.


What looks like a serious and important study on women in science was just released (as opposed to all the bogus studies on the degree of sexiness of ovulating women) and it found a whole lot of good news. In the past 40 years women have dramatically increased their representation in the sciences. Half of all M.D. degrees are awarded to women (and an astounding 77 percent of veterinary medicine degrees); slightly more than half of the doctorates in the life sciences go to women today – that figure was 13 percent in 1970.  But still (pace Larry Summers) women lag in the math-based sciences such as engineering.  But the authors of the study, Stephen J. Ceci and Wendy M. Williams of Cornell, conclude that a lot of time and money is being wasted to banish mostly non-existent sexism in the math-based sciences. They say one thing that keeps women out of these fields is an intrinsic preference for working with people as opposed to things.  They say there should be more exposure for young women to mentors in these hard sciences, but if a choice is freely arrived at, it’s not a problem. Another major issue affecting all women pursuing research-based academic careers is what they see as a conflict between their ambition and their desire to have children.


The researchers say instead of searching for the last remnants of sexism, a new focus should be on reforming academia so that women still have the highest rungs open to them, while being able to take time off for child-bearing and child-rearing. I heard an interview not long ago with Nobel Prize winner for Medicine, Carol Greider, who said that as a young researcher she had complete confidence that she could do the science, she just didn’t know if she could also be a mother. She was lucky to have female mentors who convinced her she could do both.  I hope this study gets widely discussed in academia so that universities can start making achievement more compatible with motherhood.


 


Guffaws and chuckles at Victoria Beckham’s show underscore the fashion industry’s perpetual dissing of female designers. And the sneers often come from women, writes Robin Givhan.


It’s hard being a woman in the fashion industry. They often fall victim to the mean-girl syndrome.


Victoria Beckham, the former Spice Girl-turned designer, was showing off her fall ready-to-wear collection to a small group of editors on a chilly Sunday afternoon in New York when some in the room quietly took her earnestness and used it against her. In the past, Beckham has always mounted intimate presentations during which she would informally describe each new garment, offering up a few details about the fabric, the construction, and how the silhouette fit into her particular tastes. This time, the show, in an empty Upper East Side townhouse with elegant architectural bones and a cozy fireplace crackling in the corner, was in front of a larger audience and included a more formal runway. No matter. Beckham, who was there to greet her guests as they arrived, kept with tradition and described each and every frock.


She provided tidbits about the fabric, including an iridescent multi-hued jacquard made of three colors of threads that criss-crossed to create a rainbow of shades. Beckham took great pride in what was the 100th dress that she’d designed, a mustard-hued faux wrap style with a wide gray zipper slithering up the back. And she lamented a sleeveless red dress with a deep V-neck and side pockets: “Every season, there’s one dress that looks really simple but is a nightmare,” Beckham said. “This is that dress.”


The front rooms of the townhouse were filled with the editors in chief of most of the major fashion glossies and Beckham seemed a bit nervous, never making eye contact with anyone in the audience. This woman who has performed on stage in front of millions seemed acutely aware that she was being judged by an extremely tough crowd and afterward she said, “I’m just so glad it’s over” and joked that she was practically having hot flashes of nervousness. She needn’t have worried. The collection was lovely. It wasn’t filled with razzle-dazzle, but rather the kind of clothes that women—at least those with money and the right sort of figure—would be happy to wear. And Beckham, a wife and mother who is pregnant with her fourth child, noted that the collection was a reflection of her own maturity.


But if one might have thought the audience would have been encouraging and well, equally mature… you would be so terribly wrong. There were muffled giggles, knowing glances, and plenty of eye-rolling over the non-stop narration. Certainly, Beckham’s chatter was a throwback to a 1950s fashion industry. But that was her point—to make the presentation more personal and without the hype of the modern business. It also called to mind the manner in which Tom Ford presented his women’s collection for spring. His rolling monologue drew gushing praise from the industry. Of course, Ford’s presentation dripped in irony. And Ford is the reigning prince of charm.


Beckham’s great crime, it seems, was her earnestness. She was not being ironic. She was not being self-consciously hip. And the cool girls turned on her. It wasn’t pretty.





Looks from Victoria Beckham Dresses Fall 2011 presentation during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Private Studio on February 13, 2011 in New York City. 2nd from right: Victoria Beckham arrives at her fashion presentation (Photos: Chris Moore; Startracks)


Beckham’s great crime, it seems, was her earnestness. She was not being ironic. She was not being self-consciously hip. And the cool girls turned on her. It wasn’t pretty.


While the fashion business is overwhelmingly for and about women, it always seems that women have the hardest time capturing the imagination of the industry’s king—or queen—makers. Today, women such as Donna Karan and Diane von Furstenberg have a large footprint on the American fashion business. Karan has evolved into the kind of designer who attempts to capture the soulfulness and power of femininity—and for fall she did it with a collection that was all lean pencil skirts, cinched waist jackets and luxurious coats done up in a sensual iridescence inspired by pearls. And von Furstenberg’s fall collection of artful print dresses layered over slender trousers, her raucously sparkling tunics and jackets, and her sense of easy glamour reaffirmed her status as the quintessential New York designer. She represents the supremely confident and sexy dame that most every young woman in the fashion industry imagines herself to be.










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Saturday, March 5, 2011

internet marketing


Please get it right this time instead of pushing a release based on "some date".


At the very least, get some parity with all the other browsers when it comes to supporting CSS (that's probably not too much to ask). I think we're all tired of creating "IE conditionals" and/or workarounds and/or hacks.


There isn't any "rush" is there? I mean as far as developers are concerned, unless "hacks" are resolved, its pretty much another "ho hum" release - unless someone out there thinks that there are still those who create sites *only* for IE (really?)....


As far as users are concerned, sure, they may get more experiences - but unless its some "demo site" run by Microsoft, it'll still be limited by, yup, developer support (at large) - otherwise, yet again, even users will find sites "that don't work" ....in IE anyway, but just works and looks right in any other browser.


Get it right, not just "out there"...please.


There are enough browsers out there in 2011.


As for the OS requirements -  the only comment so far that makes sense is one by @Nosfy:


"why oh why does internet explorer HAVE TO DEPEND on a windows version ??? IT IS the only browser with that limitation and it is the only reason why so many old versions of internet explorer are still in use today."


Kudos to that statement. But as above, just get it right. All the "old" versions have been dealt with via hacks and workarounds, or plugins (i.e. Chrome) so hopefully none of these ever need to be for IE9 - and the only way that will happen is yep, you get it right this time.



Please get it right this time instead of pushing a release based on "some date".


At the very least, get some parity with all the other browsers when it comes to supporting CSS (that's probably not too much to ask). I think we're all tired of creating "IE conditionals" and/or workarounds and/or hacks.


There isn't any "rush" is there? I mean as far as developers are concerned, unless "hacks" are resolved, its pretty much another "ho hum" release - unless someone out there thinks that there are still those who create sites *only* for IE (really?)....


As far as users are concerned, sure, they may get more experiences - but unless its some "demo site" run by Microsoft, it'll still be limited by, yup, developer support (at large) - otherwise, yet again, even users will find sites "that don't work" ....in IE anyway, but just works and looks right in any other browser.


Get it right, not just "out there"...please.


There are enough browsers out there in 2011.


As for the OS requirements -  the only comment so far that makes sense is one by @Nosfy:


"why oh why does internet explorer HAVE TO DEPEND on a windows version ??? IT IS the only browser with that limitation and it is the only reason why so many old versions of internet explorer are still in use today."


Kudos to that statement. But as above, just get it right. All the "old" versions have been dealt with via hacks and workarounds, or plugins (i.e. Chrome) so hopefully none of these ever need to be for IE9 - and the only way that will happen is yep, you get it right this time.



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AOL Bolsters Local <b>News</b> Investment With Acquisition of Outside.in <b>...</b>

AOL has acquired local news aggregator Outside.in, according to multiple reports.

Good <b>news</b>: Obama now brewing his own beer at the White House « Hot Air

Good news: Obama now brewing his own beer at the White House.

Robert Reich: The Real <b>News</b> on Jobs

On our current trajectory, the unemployment rate will continue to decline. But so will the pay and benefits of most Americans. The real story isn't about jobs, it's about the ever decreasing standard of living for the middle class.


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AOL Bolsters Local <b>News</b> Investment With Acquisition of Outside.in <b>...</b>

AOL has acquired local news aggregator Outside.in, according to multiple reports.

Good <b>news</b>: Obama now brewing his own beer at the White House « Hot Air

Good news: Obama now brewing his own beer at the White House.

Robert Reich: The Real <b>News</b> on Jobs

On our current trajectory, the unemployment rate will continue to decline. But so will the pay and benefits of most Americans. The real story isn't about jobs, it's about the ever decreasing standard of living for the middle class.


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internet-marketing-process-image by MEL197127


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AOL Bolsters Local <b>News</b> Investment With Acquisition of Outside.in <b>...</b>

AOL has acquired local news aggregator Outside.in, according to multiple reports.

Good <b>news</b>: Obama now brewing his own beer at the White House « Hot Air

Good news: Obama now brewing his own beer at the White House.

Robert Reich: The Real <b>News</b> on Jobs

On our current trajectory, the unemployment rate will continue to decline. But so will the pay and benefits of most Americans. The real story isn't about jobs, it's about the ever decreasing standard of living for the middle class.


bench craft company

AOL Bolsters Local <b>News</b> Investment With Acquisition of Outside.in <b>...</b>

AOL has acquired local news aggregator Outside.in, according to multiple reports.

Good <b>news</b>: Obama now brewing his own beer at the White House « Hot Air

Good news: Obama now brewing his own beer at the White House.

Robert Reich: The Real <b>News</b> on Jobs

On our current trajectory, the unemployment rate will continue to decline. But so will the pay and benefits of most Americans. The real story isn't about jobs, it's about the ever decreasing standard of living for the middle class.


bench craft company

AOL Bolsters Local <b>News</b> Investment With Acquisition of Outside.in <b>...</b>

AOL has acquired local news aggregator Outside.in, according to multiple reports.

Good <b>news</b>: Obama now brewing his own beer at the White House « Hot Air

Good news: Obama now brewing his own beer at the White House.

Robert Reich: The Real <b>News</b> on Jobs

On our current trajectory, the unemployment rate will continue to decline. But so will the pay and benefits of most Americans. The real story isn't about jobs, it's about the ever decreasing standard of living for the middle class.


bench craft company

AOL Bolsters Local <b>News</b> Investment With Acquisition of Outside.in <b>...</b>

AOL has acquired local news aggregator Outside.in, according to multiple reports.

Good <b>news</b>: Obama now brewing his own beer at the White House « Hot Air

Good news: Obama now brewing his own beer at the White House.

Robert Reich: The Real <b>News</b> on Jobs

On our current trajectory, the unemployment rate will continue to decline. But so will the pay and benefits of most Americans. The real story isn't about jobs, it's about the ever decreasing standard of living for the middle class.


bench craft company

AOL Bolsters Local <b>News</b> Investment With Acquisition of Outside.in <b>...</b>

AOL has acquired local news aggregator Outside.in, according to multiple reports.

Good <b>news</b>: Obama now brewing his own beer at the White House « Hot Air

Good news: Obama now brewing his own beer at the White House.

Robert Reich: The Real <b>News</b> on Jobs

On our current trajectory, the unemployment rate will continue to decline. But so will the pay and benefits of most Americans. The real story isn't about jobs, it's about the ever decreasing standard of living for the middle class.


bench craft company

AOL Bolsters Local <b>News</b> Investment With Acquisition of Outside.in <b>...</b>

AOL has acquired local news aggregator Outside.in, according to multiple reports.

Good <b>news</b>: Obama now brewing his own beer at the White House « Hot Air

Good news: Obama now brewing his own beer at the White House.

Robert Reich: The Real <b>News</b> on Jobs

On our current trajectory, the unemployment rate will continue to decline. But so will the pay and benefits of most Americans. The real story isn't about jobs, it's about the ever decreasing standard of living for the middle class.


bench craft company

AOL Bolsters Local <b>News</b> Investment With Acquisition of Outside.in <b>...</b>

AOL has acquired local news aggregator Outside.in, according to multiple reports.

Good <b>news</b>: Obama now brewing his own beer at the White House « Hot Air

Good news: Obama now brewing his own beer at the White House.

Robert Reich: The Real <b>News</b> on Jobs

On our current trajectory, the unemployment rate will continue to decline. But so will the pay and benefits of most Americans. The real story isn't about jobs, it's about the ever decreasing standard of living for the middle class.


bench craft company

AOL Bolsters Local <b>News</b> Investment With Acquisition of Outside.in <b>...</b>

AOL has acquired local news aggregator Outside.in, according to multiple reports.

Good <b>news</b>: Obama now brewing his own beer at the White House « Hot Air

Good news: Obama now brewing his own beer at the White House.

Robert Reich: The Real <b>News</b> on Jobs

On our current trajectory, the unemployment rate will continue to decline. But so will the pay and benefits of most Americans. The real story isn't about jobs, it's about the ever decreasing standard of living for the middle class.



internet-marketing-process-image by MEL197127




















































Monday, February 21, 2011

1 internet marketing









Top Stories of the Week




  • I Worked on the AOL Content Farm & It Changed My Life

  • ATDHE Seized: How Site Takedowns Are Ceremonial

  • Step By Step, Google Docs Becoming the Mythical "GDrive"

  • You Can Now Buy Up to 16 Terabytes of Storage from Google

  • How to Jailbreak iOS 4.2.1 - Now, Untethered!


More coverage and analysis from ReadWriteWeb






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The countless individual interactions people make online have introduced a new level of complexity in marketing. These "gestures" come in the form of likes in Facebook, replies in Twitter or subscriptions to blogs. Other gestures may be a link to a site or a check-in on a location-based network. Engaging Online Communities takes a look at how the modern enterprise must set up the right systems so it can keep track of the gestures that people make and perform analytics on the data. You can download and view Engaging Online Communities here.





Location



  • Facebook Deals Launches in Europe

  • Google Adds 3 New Ways to Check In to Places, Including Automatically


More Location coverage




Mobile



  • Ericsson Launches Mobile Banking System to Rival Western Union

  • In Preparation for the iPhone, Verizon Plans to Throttle Its Heaviest Data Users


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Internet of Things


  • Last Block of IPv4 Addresses Allocated

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    Thursday, February 17, 2011

    Being Right or Making Money



    I am looking at a picture snapped this week in Tahrir Square, the now-famous stretch of land in central Cairo where so many hopes and dreams of a new Egypt have been voiced over the last 12 days. In the picture, a young man, maybe 20-years-old, is holding a simple handwritten sign that reads: "Dear Tourists, Don't Leave. We'll Protect You."



    It's an arresting image that is already ricocheting around the Internet. And not only because the sign-holder is so young, but because of what it captures: a plea from the next generation to the international community not to abandon their economy. This sign is also a proclamation: we are not going to let our country fail, if you will only trust us.



    The simple request begs a question. What moves are the leaders of the Arab nations and their private sector partners making to ensure that these brave citizens will get the support they need? In a world where the global business community is the new consensus-builder and FDI is the modern credibility index, it's time to act.



    It is an understatement to say that the Arab World is amidst radical change -- political, economic, and social. We still don't know where the unprecedented popular uprisings started in Tunisia, followed by Egypt, and now posing a risk of the 'domino effect' in Yemen, Sudan, Jordan and possibly even Gulf states, will ultimately lead.



    But what I do know, having organized dozens of high-level gatherings in the MENA region including the Middle East Peace Summit in Jordan and multiple summits in Sharm El Sheikh, is that there is an equally unprecedented opportunity right now for the region to come together in an inclusive way to make changes that will have an impact on many generations to follow.



    As the demonstrators across the region have shown, the world is impatient for change. There is no more time to think and talk; it is time to act. And the most important question being faced across the Middle East today is not who will lead, or which party will rule -- but how will we survive?



    Tourism revenues have bottomed out, with some estimates stating that Egypt has already lost $1 billion in tourism dollars since January 25th, and this represents but one strategic sector. Investors are fearful and hesitant to inject any more money into the market until it demonstrates political and economic stability.



    The time is now to bring together all parties that will contribute to the future of the Arab World, including political and business leaders, academics, social scientists, constitutional law specialists, youth leaders and women's groups, as well as the foreign investment community. While it is clear that the Arab World must carve its own path, in this globalized world, it is essential to now involve friends that can help provide support them as they navigate to a new era.



    And unlike previous summits, this is not an occasion for speeches and platitudes. It's time for to roll up sleeves, bring in the very best strategic advisors, and create a special fund to back an immediate action plan that supports political reform with the help of great institutions, promotes economic reform based on informed analysis and expertise, and initiates social reforms with the supports of worldwide experts and strategic firms.



    The global marketplace needs confidence in the region, and there is still much to believe in. In their DNA, we see a deep reservoir of talent, education, natural resources, and open borders to FDI. But even more -- as the young man in the picture demonstrates -- the people are the greatest asset. There is a global culture present in the Arab world populated by citizens that are worldly, informed, speak perfect English and know what's happening around the world, from Brazil to China.



    We have a responsibility to these people. Don't Leave. Come together.



    Richard Attias, Chairman of the Columbia University Center on Capitalism and Society and creator of the New York Forum, has spent his career developing some of the most influential gatherings of global leaders in the last 20 years.









    All right, so we knew former Bell officials were bellying up to the public trough. But is there a difference between a pig and a hog?


    I decided to check after reading about this e-mail exchange between former Bell Assistant City Administrator Angela Spaccia and Randy Adams, who was about to become the police chief:


    ADAMS: "I am looking forward to seeing you and taking all of Bell's money?!"


    SPACCIA: "Okay … just a share of it!! LOL … well you can take your share of the pie … just like us!!! We will all get fat together … Bob has an expression he likes to use on occasion … Pigs get Fat … Hogs get slaughtered!!!! So as long as we're not Hogs … All is well!"


    Bob, of course, is Robert Rizzo, the former city administrator who made nearly $800,000 a year. Bob is looking at 53 felony counts in the alleged looting of the city of Bell, so I think you could say the slaughter has begun.


    Adams was paid more than $400,000; and Spaccia, who made $376,000, is charged with misappropriating funds. They all got fat together, in other words, and whether you use the term pig, hog or wild boar, what can you say to any of this but oink, oink, oink?


    The exchange between Spaccia and Adams was released in the midst of Monday's preliminary hearing, and Spaccia's attorney Russell Petti wasted no time in putting a cloven hoof into his own mouth. He told Times reporter Jeff Gottlieb we shouldn't get the wrong idea about those e-mails, because Spaccia was actually "trying to save the city of Bell money."


    Thanks, counselor. I'll believe that when pigs fly, as they say.


    Petti also said: "The intent of that is, 'Look, we're all very well compensated by the city and let's not be pigs about it.' "


    Yeah, sure. Spaccia tells Adams they'll all get fat together, Adams ends up making more than police chiefs in Los Angeles and New York, and she's out to save Bell money?


    But I digress. Is there a difference between a pig and a hog?


    Apparently so.


    The dictionary says a pig is "any of several mammals of the Suidae family." Or, "any person regarded as being pig-like, greedy or gross."


    A hog is defined as a pig weighing over 120 pounds, and also as a "self-indulgent, gluttonous or filthy person."


    So are they pigs or are they hogs?


    To be safe, should we just go with swine?


    -- Steve Lopez


    Photos: (Left) Randy Adams in June 2010. Credit: Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times. (Right): Angela Spaccia in October 2010. Credit: Al Seib / Los Angeles Times




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    Tuesday, February 15, 2011

    foreclosure



    At a press event in North Portland in front of the home of a family struggling to avoid foreclosure, Senator Jeff Merkley unveiled a six-part plan to fix the housing market and rebalance the relationship between borrower and lender. The plan includes what Merkley calls “lifeline bankruptcy,” which is basically the cramdown proposal to allow bankruptcy judges to modify the terms of primary residence loans.


    The “colossal disappointment” of the HAMP loan modification program, according to Merkley, necessitates a restart to the national conversation of how to heal the decaying housing market. The confusion in the market, as well as the continued flood of foreclosures, creates uncertainty for working families and the economy. “We’re not going to see a true economic recovery until we do something about the broken housing market,” said Senator Merkley at the event. “I met with Portland homeowners today who dealt with months of confusing instructions to get a mortgage modification, only to be told 10 months later they didn’t qualify and their home was facing foreclosure. My plan will put homeowners first and foreclosures last.”


    Here are the six points to the Merkley proposal:


    1) A national short refinance program. When a bank sends a home into foreclosure, it becomes an REO property, to be sold at auction at a large loss for the investors. Instead of going through the long process of resale, with the attendant upkeep that has to be spent by the bank on the home, and the disruption to the property values from having a vacant home in their neighborhood, this short refi program would allow qualified families facing eviction to refinance to an FHA-guaranteed mortgage based on current property values and interest rates. In the interim the family could stay in the home during the appraisal, new underwriting and final resolution. Many families would be able to pay a reduced payment if the home was written down to real value. The investor would get a bigger payoff than selling a vacant home in foreclosure. Neighbors would see their communities stabilized without a vacant property in their midst. And the family would get to stay in their home.


    2) Ending dual track. The family highlighted at today’s event, Connie and Michael Umphress, were current on their mortgage when they sought a modification with Wells Fargo. The servicer encouraged them to miss a payment to qualify for the private modification, and then reduced the loan in the trial period. But at the same time, they pursued foreclosure actions. So Connie and Michael got foreclosure notices while they negotiated the modification process. Merkley’s plan would end this highly stressful dual track process, and suspend foreclosure actions while families sought a modification. This would reduce incentives for servicers to string along borrowers with a reduced payment for months (in the case of the Umphresses, 10 months), only to reject the modification and demand payment of the balance owed to avoid foreclosure. “This leads to families walking away from their homes or avoiding the modification process altogether,” Merkley said. “There must be a better way.


    3) Single point of contact. Borrowers aiming for a modification usually talk to a different person at their servicer every single time they establish contact. This means they have to explain their situation all over again, and increases the possibility for mistakes. Merkley would establish a single point of contact between the borrower and the lender.


    4) Third party review. Similar in spirit to Sen. Al Franken’s proposed Office of Homeowner Advocate, this would create an independent third-party review process for families facing foreclosure. It would check to see if the borrower explored every option to avoid foreclosure, and possibly initiate a mediation process with a sit-down between the borrower and the servicer. Mandatory mediation has proven successful in Maine, Connecticut and other states in getting modifications done and avoiding foreclosure. The third-party review would also “ensure that homeowners’ legal rights are protected” by ensuring that existing state laws have been fully enforced. This is the polar opposite of Third Way’s plan to deny due process to foreclosure victims. Merkley would actually have this independent reviewer identify state law where relevant to ensure a firebreak against things like foreclosure fraud.


    5) Lifeline bankruptcy reform. This is basically cram-down, the ability for bankruptcy judges to treat primary residence mortgages the same way they treat vacation homes, second homes, boats or virtually any other asset. The result would be that homeowners would have a level playing field and the banks would finally have an incentive to pursue modifications rather than risk how the bankruptcy judge would modify the terms.


    6) Homebuyer’s tax credit. I’m not such a fan of this proposal, but as Merkley describes it, he would generally target it toward first-time homebuyers purchasing “modest” homes. Merkley’s plan would give a $5,000 tax credit in the year of purchase (as opposed to the $8,000 tax credit implemented in 2009-10) to first-time homebuyers, “spending money upfront” to help working families become homeowners. I’m not sure that’s such a desirable goal, actually, but if this is capped, so that we’re not giving $5,000 away needlessly to buyers who would have purchased a million-dollar home anyway, it’s at least a bit better than the 2009-10 plan.


    Merkley hopes his proposal would spark a conversation in Washington about how to fix the housing market. HAMP has completely failed; as Merkley noted today, less than $1 billion has been spent to mitigate foreclosures, out of a promised $50-75 billion. “We are not through the foreclosure crisis, so we must have a second national conversation,” Merkley said. He invited other proposals from members of Congress.


    I asked Merkley if he was putting this together because he thought Congress would be forced to step in to clear up a chaotic situation if more legal rulings call into question the standing of servicers to foreclose. “Possibly,” he answered. “The role is to ensure fairness (in the housing market). The complexities in the system right now can create a challenge to the health of the market. So we have to deal with this.”


    Merkley wasn’t familiar with the Third Way proposal to limit due process for foreclosure victims, but I think his plan serves as a nice counterpoint. If the housing market goes haywire, there will be a major need for off-the-shelf solutions to create an equitable situation that doesn’t simply bigfoot on the side of the banks. His proposal mostly does that. “Let’s empower homeowners,” he concluded.




    Veterans who lose their homes to a short sale or a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure can now receive up to $1,500 in relocation assistance.



    The VA has for years incentivized mortgage servicers to work with veterans on the edge of default. Now, the agency has directed its approved servicers to provide that cash advance to borrowers who use a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure or who complete a VA compromise claim to unload their short sale.



    The directive went into effect on Jan. 6. Borrowers can use the money to cover moving expenses or to simply pay for lodging while they deal with the pending loss of their home.



    "VA has a longstanding policy of encouraging servicers to work with veteran borrowers to explore all reasonable options to help them retain their homes or, when that is not feasible, to mitigate losses by pursuing alternatives to foreclosure," according to the two-page VA circular released on the subject. "These options generally provide a substantially better outcome than a foreclosure sale for borrowers, investors, and communities."



    Borrowers won't receive that assistance as part of sale proceeds. The VA plans to reimburse servicers, who can secure a reimbursement up to the maximum VA guaranty along with any costs associated with resale.



    The measure comes in part as a cost efficiency tool. Short sales and deeds-in-lieu of foreclosure take considerably less time and money to complete than the traditional foreclosure process. The odds are also better that the property will remain in good shape.



    Servicers are expected to notify borrowers of their options regarding foreclosure.



    Furthermore, the VA continues to push servicers to follow Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA) procedures regarding potential short sales, mostly by halting any foreclosure proceedings while borrowers evaluate their options.



    Despite the economic environment, VA loans as a whole continue to thrive in the face of foreclosure. These government-backed loans have the lowest rate of foreclosure among major lending programs, a staggering fact considering that 90 percent of VA loans come with no down payment.



    VA officials continue to work hard to keep veterans in their homes. In fact, nearly 75 percent of the VA borrowers who defaulted in 2009 were able to avoid foreclosure.



    A slightly different version of this article was published originally on OurBroker.com, a leading source of real estate, mortgage and foreclosure news and information.







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    While reporting from Egypt for a "60 Minutes" story, CBS News correspondant Lara Logan was sexually assaulted and beaten. According to a statement issued by CBS on Tuesday, Logan was attacked on Feb. 11, the day Egyptian President Hosni ...


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    CBS <b>News</b>&#39; Lara Logan Sexually Assaulted in Egypt | Fancast <b>News</b>

    Shocking details have been released regarding the incident involving CBS News Chief Foreign Correspondent Lara Logan during the protests in Egypt. CBS News issued a statement Tuesday revealing that Logan is currentl in the.

    Lara Logan, CBS <b>News</b> Correspondent, Sexually Assaulted in Egypt <b>...</b>

    Simply put, this is horrific: CBS reporter Lara Logan has reportedly been sexually assaulted in Egypt while covering the uprising there.

    CBS <b>News</b>&#39; Lara Logan assaulted in Egypt | Show Tracker | Los <b>...</b>

    While reporting from Egypt for a "60 Minutes" story, CBS News correspondant Lara Logan was sexually assaulted and beaten. According to a statement issued by CBS on Tuesday, Logan was attacked on Feb. 11, the day Egyptian President Hosni ...


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    CBS <b>News</b>&#39; Lara Logan Sexually Assaulted in Egypt | Fancast <b>News</b>

    Shocking details have been released regarding the incident involving CBS News Chief Foreign Correspondent Lara Logan during the protests in Egypt. CBS News issued a statement Tuesday revealing that Logan is currentl in the.

    Lara Logan, CBS <b>News</b> Correspondent, Sexually Assaulted in Egypt <b>...</b>

    Simply put, this is horrific: CBS reporter Lara Logan has reportedly been sexually assaulted in Egypt while covering the uprising there.

    CBS <b>News</b>&#39; Lara Logan assaulted in Egypt | Show Tracker | Los <b>...</b>

    While reporting from Egypt for a "60 Minutes" story, CBS News correspondant Lara Logan was sexually assaulted and beaten. According to a statement issued by CBS on Tuesday, Logan was attacked on Feb. 11, the day Egyptian President Hosni ...


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    CBS <b>News</b>&#39; Lara Logan Sexually Assaulted in Egypt | Fancast <b>News</b>

    Shocking details have been released regarding the incident involving CBS News Chief Foreign Correspondent Lara Logan during the protests in Egypt. CBS News issued a statement Tuesday revealing that Logan is currentl in the.

    Lara Logan, CBS <b>News</b> Correspondent, Sexually Assaulted in Egypt <b>...</b>

    Simply put, this is horrific: CBS reporter Lara Logan has reportedly been sexually assaulted in Egypt while covering the uprising there.

    CBS <b>News</b>&#39; Lara Logan assaulted in Egypt | Show Tracker | Los <b>...</b>

    While reporting from Egypt for a "60 Minutes" story, CBS News correspondant Lara Logan was sexually assaulted and beaten. According to a statement issued by CBS on Tuesday, Logan was attacked on Feb. 11, the day Egyptian President Hosni ...


    bench craft company me

    CBS <b>News</b>&#39; Lara Logan Sexually Assaulted in Egypt | Fancast <b>News</b>

    Shocking details have been released regarding the incident involving CBS News Chief Foreign Correspondent Lara Logan during the protests in Egypt. CBS News issued a statement Tuesday revealing that Logan is currentl in the.

    Lara Logan, CBS <b>News</b> Correspondent, Sexually Assaulted in Egypt <b>...</b>

    Simply put, this is horrific: CBS reporter Lara Logan has reportedly been sexually assaulted in Egypt while covering the uprising there.

    CBS <b>News</b>&#39; Lara Logan assaulted in Egypt | Show Tracker | Los <b>...</b>

    While reporting from Egypt for a "60 Minutes" story, CBS News correspondant Lara Logan was sexually assaulted and beaten. According to a statement issued by CBS on Tuesday, Logan was attacked on Feb. 11, the day Egyptian President Hosni ...