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Movie magic, marketing shoot Batman to record

LOS ANGELES: The Dark Knight, the new Batman film based on a comic book hero invented 70 years ago, has powered the US box office to a new record and proved Hollywood's uncanny ability to continually repackage old stories into treats that audiences find irresistible.

So much for the advent of the internet, the digital video recorder and YouTube making cinemas obsolete. Over a single weekend, The Dark Knight earned $158.3 million as US audiences flocked to the dark tale of a caped crusader who saves Gotham City from the evil machinations of his arch nemesis, the Joker.

“This is really a watershed event," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of the box-office tracking firm Media by Numbers.

“Not only is it the biggest opening weekend of all time, it helped make this the biggest overall movie weekend of all time. more

'Stereotype'? Yes and no

One is that doctoral programs in business disciplines encourage applications from women (and men) seeking a "second career," often because family responsibilities make flexible hours even though long hours seem like a wonderful alternative to one's current job.

Also, the focus on academic research is as real in a business field as in science but no "post-doc" is needed after completion of the doctoral program to be offered a faculty position.

Finally, we at the Bauer College of Business at the University of Houston, the only place in Houston offering business doctorates, give half-time financial support and a tuition waiver to all accepted applicants, and we are looking for verbal and quantitative skills, certainly not a specific gender.

BETSY D. more

B/E Aerospace Second Quarter Results Exceed Expectations; Record

On July 28, 2008 the company completed its acquisition of Honeywell's Consumables Solutions distribution business (HCS) for $1.05 billion which consisted of $901.4 million in cash consideration and six million shares of the company's common stock.

-- The company raised its full-year 2008 financial guidance by $0.02 per diluted share to approximately $2.37 per diluted share, excluding the impact of HCS transaction related effects.

Second Quarter Performance

The 41.7 percent growth in operating earnings as compared to the second quarter of last year was driven primarily by the 31.1 percent increase in revenues and the 120 basis point expansion in operating margin. Revenue growth was driven by robust market conditions and market share gains. The 16.1 percent operating margin primarily reflects strong margin expansion in the distribution, interior systems and business jet segments. more

Britvic plans marketing boost to revitalise Tango

Britvic will ramp up marketing behind its once iconic Tango brand next year in a bid to win back its dominant position in the sales charts.

Britvic marketing director Simon Stewart says that it is the right time to refocus on the brand given that the backlash against sugary drinks is subsiding, and the cola market is resurgent.

He plans to revitalise the brand with a boost in marketing spend and a new digital-led advertising campaign. Consumers, says Stewart, are now taking a more balanced approach to diet.

Stewart is looking at brand plans for the next year and these are expected to include increasing marketing spend.

He says: "We are going through the planning [for all our brands] at the moment, but my own personal thought is that Tango is really important to us and will continue to be important to us. more

Ski Resort Gets A Lift From Business Intelligence

A business intelligence and performance management initiative transformed disparate pieces of data into actionable business information to help boost Blue Mountain Resorts� bottom line.

Blue Mountain Resorts, Ontario�s largest mountain resort, is a four-season recreational and conference destination. As the third-busiest ski resort in Canada, it accommodates more than 1 million guests each winter and employs 1,065 full-time-equivalent workers. In addition to ski slopes, Blue Mountain, located in Collingwood, has mountain-biking trails, gondolas, tennis courts and the nationally ranked Monterra Golf course.

In 1999, Intrawest, a publicly held North American operator and owner of resorts, purchased a 50 percent interest in Blue Mountain Resorts. When it became part of a large public chain, Blue Mountain needed a more efficient way to report on profitability across its 13 different lines of business, including restaurants, ticketing, call centers and lodging. more

Latest Business Debt Leads News

BABBLING BROOK: Scary economy leads to scary predictions - Las Cruces Sun-News

While guillotines might not be dotting the landscape anytime soon, the weird, wild, scary economy has made anything possible, at least in our minds. No one knows the future, of course, but usually upturns and ...

RBS Leads Bank Issues With Yields at 5-Year Low: Credit Markets - BusinessWeek

Aug. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, issuer of the second best-performing financial bonds this month, led lenders selling $7.5 billion of debt today after bank borrowing costs fell to the ...

Mindich’s Eton Park Leads Hedge Funds Joining Paulson Gold Bet - BusinessWeek

Aug. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Eric Mindich’s $13 billion Eton Park Capital Management LP led hedge funds in raising gold investments last quarter, joining billionaire John Paulson’s bet that bullion will increase ...

European Stocks Retreat, Paced by Oil, Gas Explorers; Tullow Leads Decline - Bloomberg

European stocks slid, extending a one-month low, as investors awaited reports on U.S. house prices and business investment for signs of the health of the world’s largest economy. Asian shares fell and U.S ...

Germany leads eurozone to stronger growth - Chicago Tribune

The economy of the 16 countries that use the euro grew by a better-than-expected 1 percent during the second quarter as growth engine Germany expanded at its fastest pace since reunification two decades ago ...

How Repetition Can Turbo-Charge Your Business - Street.Com

More from Entrepreneur.com Losing the Dream, but Saving the Store From Survival Mode to Growth Much More Than Office Space You may not be familiar with the amazing breakthrough one mass marketer of shampoo used to ...

For-Profit Schools Score Low on Debt-Repayment Measure - Wall Street Journal

More for-profit colleges than expected may be in danger of running afoul of a proposed regulation that would penalize them for graduating students with heavy debt loads. The U.S. Department of Education on ...

How do you get debt collectors off your back? - FOXBusiness

Our columnists constantly field questions from our readers about credit and debt issues. Over the years, certain issues keep popping up. This week, we're having each of our columnists field one of the most ...

Google Leads Revival in Commercial Paper as Rates Tumble: Credit Markets - Bloomberg

Google Inc. , owner of the most popular Internet search engine, and Germany’s Merck KGaA are leading a revival in commercial paper as nonfinancial companies grab the biggest share of the $1.1 trillion U.S ...

Business Highlights - AP - msnbc.com

Auto sales boost otherwise weak retail sector WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans spent less at most retail stores in July and inflation remained tame as high unemployment and weak job growth fueled fears of a slowing economic ...

Resolved Question: Does this remind you Of both the Bush and Reagan years?

1. Stock Market Crash of 1929 Many believe erroneously that the stock market crash that occurred on Black Tuesday, October 29, 1929 is one and the same with the Great Depression. In fact, it was one of the major causes that led to the Great Depression. Two months after the original crash in October, stockholders had lost more than $40 billion dollars. Even though the stock market began to regain some of its losses, by the end of 1930, it just was not enough and America truly entered what is called the Great Depression. 2. Bank Failures Throughout the 1930s over 9,000 banks failed. Bank deposits were uninsured and thus as banks failed people simply lost their savings. Surviving banks, unsure of the economic situation and concerned for their own survival, stopped being as willing to create new loans. This exacerbated the situation leading to less and less expenditures. 3. Reduction in Purchasing Across the Board With the stock market crash and the fears of further economic woes, individuals from all classes stopped purchasing items. This then led to a reduction in the number of items produced and thus a reduction in the workforce. As people lost their jobs, they were unable to keep up with paying for items they had bought through installment plans and their items were repossessed. More and more inventory began to accumulate. The unemployment rate rose above 25% which meant, of course, even less spending to help alleviate the economic situation. 4. American Economic Policy with Europe As businesses began failing, the government created the Smoot-Hawley Tariff in 1930 to help protect American companies. This charged a high tax for imports thereby leading to less trade between America and foreign countries along with some economic retaliation. 5. Drought Conditions While not a direct cause of the Great Depression, the drought that occurred in the Mississippi Valley in 1930 was of such proportions that many could not even pay their taxes or other debts and had to sell their farms for no profit to themselves. This was the topic of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. ------------------------------------------------------- When the Stock Market crashed during the Reagan Years it was called Black Monday . I remember that day well. more

Voting Question: Fight the War on Terror like we did the Cold War -- play chicken. Opinions?

So I used to be the typical "oh, don't offend them" kind of guy when it came to Iran, North Korea, terrorism... then this hit me: the only nations which have survived throughout history have been the strongest ones. Some conflicts are resolved diplomatically, but when diplomacy fails you must use force. That, or play chicken, like we did in the Cold War -- a strategy that lead to the demise of the Soviet Union. SO: Say we get a new president. He gets intelligence claiming that Al Qaeda is planning on nuking an American city. He lets the world know that if an American city is nuked or anything of the sort, we'll assume it came from North Korea and/or Iran (or any other country -_-), and thus utterly destroy each. Say we're then subsequently nuked. We utterly annihilate the North Korean and Iranian governments, and do it in such a way that it has a huge psychological effect on the radical-Islamic world. We also bombard Al Qaeda with an endless stream of attacks that has the SAME psychological effect -- giant explosions, gas, the most feared CONVENTIONAL weapons to scare the crap out of them. Now say China and Russia both condemn us, and point fingers, threatening to get involved. We tell them to mind their own business if they know what's good for them. Thus, we have utterly scared the crap out of Al Qaeda, probably making another such attack highly unlikely. Two things to remember: 1) Neither the Russians nor Chinese would do anything -- they'd pick their battles wisely, and they'd decide that this is something that they should let slide. They'd condemn us like we did to Russia during the Russian-Georgian Crisis, but they would not do anything more. The reason for this is that Russia would realize they would probably just come out on top after its all over, just by sitting back. China would not want to get involved as they don't want a WWIII, which would inevitably blow both the USA and China off the planet. They want to survive, so they'd pick their battles wisely and not get involved. 2) This would only work if we were much STRONGER militarily -- right now, were down in the dumps. If we cut the size of government and eliminated our debt, we'd be much stronger. No debt to China, or anything of the sort. 3) Terrorists don't respect us, but they do respect force. Playing chicken with them would be the ultimate weapon against them. We may not have a "return address," but we do have a way to scare them and fight back. 4) We don't HAVE to attack the nations, IF we're not attacked, that is. Remember -- this is chicken. You scare the crap out of them, hopefully enough to get them to back down. Then, if they do, and only if they do, you carry out your "end of the bargain." For those who doubt the success of such a strategy, think back to the Cuban Missile Crisis. Russia backed down. So would terrorism. They keep attacking us because they know it terrorizes us. If we're not terrorized, they can't win. If we terrorize them with such a tidal wave of power that they shit their pants, we win, just like the Cold War. Opinions?Okay, true -- we won for economic reasons. But we still kept an UPPER HAND over the Soviet Union by playing chicken. more

Resolved Question: thinking of becoming a saddler when i am older, views on this?

im 16 and have no idea what i want to do when i am older, i am getting my gcse results in 10 days and i am hoping for good results, (predicted grades of mostly a's with c in german and b in textiles) and i am staying on to our schools 6th form next year (its a good 6th form). my mum wants me to go in to law and i am studying law next year to see if i like it, i am also studying english & geography (my choices) and politics which was more a case of don’t have a clue what to choose as 4th option so ill do that but i have never known what i want to do when i am older (other than wanting to be a vet when i was 6 like every other little girl who likes animals) i am very interested in horses, i have 2 of my own, a youngster and my one i ride, the saddler came out to fit another horse on the yard a new saddle and he also looked at my youngster to tell us what size saddle she would need. and i was watching him measure up the other horse for a while before he looked at my pony when the other horse was being lead into the arena to be ridden and then i went home so i don't know what else he did but it got me thinking, how about being a saddler! i have really enjoyed hunting for a saddle for my pony (aka trawling through literally hundreds of adverts for saddles on ebay as well as other sites) and got one today put it on her and i instantly knew it didn't fit, in a way i was pleased as it meant more looking through saddles!!! i then went onto the job4u website which is a database of jobs and searched saddler, ( http://www.connexions-direct.com/jobs4u/index.cfm?pid=55&catalogueContentID=763&render=detailedArticle ) and read though and liked what it said it said Skills and personal qualities A saddler should have: creativity and be good at working with their hands..... i have done gcse textiles and really enjoyed it and i think i did quite well. a flair for design and construction excellent eyesight and be able to pay close attention to detail..... i wear glasses but that's for things far away and i notice odd little details, eg i will notice that a tv program is a repeat from 6 years ago from tax disk on car for example good knowledge of the anatomy of horses.....i know basics but i can learn patience, as the work can be slow and laborious.......if things require time i put time into it, i hate things not being perfect the ability to use a variety of tools and equipment.... obviously i have never used saddle making equipment but im good with diy and putting together flat pack furniture with my mum! the ability to work alone without supervision or as part of a small team....i prefer working in a team but if i have confidence in something i can work alone business skills if self-employed....im not sure awareness of health and safety.... i can learn but yeah, i don't know so i want to see what people think, i know it would be hard to get into but i would try phoning local saddlers for apprenticeship, i think my parent would prefer me to go to uni and get a degree and all that but uni has never attracted me, i was talking with a friend when walking our dogs who wants to be a doctor and i said i don't know if i even want to go to uni and she was quite shocked, i don't like the idea of being in tens of thousands of pounds of debt by the time im not even 25! and reading this ( http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/you/article-1301921/Weve-gone-degree-Why-university-longer-passport-success.html ) made me even less want to go to uni wow this is long, thank you for reading this and any views or helpful suggestions would be much appreciated more

Voting Question: Do you agree with the loan dissenter at the Fed. about monetizing more debt?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/14/business/economy/14fed.html?_r=2&partner=rss&emc=rss “Monetary policy is a useful tool, but it cannot solve every problem faced by the United States,” Mr. Hoenig told local Chamber of Commerce members in a speech at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. “In trying to use policy as a cure-all, we will repeat the cycle of severe recession and unemployment in a few short years by keeping rates too low for too long.” Mr. Hoenig added: “I wish free money was really free and that there was a painless way to move from severe recession and high leverage to robust and sustainable economic growth, but there is no shortcut.” While Mr. Hoenig’s view is far from the mainstream, the timing of his comments — coming three days after the committee’s vote — signals the difficulties the Fed’s chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, will probably face in forging a consensus on monetary policy especially in a climate that Mr. Bernanke has called “unusually uncertain.” Bernanke wants more of what lead to him to say the economic outlook is "unusually uncertain", while this guy, the loan dissenter about creating more money out of thin air, suggests the opposite. hmm....This guy is the head of the Fed. bank in KC. more

Resolved Question: Are you truly surprised at Obama's Fall from Grace?

The stunning decline of Barack Obama: 10 key reasons why the Obama presidency is in meltdown 1. The Obama presidency is out of touch with the American people the Obama presidency increasingly resembles a modern-day Ancient Régime, extravagant, decaying and out of touch with ordinary Americans. 2. Most Americans don’t have confidence in the president’s leadership According to a recent Washington Post/ABC News poll, “nearly six in ten voters say they lack faith in the president to make the right decisions for the country”, and two thirds “say they are disillusioned with or angry about the way the federal government is working.” The poll showed that a staggering 58 per cent of Americans say they do not have confidence in the president’s decision-making, with just 42 per cent saying they do. 3. Obama fails to inspire In contrast to the soaring rhetoric of his 2004 Convention speech in Boston which succeeded in impressing millions of television viewers at the time, America is no longer inspired by Barack Obama’s flat, monotonous and often dull presidential speeches and statements delivered via teleprompter 4. The United States is drowning in debt While much of Europe, led by Britain and Germany, are aggressively cutting their deficits, the Obama administration is actively growing America’s debt, and has no plan in place to avert a looming Greek-style financial crisis. 5. Obama’s Big Government message is falling flat This is not an approach that is proving popular with the American public, and even most European governments have long ditched this tax and spend approach to saving their own economies. 6. Obama’s support for socialized health care is a huge political mistake the legislation is “a great leap forward by the United States towards a European-style vision of universal health care, which will only lead to soaring costs, higher taxes, and a surge in red tape for small businesses. This reckless legislation dramatically expands the power of the state over the lives of individuals, and could not be further from the vision of America’s founding fathers.” 7. Obama’s handling of the Gulf oil spill has been weak-kneed and indecisive Significantly, a poll of Louisiana voters gave George W. Bush higher marks for his handling of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, with 62 percent disapproving of Obama’s performance on the Gulf oil spill. 8. US foreign policy is an embarrassing mess under the Obama administration The surrender to Moscow on Third Site missile defence, the failure to aggressively stand up to Iran’s nuclear programme, the decision to side with ousted Marxists in Honduras, the slap in the face for Great Britain over the Falklands, have all contributed to the image of a US administration completely out of its depth in international affairs 9. President Obama is muddled and confused on national security From the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to the War on Terror, President Obama’s leadership has often been muddled and confused 10. Obama doesn’t believe in American greatness President Obama is increasingly out of step with the American people, by advancing policies that undermine the United States as a global power, while undercutting America’s deep-seated love for freedom. http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/nilegardiner/100050412/the-stunning-decline-of-barack-obama-10-key-reasons-why-the-obama-presidency-is-in-meltdown/@ LOGAN - Feel free to refute any of the above more

Resolved Question: Does the Obama Administration actually think they are succeeding at fixing this country?

As the current Administration throws billions of tax dollars at everything under the sun, increasing debt to unprecedented levels, growing the size of government and calling it job creation, increasing taxes, providing virtually no incentives for job providers such as small businesses to grow, we as a nation are drifting down stream where eventually we will reach a point of no return, where the currents are so strong that lead to the falls, we will surely crash to our death.. The bottom line is Americans need a job. America working is the only way we can prosper again. This country will never be fixed by handing out money to big banks that refuse to lend it and giving unemployment benefits to those who will never seriously look for work as long as the govt continues the benefits. This is a vicious cycle that seems to get worse with each passing day. Blaming Bush is a tired and worn out excuse that no longer holds water. Obama has been in the drivers seat long enough to be responsible for the direction we are headed in. The real question is can this country survive until we get real leadership with the experience and wisdom to bring us back to the prosperous, land of opportunity, and envy of the world that we once were. Well, scratch the envy of the world , we will settle for a decent job and roof over our heads for now. more

Resolved Question: What kind of bankruptcy options?

I am not sure what kind of BK atty to contact if any. I have a great job, make good money, and I have less than $10K in personal debt outside of my home. I am having to close down a small business. The problem is I have a personal guarantee on the business loan, lease, and equipment for the business. The equipment has enough equity to take care of itself, but it leaves the loan and lease. I owe roughly $80K on the loan, and have roughly $300K on the lease left. I don't have any toys or extras, as my family leads a very modest lifestyle, and ultimately have fallen victims to the bad economy. The business is three years old, and we were on pace to have the business debt free within 5 years. We paid everything in advance, and now looking back was a mistake. All options to extend the debt and restructure have been exhausted. We are now going to be on the hook for almost $400K that we will never have means to pay off. I don't know where to begin. Do I contact a business atty, a personal atty, or should I be thinking of other options. The loan is with an individual, while the lease is with a major leasing company. more

Voting Question: National Debt Relief Group?

The National Debt Relief Group is a sham company based in Brooklyn, NY. They used to be Lifeguard Financial, but closed up due to the all the complaints they were receiving. For a short time, they were SafeTrust Financial(a couple of weeks or so?), and for some reason that didn't work out. Now they're back with a fancy new website, and some worthless accreditations. If you're unfamiliar with Lifeguard Financial, just do a google search on them, and you'll see a myriad of complaints. As I said earlier, they might call you and boast to you about their "accreditations", which are meaningless. Sorry folks, but not even the BBB is to be trusted. To become an accredited member of the BBB, all you have to do is pay a fee. Don't believe me? Check out these two articles-http://www.thebluesmokeband.com/bbb.php and http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jan/21/business/fi-lazarus21?pg=1 You might also be told of something called TASC. TASC is not a government run organization, and the owner of the company has his own debt settlement company, while the President of TASC is also the CEO of Debt Settlement America, a company which was subpoenaed by the Attorney General Of New York. Do you really expect these guys to hold one of their own accountable? Besides, to become an "accredited" member of TASC, all you have to is pay a fee. Lifeguard Financial is now the National Debt Relief Group. Their new headquarters are at 2502 86 Street, Brooklyn NY 11214. There are also additional offices located at 714 3rd Ave, Brooklyn NY, and 263 52 Street, Brooklyn NY. The new website is www.nationalrelief.com They've set up shop not too long ago, and unopened boxes can still be seen at the 86 St location, which was formerly a Sprint office. I was an employee there until I found that these guys were crooks. Sensitive information was seen lying around the office, such as credit reports. The office located at 263 52 Street Brooklyn, NY is in a shady, run-down building in a desolate area of Brooklyn. The office at 714 3rd Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11232 isn't much better. The scripts were given out in the office had a name crossed out, and later i found out why. It used to say Lifeguard Financial! How did I know? These guys actually left some Lifeguard Financial manuals lying around the office, and it was from there that I compared the two scripts. That is what also lead me to investigating the company. From there, I found a myriad of complaints about Lifeguard, and people asking, "where did they go?" Well, the answer is clear now, folks. These vampires have moved, and when the heat turns up in a few months, the process will just repeat itself. The debt settlement industry is very dirty. There is no regulation whatsoever. You have people who are unlicensed giving out financial advice. I've even heard that there are minors working for them at one of their offices, however I cannot prove the validity of that allegation. But what I do know is that you can all of this on your own. When we were trained, one of the rebuttals was that if someone asks why they should use NDRG instead of doing it themselves, was that the creditors won't work with individuals, or that because NDRG brings the creditors so much business, that they'll give the NDRG the best rates. This is a lie! I've spoken with many people who told me they saved 40-50% by working directly with the creditors. All you would have to do is use the same methods the same debt settlement companies use, which is falling behind your payments and telling your creditors that you're undergoing severe financial hardship. This works best once the account goes into collections, which is between 120 and 180(or 210) days. So many people have defaulted on their cards, and these guys are worried, and will gladly take something instead of nothing, with the something being anywhere from 30-60%. There are also several websites out there with information that can you assist you on how to settle your debts on your own. There will probably be a few people who will come here and say that the two companies are not the same, but do a google maps search RIGHT NOW.As of December 9, 2009, when you do a Google Maps search of 263 52nd Street, Brooklyn NY, and you will see that it STILL says lifeguard financial under businesses listed. The same goes for 714 3rd Ave, Brooklyn NY. These guys are also affiliated with a law firm, FBL Associates, located in Fort Lauderdale. I don't know how long their partnership has been, but I've heard that they're taking care of all matters related to Lifeguard Financial. How long will this be tolerated? When will someone take action? The entire debt settlement industry is unregulated, which allows scumbags like these to run wild. more

Resolved Question: Five reasons why the Economy is set to keep slowing?

I read so much of what analyst are considering and I can not fathom why the Democrats can not figure this out and keep saying the economy is growing, Please help me to understand what is so good about what this administration has done?? Can we now admit you can not spend your way out of debt by creating more?? Despite continued strong sentiment from earnings, the stock market still has further to fall to catch up with the slowing economy. U.S. GDP will keep decelerating — likely approaching to a zero percent growth rate by 2011. Here’s why: The long-term trend back towards consumer frugality and higher savings rates remains in full force. This will dampen consumer spending. A double dip in housing prices is likely, because subsidies are ending and the backlog of foreclosure resolutions is about to accelerate. The impact of the Obama administration’s stimulus plan is fading, and is not leading to any real “multiplier” effects because most of it went to plug holes in state government budgets. European and Chinese GDP are slowing for well-publicized reasons. Those who create jobs in the U.S. fear rising tax rates rising in 2011, rising energy prices from cap-and-trade legislation, the pro-Wall Street “financial reform” bill, and a laundry list of other anti-business policies. more

Resolved Question: What kind of economy will my generation be looking at?

My dad has been really pushing me with school because he is trying to prepare me for the future. He says the next Great Depression is coming. Our government has spent so much money that it can't pay it's debt and the only way to pay it off is to raise taxes and prices of everything, but even that won't pay it off. Yet the government continues to print money so it can pay for all this stuff dropping the dollar value constantly. Businesses won't be able to pay their employees and people will lose their jobs. He says we are past the turning point and the only way to fix our economy is to fall. After we, the U.S. and major consumer fall, the industrial companies like China will fall with us, because we wont be buying their goods. He said he expects us, America, to go the war with China which might lead into another world war. I didn't really understand why he said China would want to go to war with us but he said something about their 2 trillion dollar reserve and us bringing the value of that down after we fall. I'm 15 and I'm a volunteer firefighter. I'm also going to be taking paramedic training classes when I'm 16 or 17. All my life I've wanted to be a serviceman and my plans for college are studying physical therapy and probably other stuff in health and hopefully I'll be able to get a PHD, would that be a safe career choice? I also plan on taking ROTC. After college I plan on enlisting into the Army. Would that also be a good idea, considering our future? But we might all get drafted if there is a war anyway. Then after the Army I plan on starting my career in physical therapy or whatever I get the PHD in if I get it. My fallback plan is to get a job in a hospital somewhere if i can because my mom is a nurse and I've learned stuff from her, I'm getting experience from firefighting, I'm in junior ROTC with my high school, and I plan on taking those paramedic classes. I don't know if I will be able to enlist and follow my dream anymore though. I might just have to work my butt off the rest of my life. My dad says we need to get a farm, drill a well, and learn to rely on our selves. What do you people think? Will i be able to follow my dream or is my dad right about this stuff?@Anjaree My dad is no democrat. He wants me to have a job that pays. Something in science, not necessarily in the health field. The health field seems safe to me because people will always need doctors. more

Resolved Question: Am I a Liberal or Conservative? What is happening to the United States?

I am 15 years old, and I am very confused as to what is happening to my country and government. Firstly, am I a Liberal or Conservative? I used to "think" I was a democrat because they are also democrats, but I'm starting to lose faith in our president and his decisions. The country is so divided I really don't know what side I am on, since I honestly do not think it's about Democrat or Republican, but now it's either Liberal or Conservative. The members of the House and Senate, who are represented by us, can't seem to ever agree on anything, creating tension and disunity in the government. Honestly, I believe that the national Health Care system is a good choice, because it will help those who can not afford insurance for their families. Though I think right now wasn't the time to start something like that because of the current debt. I despise the Bush Administration, just for their actions in Iraq. Yes, but we did do was a good thing, we took out a tyrant. Even if with the "bad" intelligence, after we found no weapons, why did we have to stay and "help" Iraq? I do not recall the new Iraqi government asking us for any help. Our occupation of Iraq is making things worse. We stay there and "help" them, which leads to Al-Qaeda rooting in with the citizens, to get rid of Western Influence. Ok, so they don't want our help, we still stay. Al-Qaeda starts attacking U.S. soldiers, so now we stay to fight Al-Qaeda since they are an enemy of our nation. (They weren't even there to begin with.) Why couldn't we have just packed up and left Iraq, let the troops come home or allocate them to help Afghanistan, where the ACTUAL terrorists are? Because of the occupation of Iraq, we have messed up our country's economy, messed up the nation of Iraq, civilians and U.S. soldiers died; but honestly I feel bad for our military since the good soldier is losing his life because the government screwed up and apparently didn't seem to realize that? If U.S. soldiers started to die, that obviously sent a message because now the citizens began to sympathize with Al-Qaeda and become insurgents. We occupied West-Germany to help them rebuild under the Marshall Plan, we stuck through that? Why? Because they didn't try to blow us up. Next, I don't see why God is hated so much now. Isn't god in the constitution and on the dollar bill? Why does everything have to be "politically correct" nowadays? I hear people say that it is a violation between the Church and State. I always thought that meant the government couldn't impose a religion on people, but that didn't mean the members of the government couldn't practice that religion. Like Students can pray in school, however the school cannot lead students in prayer. Another thing with the political correctness, why is everyone concerned with race and ethnicity you are labeled as? How come you can't disagree with a man unless he is white, otherwise you are racist? Can't we all just be American? I am half black/mexican, but why is it that Black people are called "African-American" when they are not immigrants? I thought you only added the "-American" if you immigrated from another country or region.Why are standardized tests racist but racial quotas not? Next is Mexican illegal immigration, why do companies hire illegal immigrants for cheap labor? That just encourages more illegal immigrants to come. I believe the state or federal government should do checks on businesses and fine them if they hire illegals? Why is the government stupid enough to allow illegal immigrants to have children who are born here "legally" and then give them welfare? I feel that they abuse that system. I always thought that you were born here legally only if your parents were legal, since I thought that "if you were born here, then you are legal" was created for legal immigrant mothers who were pregnant at the time of immigration process, so they wouldn't have to do all the paperwork for their infant. If you can be born here legally, can't you be born here illegally here as well? I really feel that I am becoming racist against mexicans because of this immigration issue, I automatically think now that if someone is speaking Spanish then they are illegal. I live in California which has a large mexican population and I hate when people wave Mexico's flag around like it's better then the United States..... THEN WHY ARE THEY HERE? I hate how everything now has writing in Spanish too, but I really think that if someone comes to this country, we shouldn't have to change for them. You don't see us having Chinese or Russian with everything do you? I really feel you should speak English in this country if you live here, all the other immigrants had to, so what makes Spanish-speaking immigrants any different? Yes it is a more

Resolved Question: New York State : Can a business legally record incoming telephone calls?

New York State : Can a business legally record incoming telephone calls? This is without a doubt a very tricky question. I would like to know in New York State if a business can legally record incoming telephone calls. If you choose to answer this question, please be careful. I believe this is a very tricky question and here's why. First of all, New York is a one party consent state. This means that any person who is party to a telephone call that is operating from within New York State can legally record the conversation. There can be further questions in scenarios where other parties to the conversation are operating from outside of New York State but that is not the focus of this discussion and is irrelevant. Now here's where it gets tricky so please keep the following in mind. Florida is a two party consent state but I have read for myself that the Florida Statutes actually provides a full consent exemption to businesses who record telephone conversations as a daily part of their normal operations. Some examples might be debt collection agencies, repossession outfits and lawyer's offices. Ok so here's the actual scenario. From within New York, I call a friend at his place of employment which is also in New York State. He answers the phone and we chat. He is unaware of any recording taking place and certainly has not voluntarily consented to any such recording during that phone conversation. I certainly have not been advised of any recording taking place by no audible tones or any announcement or question advising of a recording or asking for my consent. So here are my questions that follow. 1. Does a place of business automatically have the right in New York State to record incoming telephone calls? Remember, in my example, the employee did not place an outbound call that might be subject to monitoring. In my example, I am calling into the business as a third party and if I can be recorded, this means any customer calling in can also be legally recorded. Keep in mind there are no greetings, warnings, automated messages or any other indications at any time when calling this place of business that a recording is taking place just to further clarify. 2. If the employee had consented to telephone monitoring and recording at the time of his employment after signing hiring documents which he may not recall, would his consent apply forward to each individual incoming and outgoing phone call he participates in from the employer's phone lines thereby satisfying the one party consent needed as provided by New York State law? This may be tough to decipher because remember that in this example and in just about any case, the employee is not the one actually executing the recording. The employer is. But unless otherwise defined by the state, an employer is not an individual or a person. So it would not make much sense to consider an employer, which is a general term for underlying staff, an actual party. This leads me to my next question. 3. I would generally believe that a party to a phone conversation would be defined as an active participant and actual person but I wonder if New York State defines businesses as legally recognized parties to the conversation. If they do, all businesses would automatically and always consent to any recordings they are performing thereby satisfying the one party consent requirement. 4. I am not sure if New York State has any special business exemptions similar to Florida but if so, that allowance could trump all concerns.Disclaimer: This question is being asked for entertainment purposes only. Any responses provided will not be relied upon as accredited legal advice and will not be used in any official capacity. I would however like only sound and knowledgeable responses as opposed to guess work and commonly misguided views. Thanks! more

Resolved Question: Is this the end of the road for America ?

By Ambrose Evans-Pilchard, International Business Editor Published: 8:52PM BST 15 Jul 2010 for UK-Telegraph C/P The euro rocketed to a two-month high of $1.29 and sterling jumped two cents to almost $1.54 after the Fed confessed that the US economy may not recover for five or six years. Far from winding down emergency stimulus, the bank may need a fresh blast of bond purchases or quantitative easing. Usually the dollar serves as a safe haven whenever the world takes fright, and there was plenty of sobering news from China and other quarters on Thursday. Not this time. The US itself has become the problem. "The worm is turning," said David Bloom, currency chief at HSBC. "We're in a world of rotating sovereign crises. The market seems to become obsessed with one idea at a time, then violently swings towards another. People thought the euro would break-up. Now we're moving into a new phase because we're hearing alarm bells of a US double dip." Mr Bloom said a deep change is under way in investor psychology as funds and central banks respond to the blizzard of shocking US data and again focus on the fragility of an economy where public debt is surging towards 100pc of GDP, not helped by the malaise enveloping the Obama White House. "The Europeans have aired their dirty debt in public and taken some measures to address it, whilst the US has not," he said. The Fed minutes warned of "significant downside risks" and a possible slide into deflation, an admission that zero interest rates, $1.75 trillion of QE, and a fiscal deficit above 10pc of GDP have so far failed to lift the economy out of a structural slump. "The Committee would need to consider whether further policy stimulus might become appropriate if the outlook were to worsen appreciably," it said. The economy might not regain its "longer-run path" until 2016. "The Fed is throwing in the towel," said Gabriel Stein, of Lombard Street Research. "They are preparing to start QE again. This was predictable because the M3 broad money supply has been contracting for months." The Fed minutes amount to a policy thunderbolt, evidence of how quickly the recovery has lost steam. Just weeks ago the Fed was mapping out withdrawal of stimulus. Goldman Sachs said it expects the euro to rise to $1.35 by the end of the year. The yen will appreciate to ¥83, through the pain barrier for most of Japan's big exporters. The new twist is that SAFE, China's $2.4 trillion fund, has begun buying record amounts of Japanese bonds, a shift in reserve allocation away from the dollar. The signs of a deep and sudden slowdown in the US are becoming ever clearer as the "sugar rush" from the Obama fiscal stimulus wears off and the inventory boost fades. California, Illinois and other states are cutting spending, tightening US fiscal policy by 0.8pc of GDP. Thursday's plunge in the Philadelphia Fed's July index of new manufacturing orders to –4.3 suggests that the economy may have buckled abruptly, as it did in mid-2008. The Economic Cycle Research Institute's ECRI leading indicator has tumbled, reaching –8.3pc last week. This points to a sharp slowdown or recession within three months. While US port data looked buoyant in June, the details were troubling. Outbound traffic from Long Beach fell from 139,000 containers in May to 116,000 in June. Shipments from Los Angeles fell from 161,000 to 155,000. This drop in exports is worsening the US trade deficit, eroding the dollar. The US workforce has shrunk by a 1m over the past two months as discouraged jobless give up the hunt. Retail sales have fallen for the past two months. New homes sales crashed to 300,000 in May after tax credits ran out, the lowest since records began in 1963. Mortgage applications have fallen by 42pc to 13-year low since April. Paul Dales at Capital Economics said the "shadow inventory" of unsold properties has risen to 7.8m. "The double dip in housing has begun," he said. Alcoa, CSX, Intel, and JP Morgan have reported good earnings, but they mostly did so in July 2008 just before their shares collapsed. Such earnings rarely catch turning points and can be a lagging indicator. Profits have been boosted in this cycle by cost-cutting, which is self-defeating for the economy as a whole. The minutes confirm the Fed is split down the middle over QE. Fed watchers say the Board in Washington wants to be ready to launch another round of bond purchases if necessary, pushing the banks balance sheet from $2.4 trillion towards $5 trillion, but hawks at the regional banks are highly sceptical. A study by the San Francisco Fed said the interest rates need to be –4.5pc to stabilise the economy under the Fed's "rule of thumb". Since this is impossible, massive QE needs to make up the difference. Tim Congdon from International Monetary Re more

Resolved Question: EMERGENCY-Advice for a girl who just graduated high school?

I got screwed with financial aid and dont know what to do so late in the summer. What should I do? (see abc list) Here's what happened. 1) I got rejected from my dream schools then waitlisted by another dream school (smith) so opted to go for my "safety school" (morgan state uni). 2) I spoked to the head of the athletic dept of msu and he assured me/lead me to believe I was eligible for/and likely to get a sports scholarship. My academics were also above their standards and called the admissions dept about acad aid and was again misinformed (told I was still eligible for them). 3) I was COMPLETELY SHOCKED received my "award package" (which is really shitty and mostly loans and barely any institutional aid ) which is about $25,000 neither me nor my single mom can pay for this. I'm terribly afraid to be in debt because I dont have a job and that school isnt even my 1st choice (I only applied ironicly for financial security). 4) I live in NYC. I have no idea what to do. I am very VERY depressed because in high school/mid school I was always studious/diligent and NEVER expected this to happen I thought my hard work would pay off on honors all 4yrs and even in midschool nominated for multiple awards etc. WHAT SHOULD I do considering all of this? So now I'm considering (WHICH IS BEST) please keep in mind i want to reapply/transfer to my dream schools A. community college (any sugguestions) B. are there any good colleges left to apply to since its already the summer (any sugguestions) C. Gap year programs (considering city year, any others) D. OTHERS (you can think of) Here are some of my interests I want to study in college 1-the environment/law(become a lobbyist for an enviro group) 2-marine biology (become a marine biologist since marine life will probably die off quickly b/c of global warming/climate change and/or big business) 3-anthropology (in high school I found it really interesting and it taught me how to think) If i go to a cc, my mom would probably make me live with her and shes really emotionally abusive and our apartment is really small 1 bedroom infested with bedbugs/roaches (another cause of depression) so I really can't wait to leave. The environment is really unfavorable/stressful. Thank You for any and all help you can give me. more

Resolved Question: Could the BP oil spill lead to a 2nd American civil war?

In a worse case scenario, is it plausible that the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico trigger events that lead to a second American civil war? Worse Case Scenario: 1. By April of 2011, one year after the Deepwater Horizon explosion, the pipeline is still leaking (or leaky) 2. Hurricanes in the late summer of 2010, does end up covering thousands of square miles, over several southern states 3. Oil has reached the eastern seaboard as far north as New Jersey. 4-9 are related. 4. Southern economies dependant on the fishing industry, tourism, and of course oil begin to collapse from the tremendously hazardous pollution driving away vacationers, fisherman, oil rig operators, and residents in general. 5. This leads to another financial meltdown when millions of small and mid size businesses simulataneously file for bankruptcy. 6. Fed prints dollars to bail out banks suddenly flooded with a bunch of mortage defaults, etc... 7. The economies of five states, Texas, Mississippi, Lousiana, Alabama, Florida, begin to collapse. 8. World reacts by loss of confidence in the dollar. The dollar loses value, with calls to end using it as a reserve currency, further deflating the value of the dollar... gasoline now costs $100+ a gallon, a loaf of bread is $39.99 - similar to the time following the collapse of the USSR. 9. China calls in our debts, now believing there would be no way the US could pay their debt.You know what? Nevermind, because I was totally trippin' balls when I wrote that... don't mix weed with shrooms and alcohol. more

Resolved Question: "The Lead Farmer" plot idea, any assistance to making it better?

Ok, bare with me as this may seem like a wall of text to you, but here goes nothing. I am planning on writing another book, and it has a different plot. Basically, I was inspired to write this one after thinking about 'Tropic Thunder' in which Robert Downey Jr. Says "Im a Lead farmer mother****er!" So, that leads me to a whole chain of events for a new story I will entitle this project "The Lead Farmer" To be short, this plot is about a 32 year old Iraq war veteran who had hit hard times just a year out of the war. Basically, he was a POW for three years, his family thought he was dead, but out of the blue he returns (it explains it in the story) and he meets with his family once again, however they are in deep debt and his wife has been seeing someone, however he is unaware. He gets the rough end of the stick as she explains that she was too worried and can no longer stand to be in such a financially distraught family so she divorces him, he goes through a spiraling depression as his kids are taken away from him by the love of his life, and he leaves the city to buy a 60 acre farm out in the middle of nowhere to start a new life. He soon realizes that the only thing that makes him happy is his love of firearms, he loves to shoot targets. Soon, he hears from the news that the government is issuing a massive tax on Firearms and Ammunition. What he does next is buys as many bullets as he can, traveling city to city to fill up his Ford Econoline van with not only ammunition, but reloading supplies as he prepares to start a new business. However, the government outlaws the sale of straight gunpowder and bans the process of Reloading used ammo cartridges by unlicensed individuals. Eventually, the hero of the story starts to make his own gunpowder and buys more and more used brass, and soon becomes one of the most effective unlicensed reloaders in the country. However, avoiding taxes on guns he soon attracts federal attention and they investigate him from afar, and find that he is breaking the law. Being an ex-soldier *specifically a Special forces, maybe Force Recon or Green Berets*, he has great firearms training and an ability to win people over. Gradually, as the government prepares a raid, the local sheriff informs him of the bad news, and he soon gets together some good Friends to defend his farm as he locks and loads, barricading his property with all sorts of obstacles as the FBI gets on the move. He is completely prepared for the government raid, and he causes a face off more fatal than any other police raid in history, however, he is eventually killed by a trap, the government using his children to lure him out and of all people who would kill him, it is the only other survivor from the POW camp he was from. So, basically, the Lead Farmer is about a guy who was in the army who had a love of the second amendment, but he hated the tax on guns and ammo, blah blah blah, good for people of both political affiliations because he will be interpreted as either A. A tragic Hero, or B. A tragic villain. Either way, he is killed, but takes down more than his fair share of federal agents, who have families. So how is this plot? Needing work? Or is it ok? more

Resolved Question: Opinion on the plot for an Action Story I plan to make?

Ok, bare with me as this may seem like a wall of text to you, but here goes nothing. I am planning on writing another book, and it has a different plot. Basically, I was inspired to write this one after thinking about 'Tropic Thunder' in which Robert Downey Jr. Says "Im a Lead farmer mother****er!" So, that leads me to a whole chain of events for a new story I will entitle this project "The Lead Farmer" To be short, this plot is about a 32 year old Iraq war veteran who had hit hard times just a year out of the war. Basically, he was a POW for three years, his familiy thought he was dead, but out of the blue he returns (it explains it in the story) and he meets with his family once again, however they are in deep debt and his wife has been seeing someone, however he is unaware. He gets the rough end of the stick as she explains that she was too worried and can no longer stand to be in such a financially destraught family so she divocres him, he goes through a spiraling depression as his kids are taken away from him by the love of his life, and he leaves the city to buy a 60 acre farm out in the middle of nowhere to start a new life. He soon realizes that the only thing that makes him happy is his love of firearms, he loves to shoot targets. Soon, he hears from the news that the government is issuing a massive tax on Firearms and Ammunition. What he does next is buys as many bullets as he can, traveling city to city to fill up his Ford Econoline van with not only ammunition, but reloading supplies as he prepares to start a new business. However, the government outlaws the sale of straight gunpowder and bans the process of Reloading used ammo cartridges by unlicensed individuals. Eventually, the hero of the story starts to make his own gunpowder and buys more and more used brass, and soon becomes one of the most effective un-licensed reloaders in the country. However, avoiding taxes on guns he soon attracts federal attention and they investigate him from afar, and find that he is breaking the law. Being an ex-soldier *specifically a Special forces, maybe Force Recon or Green Berets*, he has great firearms training and an ability to win people over. Gradually, as the government prepares a raid, the local sheriff informs him of the bad news, and he soon gets together some good freinds to defend his farm as he locks and loads, barricading his property with all sorts of obsticles as the FBI gets on the move. He is completely prepared for the government raid, and he causes a face off more fatal than any other police raid in history, however, he is eventually killed by a trap, the government using his children to lure him out and of all people who would kill him, it is the only other survivor from the POW camp he was from. So, basically, the Lead Farmer is about a guy who was in the army who had a love of the second ammendment, but he hated the tax on guns and ammo, blah blah blah, good for people of both political affiliations because he will be interpreted as either A. A tragic Hero, or B. A tragic villian. Either way, he is killed, but takes down more than his fair share of federal agents, who have families. So how is this plot? Needing work? Or is it ok?Epic answer Alias, lol, Robert Downey jr is Friggin EPIC! He was the main reason I got Tropic Thunder in the first place, lol. But I didn't expect him to be cracking great lines like "Ima lead farmer, mother****er!" because that was just epic, lol. more

Resolved Question: How to solve these questions?

1.Which of the following will reduce the velocity of circulation of the money stock? a. The inflation rate increases. b. The interest rate falls. c. Credit cards are used more frequently. d. More employees are paid once a week instead of once a month. 2. The inflation rate in May of 1999 as a measure by the CPI was zero. If inflation were to remain at zero for a long period, what would be the effect on velocity? a. It will decrease. b. It will increase. c. It will remain constant. d. Velocity is unrelated to interest rates. 3. As we approached the end of the millennium, many economic crackpots advised citizens to hold large quantities of cash in anticipation of Y2K disasters. What effect would this have had on velocity if many people had been foolish enough to follow this advice? a. It would have decreased. b. It would have increased. c. It would have remained constant. d. Velocity is unrelated to cash balances. 4. Monetarism resembles Keynesian thinking in that they both a. emphasize supply and ignore demand. b. integrate supply-side analysis into their models. c. emphasize demand side effects. d. emphasize the importance of fiscal policy. 5. Which of the following leads to a fundamental difficulty for stabilization policy? a. Time lags in policy decisions b. Presence of shock absorbers in the economy c. Absence of data on the effectiveness of policy measures d. Existence of self correcting mechanism 6. How do critics of discretionary stabilization policy view frequent changes in spending and tax policy? a. The changes make the economy smoother, although it may not look that way to individual firms. b. The changes make life more difficult and hectic for Congress and the Fed. c. The changes smooth out the business cycle, making planning easier. d. The changes cause more instability in the economy and make planning more difficult. 7. How do advocates of discretionary stabilization policy view frequent changes in spending and tax policy? a. The changes make the economy more difficult to forecast. b. The changes make life more difficult and hectic for Congress and the Fed. c. The changes smooth out the business cycle, making planning easier. d. The changes cause more instability in the economy and make planning more difficult. 8. Suppose that the economy is currently at full employment. All other things being equal, if central bank implements contractionary policy, then the appropriate fiscal policy is to a. increase taxes. b. reduce government spending. c. balance the budget. d. increase a budget deficit. 9. Lowering the budget deficit and then turning it into a surplus between 1992 and 2000 was an effective way to a. decrease the level of investment spending and inflation. b. increase the level of the national debt. c. increase the investment share of GDP. d. decrease the tax share of GDP 10.If in fiscal year 2001, the federal government receives $1,990 billion in revenues and spends $1,875 billion for goods and services, the national debt will a. increase by $1,990 billion. b. increase by $115 billion. c. decrease by $115 billion. d. decrease by $1,875 billion. more

Resolved Question: How can libs point to an improving economy without acknowledging the debt that was incurred for it?

It's like to them, Obama fixed the economy at no cost. Now, even if the economy was perfect and unemployment was at it's natural rate of 5%, only a sheep would ignore the debt that was incurred. Still, I have heard of no way that Obama plans to pay the debt. Raise taxes? OK, but that has 2 problems, 1. the high the tax rate does not always lead to a higher revenue (it's actually usually the opposite) 2. When you raise taxes, you cause money to leave investment functions. Investment functions are needed for real growth. When the interest rate rises, who is going to dear borrow to start a business? This is also the problem with the debt, where the government borrowing increases interest rates and crowds out investment. Basic economics.Proof...Oh, I have proof. No one talks about in the liberal media. Post a link of someone from MSNBC talking about the debt. If you can do that, I will have to take my words back. But you also have to understand the concept of magnitutde. When bush create debt, this was real news. Who talks about the debt besides fox news? Anyone who understandx the concept of magnitudes will understand that the cost of this recovery is much too high. The market would have corrected itself. It always has. Also, what i the debt, if it is so reported in the media?it would have been worse....sounds real scientific.my life would be worse if I don't charge 5,000 dollars on my credit card full of fun toys. But I don't have 5,000 dollars. With your logic, I should charge that 5,000 (since it will improve my life) and just forget about the debt. Get back into reality my friend.what would have been evil about the economy falling because of bad policy? Honestly, the economy is set up to punish bad behavior and reward good behavior. If the economy went into a depression...so what? Would that be so bad? Really? I mean we would learn from our mistake. The economy fails because of failed policies...we could have easily have swallowed our medicine and kept it in mind. Now, we have the mind set that the government should fix the economy. I never want socialism. I want the market to correct itself (I belive in the market) not Obama (who was a poor economics student if I am informed correctly).you are not paying...are you clueless on what debt is? lol. that is the point. it went right over your head. more

Resolved Question: Is Obama doing any leading?

Eighteen months into the Obama presidency, many Americans are now experiencing buyers' remorse. But why is anyone surprised? • “I will close the detention facility at Guantanamo during the first year of my administration.” — Candidate Barack Obama, July 2008. Gitmo remains open. • “We are going to ban all earmarks, the process by which individual members insert pet projects without review.” — Candidate Barack Obama. Meanwhile, President Barack Obama has signed legislation containing more than 5,000 earmarks! • “If the stimulus is not passed, unemployment will exceed 8 percent.” — White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, January 2009. Today unemployment stands at 9.8 percent and underemployment is at 17 percent. • “I respect what the Clintons tried to do in 1993 in moving health reform forward, but they made one really big mistake, and that is, they took all their people and all their experts and put them into a room, and then they closed the door.” — Candidate Barack Obama, Nov. 19, 2008. However, just a year later, health care negotiations were so secret and partisan that many top Democrats and no Republicans were even allowed to see the specifics of the bill until after they were written. (“Let's pass the bill so we can see what's in it!” — Nancy Pelosi, six days prior to passing the bill through “reconciliation.”) • “We will work on this process (health care negotiations) publicly, it will be on C-SPAN, and it will be streaming over the net.” — Candidate Barack Obama. No such C-SPAN coverage or streaming occurred, and according to recent polling, 60 percent of Americans remain opposed to the bill and want to see it repealed. • “The health care bill will reduce the deficit.” — Barack Obama's repeated refrain on at least 22 occasions. The CBO now estimates the bill will increase the deficit and its cost will exceed Obama's self-imposed $1 trillion limit. The president also promised to end increases in deficit spending, but deficit spending has increased almost 25 percent since he took office, while the debt has tripled. He promised to stop special-interest influence. Nevertheless, big-time political contributors such as the Service Employees International Union continue to receive hundreds of millions of dollars in considerations. Candidate Obama promised no more vote buying, yet we watched his administration purchase health care votes with the “Louisiana Purchase,” the “Cornhusker Kickback” and other special deals. Now Americans are asking what the White House offered Pennsylvania Rep. Joe Sestak to drop out of the Pennsylvania Senate primary. While there's no evidence yet of any wrong-doing per se, doesn't this latest controversy fly in the face of “No more business as usual in Washington”? President Obama denounced the new Arizona immigration law before he, the attorney general and the secretary of homeland security had even read it. Astoundingly, he then allowed Mexico's President Calderon to condemn Arizona during a joint session of Congress! (Meanwhile polling is clear: The vast majority of Americans approve of Arizona's measure.) And now we have the BP oil spill, and while Obama didn't cause the spill, it's apparent that rather than embrace the disaster immediately, the White House did its best to distance itself from it. He wanted voters to associate the spill with BP, not him. But, as Ms. Noonan also opined, “When your most creative thoughts in the middle of a disaster revolve around protecting your position, you are summoning trouble.” During his first news conference in nearly a year, the president finally accepted responsibility — 40 days too late. Perhaps Mr. Obama doesn't realize one of the reasons we elect presidents is for their ability to effectively deal with unforeseen events, not to do their best to keep them at arm's length. I'm a conservative and believe in smaller government, which puts me at ideological odds with the president's policies. But political beliefs are a matter of opinion, and the pros and cons of conservative versus liberal policies can be reasonably debated by reasonable people. What cannot be debated are results, nor can they forever be attributed to one's predecessor. http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20100606/EDITS/100609761/1021%26ParentProfile=1065 more

Voting Question: How to deal with grandma that is not actually... pleasant?

I try really, really hard to understand my grandma, but it's just so hard. For example there was one time when she barged into my room at 2:30 in the morning and asked me to get this big book "Dream Meanings" or something like that. After much search for the book, me still very sleepy, she then pleaded with me to let her understand the hidden context of her following the path of a golden road... and this was during a school day. :| She is also spends A LOT of money even though she is in debt. She always picks out unnecessary things when doing the groceries. The frugal me tries to take back these items, but she just gets mad, saying that I should just mind my own business. I really want to say how I feel to her because I'm starting to build a grudge. The problem is, it is imperative in our culture to follow the elders' lead no matter what. It absolutely drives me insane because I really want to have a good relationship with her before she passes away. more

Resolved Question: Economics / Business Questions company ration financial planning... Please help?

There are 4 columns Current Assets (which has below it Cash at bank, Accounts Receivable, Inventory) $000's ( has these figures below it 60, 160, 710) Current Liabilities (Bank Overdraft, Credit Cards, Accounts Payable) $000's ( 60, 110, 760 ) All of the figures line up in a table like format if anyone gets this. I need to answer the below questions - If you can help I'd really appreciate it. Thankyou 4. What is the current ratio for this company? A. 2.3: 1 B. 2: 1 C. 1: 2 D. 1: 1 5. This company wants to improve their performance and match the current industry ratio which stands at 2.5: 1. Which of the following strategies would achieve such an outcome? A. Increase assets by $1 395 000 B. Increase short term debt by $1 395 000 C. Decrease current liabilities by $500 000 D. Double current assets and half the current liabilities 6. What strategy could a business use to effectively manage receivables? A. Increasing its overdraft B. Taking out a short-term loan C. Offering discounts for early payment D. Increasing the price of the product 7. Which of the following best represents the financial planning cycle? A. Retain profits, attain equity finance, minimise risks, plan the marketing strategy B. Address the present financial position, source funds, analyse reports, establish a cost centre C. Conduct a situational analysis, lead structural change, maintain record systems, develop cash flows D. Address the present financial position, prepare budgets, analyse financial reports, plan financial controls 8. Which of the following would normally be considered as features of a classical-scientific approach to management? A. Flat organisational structure and autocratic leadership style B. Hierarchical organisational structure and autocratic leadership style C. Hierarchical division of labour and democratic leadership style D. Hierarchical division of labour and participative leadership style more

Resolved Question: Business / Economics questions - Please help?

Which of the following best indicates the solvency of a business? A. Current ratio B. Expense ratio C. Net profit ratio D. Debt to equity ratio Which of the following provides a good measure of return on owner’s equity? A. Gearing B. Liquidity C. Profitability D. Solvency Which of the following best represents the financial planning cycle? A. Retain profits, attain equity finance, minimise risks, plan the marketing strategy B. Address the present financial position, source funds, analyse reports, establish a cost centre C. Conduct a situational analysis, lead structural change, maintain record systems, develop cash flows D. Address the present financial position, prepare budgets, analyse financial reports, plan financial controls Which of the following would normally be considered as features of a classical-scientific approach to management? A. Flat organisational structure and autocratic leadership style B. Hierarchical organisational structure and autocratic leadership style C. Hierarchical division of labour and democratic leadership style D. Hierarchical division of labour and participative leadership style more

Resolved Question: rating agencies were paid off by wall street ,how can we stop this madness in the future?

April 23 (Bloomberg) -- Former Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s employees said they were excluded from assessing mortgage bonds if they questioned Wall Street’s conclusions and that credit-rating companies focused on protecting business at the expense of accurate grading. Richard Michalek, a former managing director in Moody’s structured products derivatives group, told the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations at a hearing today that managers said he was “not welcome on deals” involving certain banks. Eric Kolchinsky, who led the Moody’s group that rated collateralized debt obligations made up of mortgage bonds, said he was berated by his boss when the company lost business after implementing more conservative ratings. S&P wrongly concluded that its increasing profits amid an inflated U.S. housing market was based on “superior management skill and insight,” said Frank Raiter, a former managing director at the company. In reality, regulators had made the firm part of “an oligopoly” by requiring investors to hold assets it rated, Raiter said. Public pension funds blame Moody’s and S&P for helping cause the global financial crisis by giving top rankings to mortgage-linked securities that blew up when the U.S. housing market collapsed in 2007. The Senate panel concluded after an 18-month probe that the firms were too influenced by Wall Street, had insufficient resources and used outdated models to grade mortgage securities. Michalek, testifying at a hearing called to discuss the committee’s findings, said banks that requested he not work on their transactions included Goldman Sachs Group Inc., UBS AG and Merrill Lynch & Co. ‘Cannot Remember’ Moody’s Managing Director Yuri Yoshizawa testified that she “cannot remember” an instance in which she removed an employee who had been picked to rate a security. Moody’s did prevent analysts from working on new deals involving certain banks, Yoshizawa said. Such decisions were made to protect employees, not to satisfy client demands that Moody’s assign less aggressive analysts, she said. “We felt that our analysts were being abused,” Yoshizawa said. “We did not want that to happen.” Moody’s cared more about protecting its market share than potentially committing “securities fraud,” said Kolchinsky, who headed the company’s mortgage bond CDO group, testified. Moody’s in September 2007 implemented a plan for assessing CDOs filled with mortgage bonds that included the assumption rankings on the underlying securities were inaccurate. Market Share In October 2007, Kolchinsky said his boss responded to an internal e-mail showing that the firm’s CDO market share had fallen to 94 percent from typically more than 98 percent by demanding “an accounting of the missing deals.” “Despite the massive manifest errors in the ratings assigned to structured finance securities and the market implosion we were witnessing, it appeared to me that my manager was more concerned about losing a few points of market share than about violating the law,” Kolchinsky said. It was “the most disturbing e-mail I had ever received in my professional career,” he said. E-mails released by the Senate committee show Moody’s and S&P deferring to investment banks that were paying them to assign ratings to securities composed of pooled mortgages. S&P’s residential mortgage-backed securities group had “become so beholden to their top issuers for revenue they have all developed Stockholm syndrome which they mistakenly tag as customer value creation,” an unidentified S&P employee wrote in an August 2006 e-mail. Stockholm syndrome describes hostages who’ve developed positive feelings for their captors. ‘For the Money’ Senator Carl Levin, the Michigan Democrat who leads the investigative panel, said Moody’s and S&P “allowed Wall Street to impact their analysis, their independence and their reputation for reliability.” The firms “did it for the money,” he said. Moody’s Corp. Chief Executive Officer Raymond McDaniel said his company, market participants and regulators failed to anticipate how quickly the housing market was deteriorating. The company is updating its risk models more frequently and making sure broad signs of economic distress get incorporated into ratings analysis for individual securities, he said. Peter D’Erchia, managing director of U.S. public finance at S&P, said the company has “always been committed to doing the best we can to develop and maintain appropriate ratings.” Senate Debate The Senate may begin debating legislation next week to overhaul financial rules after the credit crunch cost financial companies worldwide more than $1.78 trillion and spurred a U.S. bailout of banks including Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. The measure would authorize the SEC to evaluate and set standards for what models S&P and Moody’s can use to assess credit risk. The bill would also restrict judges from dii wonder when those same rating agencies will give an accurate rating on British and American debt loads(bond ratings) . more

Resolved Question: Is the Chinese economy going to collapse this decade like Japan did in the late 80s, early 90s?

Is the country's rise and growth a myth? - $600 - $900 billion in nonperforming bad loans (1/4 of GDP). - Estimated 40% bad debt rate compared to 20% Japan in 1990 - Many loans being made for family/social relations rather than business. - Continally lowering the price of its exports, leading to falling profit more

Resolved Question: how should i do my conclusion for my research project? please comment it too?

“The American Dream” Nowadays people think that “The American Dream” is alive and well. To other people the dream is dying everyday little by little. There are millions of people going through hard times struggling to keep their homes and trying to stay out of debt. There have been several cases of home foreclosures, high unemployment rates and illegal immigration. Many people ask, “What causes home foreclosures?” The recent study of home foreclosures has been started by a number of things. First, the economy and the jobless rate people are losing more and more of their jobs across the country. Second, loss of said job can put you behind the 8-ball with no financial support. Also, illness and death can play a role here. Taxes also play a role with death taxes, insurance taxes and home taxes leading the way. Most people see the U.S. a safe and easy why to get out of things. Though nearly one in four households have zero net worth or is in debt and owes more than they own. Like David Francis said “Income mobility has declined in the last 20 years.” Has the “American Dream” been oversold? For years the “American Dream” has been to own a home. The home ownership rate has fallen at least four quarters since 2007 to its lowest level since the beginning of 2002. Eighteen million homes are empty stretched across this country. Last year there where almost over one million empty home just in the United States, bulks and bulks of increase of homes have been lost, of course, is in foreclosed homes (David R. Francis). Here is something to think about there are more empty homes in neighborhoods across America, as the home ownership rate continues to fall. Where’s the “American Dream” hiding in all that? There is a high unemployment in the United States. The unemployment rates vary from state to state in the United States. December of 2007 the unemployment rate nationwide was five percent. That’s two percent below average. Most workers under the age of twenty-five are more likely to be unemployed. Jobs held by younger workers are laid off more often. Young people tend to have less experience and less education. Unemployment rates are affecting everyone in America. According to studies, unemployment has increased steadily over the past decade. The growing population is one of the leading reasons to the unemployment rate. As to another is there are a lot of immigration taking over job because they are willing to take lower wages. (McGinn, Daniel) Some people feel that illegal immigration is affecting all Americans. As mentioned in the last paragraph illegal immigrants are getting most of our jobs. Owners of businesses are laying off their workers mostly due to not being able to afford their wages. So the owner lies off their workers and hires immigrants because they will accept lower wages. Immigration causes several problems in the U.S., such as education disputes, crime, and overcrowding. From studies, these problems have already affected American itself. People estimate that fifty-thousand illegal aliens may get across the border every year. Immigrants are costing tax payers billions of dollars. Immigrants drain funds enormously by taking advantage of welfare. Immigration are causing a dramatic growth in population. They are overcrowding schools, consuming the already limited affordable housing, increasing strain on natural resources like water, energy, and forest land. (Alex Newman) more

Resolved Question: Isn't Barry a great President.?

Look yesterday he took the time out of his busy schedule to explain to the country in a scripted media presentation, that he the fearless leader of the free world was winning. Why we are moving ahead Barry says. Things are behind us now. All of those Nay sayers are wrong. I Barry the great have turned things around. Now you have got to ask yourself a few questions. 1. If this is so. How come 9.9 percent of the Nation is unemployed. 2. No money is being loaned to small business, 3. The Commerical real estate market the second bubble about to blow up is looming on our door step. 4. We are so far in debt. It could be we never get out of it. 5. Jobs at the government sector have risen significantly. 6. Jobs in the private sector are doing jack squat. 7. We are still Nation building in Iraq, and Afghanistan. 8. Our Fearless leader just lead one of the biggest crooks around by the nose for the past 4 days kissing his ass at every opportunity, Karzi. If this is what Barry calls turning things around, I would really never want to see want to see what he considers as failure.edit. Would really never want to see what he considers as failure. I double clutched on a line, more

Resolved Question: I want to run for president one day. Policies and resume below. what do you think?

I am 15 and i am the class president of my High School. I have a 4.2 GPA and play 2 sports for the school and I am the Class President of Student Government. Now here are my ideas for America right now and tell me whether you would vote for me one day or not. Health Care : Health Care is one of America's biggest problems today. Statistics show that Medicare and Medicaid are two of the biggest causes of our debt. Also based on what i have read on the situation 33% of the money we spend on these programs is fraud so I believe that we need to eliminate the fraud in medicare and medicaid by ensuring that the services we pay for are being provided and the services we pay for are necessary.Also based on my research i have found that if we eliminate the fraud in these systems then the cost of Health Care would drop by 15-20% for the average american family. If this happened then it is quite obvious that more people would buy it. But that is only one side of the equation. The problem we also have is that Insurance companies are denying patients coverage because they have pre-existing conditions. I agree with President Obama on this portion of his bill in which he basically makes it illegal for insurance companies to do this.Also my stats conclude that 18% of people dont have health care and unemployment is around 9% so this shows that about 1 in 10 people who work dont have health care. I think that we should allow small businesses to band together to buy Health Care for there employers just like large corporations do.I think eliminating government fraud and restrictions on Health Insurance companies are the best way to go. The Economy: I believe that we should provide tax cuts to all americans. If we lower taxes then this will improve small business growth. This is because small businesses will have more money to spend on employment and production which will ultimately lead to more consumers buying their products which will ultimately help the economy. more

Voting Question: Please help rewrite essay! I am really desperate. 10 points?

I am a non English speaker. This essay is an Interview about a PERSONS JOB. Please correct anything and feel free to add/make up anything(quotes, sentences) as you like. It would be really helpful if you can rewrite the essay and extend it. Thank You so much for helping. :) The essay: “I have been in the computer business for seventeen years” says John Dillon with an authoritative voice as he walks inside his warehouse. He shows me a picture of him starting his business in his friend’s basement. As he takes the endless calls from his clients he says “I have passed many hurdles in my life in order to be where I am.” From a very young age, John did not like the idea of being told what to do. John's family consisted of three brothers and two sisters. “I was the youngest” he says. He felt that his siblings always had an unfair advantage over him for bossing him around. This led to his desire to lead. “The best way to get back at anybody is to succeed” says John with a devil smile on his face, he was very ambitious, which led to his very good grades in school and college. Immediately after high school he went to a community college where he did his general education requirements and then transferred to UFL (University of Florida) and completed his Bachelors degree 1996 with Computer Science Major and a minor of economics. From a young age he was very fond of technology especially computers. He shows his touch-screen phone and says “everything in the future will be computerized”. “I never thought I would be in this position today” he says. After John got out of University he was reluctant to get a job. He did not like the idea of someone instructing him what to do. After a while he realized he needed a steady income to pay his debts from college years. “It was a hard time, I was desperate” he says. He sold his only computer he bought couple of months ago. And right away he thought of the idea of selling electronics. This business gave him the luxury to use all of his dream gadgets. “I was making a lot of profit due to the cheap price I used to sell “ he says. Eventually it grew enough and today his business employs eighteen people. His annual income is close to a million today. “ I help my brothers and siblings out and now I boss them around” John says laughing. Its been a dream come true for me. more

Resolved Question: I HATE my major, am I too late?

I'm a junior majoring in Business Administration. I just transferred to a university from a community college last fall. The thing is, I used to be an animation major... but my parents pressured me into switching to Business. Although I didn't want to do it, I thought that maybe I'd learn to like it.... but instead, it's just getting harder and harder every quarter. The class, the people, the environment... everything is so painfully boring that I feel like I'm gonna put a bullet through my skull if I don't get out! I'm taking as little units as possible because I hate that school so much. I know it's only hurting me cause that means I have to stay here longer, but I can't stay there for too long or I just start losing my mind. Even if I am in class, all I do is draw. I know it's stupid that I let my parents talk me out of my what I wanted to do. It's so pathetic that I'm sitting in a finance class practicing my hand anatomy on my text book. I'm turning 22 this year... Even if I were to transfer to another school to go back to my animation major, isn't it too late for me? I feel like I'd be like over 30 by the time I get my stuff together... On top of that, the tuition for the school I want to go to is 20k a year, plus the supplies and books. There is no way I can afford that, and I feel like getting a loan would lead me to monster debt in the future... Please help me?! more

Resolved Question: What do I do when a debt collector is harassing me and I'm not the person he's looking for?

I received a phone call from an UNKNOWN number on my cell phone. The "debt collector" asked for a Tim Mayfield who apparently owes someone a vast sum of about $6000, and I quickly prompted that I was not the one he was looking for. He retorted with "Quit with the damn games Mr. Mayfield and stop lying about your identity." In utter shock, I then again tried to tell this completely rude "professional" I was not who he was looking for. He says "Uh huh, sure. Good luck to you pal, you're gonna need it." I've received numerous calls since then, until I finally answered the phone and demanded I have his information before we conducted any kind of business. He supplied me with a number (713-789-5893 which lead me to this company GGR) and a name (Tony Rodriguez). At this point, I don't feel blocking the number will do any justice. I feel completely violated that I'm being called a liar and in no way will this guy listen to reason. My real name is Joshua Sanders. What do I do? And do you think I should get an attorney involved? more

Resolved Question: Economics QUESTIONS HELP!!?

41. (Points: 1) Which of the 4 graphs below illustrates the Keynesian/Short-run process for curing an Inflationary gap? a. A b. B c. C d. D e. None of the above graphs do -- requires a decrease in the LRAS Save Answer 42. (Points: 1) To cure the Gap in the above question the Keynesian/Short-run model suggests: a. The Government should try to Increase Real GDP by $3tn b. The Government should try to Increase Real GDP by $2tn c. The Government should wait for Wage and Price changes to lead the Macroeconomic Self-adjustment process d. The Government should try to Decrease Real GDP by $3tn e. The Government should try to Decrease Real GDP by $2tn Save Answer 43. (Points: 1) If the MPC was = 0.80 in order to cure the inflationary gap in the way shown in the graph above the Government should: a. + $0.2 tn Government spending (increase) b. + $0.75 tn Government spending (increase) c. The Government is waiting for Macroeconomic self-adjustment process-- so Government spending and Taxation do not change d. - $0.5 tn Government spending (decrease) e. - $0.4 tn Government spending (decrease) Save Answer 44. (Points: 1) If the Government wants to use Fiscal policy to fight Inflation it would engage in: a. Automatic Stabilization b. Stagflationary Fiscal Policy c. Classical Fiscal Policy d. Contractionary Fiscal Policy e. Expansionary Fiscal Policy Save Answer 45. (Points: 1) ______________ is the use of Increased Government spending and/or Decreased Taxes to Increase both Aggregate Demand and Real GDP a. Expansionary Fiscal Policy b. Balancing the Budget c. Automatic Stabilizers d. Classical Fiscal Policy e. Contractionary Fiscal Policy Save Answer 46. (Points: 1) Automatic stabilizers: a. are theoretically not a form of fiscal policy because Keynesian economists explicitly disapprove of them b. are a form of fiscal policy because they involve automatically triggered government spending and taxation changes to counteract the business cycle c. are not a form of fiscal policy because there is no direct Congressional or Presidential action involved d. are in reality rarely ever used outside of Japan e. are a form of fiscal policy because consumers behave as if it is one Save Answer 47. (Points: 1) Automatic stabilizers: a. Are a purely theoretical, Classical macroeconomic ideal b. Are the only form of Discretionary fiscal policy that is used in practice c. Do not completely cure Recessionary or Inflationary gaps but they do reduce the swings of the Business cycle d. Have recently become more effective, due to the increasingly progressive tax code, and expanded welfare programs e. None of the above are true statements about Automatic stabilizers Save Answer 48. (Points: 1) In reality what do Classical economists think of Fiscal policy? a. Classical economists do not believe in crowding out, and think that Fiscal policy can quickly and effectively solve any Macroeconomic problem b. Classical economist believes that Fiscal policy is an essential tool in controlling the levels of the Federal budget deficit and the National debt c. Classical economists believe the Long-run adjustment process takes too long, so Short-run fiscal policy is needed to quickly and effectively manage the forces of Aggregate Demand in the Macroeconomy d. Classical economists only support the use of Fiscal policy to fight inflation e. Classical economist disapprove of Fiscal policy, because they believe Government intervention will do more harm than good, and the economy will naturally self-adjust to cure any Macroeconimic problems on its own. Save Answer 49. (Points: 1) The explicit legislative actions taken by Congress and the president to change Government Spending or Taxes is called: a. Long-run Stabilizers b. Classical fiscal policy c. Automatic Stabilizers d. Long-run fiscal policy e. Discretionary fiscal policy Save Answer 50. (Points: 1) If in the graph below Full Employment Real GDP is at $6tn, this graph represents: a. Automatic Stabilizers reducing the swings of the Business Cycle b. The Budget Surplus leading to a Recession c. Economic Booms leading to Budget deficits, and Economic Recessions leading to Budget surpluses d. Discretionary Fiscal policy automatically curing anOverheating/Underperforming economy e. A Budget Deficit leading to an Economic boom Save Answer 51. (Points: 1) Which of the following statements describe Real World Difficulties with Fiscal Policy? Mark ALL correct answers a. Fiscal Policy Lags--makes it even more difficult to have the right policy take effect at the right time b. Multiplier Problems--The exact size/length of the multiplier is not known, and there may be overlapping effects c. Debt and Deficit restrictions in the U.S. make more

Resolved Question: Australian Government - Kevin Rudd.?

Today I received this email ... is this correct? (below) NOW THIS IS UNDISPUTABLE!!! NO MATTER WHAT YOUR POLITICAL LEANINGS. Quoted by : Ross Greenwood of Money News. Right now the Federal Government is at pains to tell everyone - including us the mug-punters and the International Monetary Fund that it will not exceed its own, self-imposed, borrowing limits. How much? $200 billion. And here's a worry. If you work in a bank's money market operation; or if you are a politician; the millions turn into billions and it rolls off the tip of the tongue a bit too easily. But every dollar that is borrowed, some time, has to be repaid. By you, by me and by the rest of the country. Just after 5 o'clock tonight I did a bit of maths for Jason Morrison. But it's so staggering its worth repeating now. First though; here's what Chairman Rudd has been saying about - what he calls - these temporary borrowings. Remember Those Words : Temporary Deficit. But the total Government debt could end up around $200 billion. So here's a very basic calculation ... I used a home loan calculator to work it out ... it's that simple. $200 billion is $200,000 million. The current 10 year Government bond rate is 4.67 per cent. I worked the loan out over a period of 20 years. Now here's where it gets scary ... Really scary. The repayments on $200 billion come to more than one and a quarter billion dollars - every month - for 20 years. It works out we - as taxpayers - will be repaying $154 billion in interest and principal every year ... $733 for every man woman and child - every year. The total interest bill over the 20 years is - get this - $108 billion. Remember, this is a Government that just 18 months ago had NO debt . NO debt. In fact it had enough money to create the Future Fund to pay the future liabilities of public servants' superannuation ... And it had enough to stick $20 billion into the Building Australia Fund last year ... Money News Presenter, Ross Greenwood Who were the idiots who voted these spin-doctoring bozo's into office? (not me,mate) Alan Jones Comment - this is frightening: Hmmmmm?? He continues... A note that was sent to me which explains that the six leading members of the Government from Mr. Rudd down, the top six have a collective work experience of 181 years, but only 13 in the private sector. If you take out of those 13 years the number that were spent as trade union lawyers, that total 11, of the 181 years only two years were spent in the private sector. So the people who will rack up a net Federal debt of a minimum of $188 billion, the highest in our history, have virtually no experience in business. So out of those 181 years: - no years spent running their own business - no years spent starting their own business - no years spent as a director of a family business or a company - no years as a director of a public company - no years in a senior position in a public company - no years in a senior position in a private company - no years working in corporate finance - no years in corporate or business restructuring - no years working in or with a bank - no years of experience in the capital markets - no years in a stock-broking firm - no years in negotiating debt facilities with banks - no years running a small business - no years at the World Bank or IMF or OECD - no years in Treasury or Finance. But these people have plunged Australia into unprecedented debt, and now threaten to torpedo employee share schemes which they plainly don't understand. Well, in a way you can't blame them. It is clear the electorate did not do their homework, because the Gov't is there by right. If you have read this, you may like to pass it on to your friends as you, them and me and our grandchildren, will be repaying the these debts for years to come........................................... ........ and that scares me for the welfare of our children and grand children! This is what a fiscal conservative does with our money. I've been around long enough to see several cycles of government and the pattern seems to be that Labor run us into the red from Whitlam onwards and when the cart is far enough into the poo, we vote in a conservative government who set about repaying the debt and building wealth. When we are in good enough shape financially, we vote them out and give it back to labor to spend all over again. Sound familiar? This time we have really blown it. They have not only spent our kids future fund that the Libs built up for us but they have also spent another 200 Billion that we don't have to put us back in the poo again.... and they call us the lucky country... (end of email) more

Resolved Question: can anyone tell me some micro economic principles that relate to this article?

Phillips-Van Heusen, the clothing conglomerate that owns Calvin Klein, is near a deal to buy Tommy Hilfiger, once a leading purveyor of colorful preppy clothing, for about 2.2 billion euros, or $3 billion, in cash and stock, people briefed on the matter said Sunday night. Related Times Topic: Tommy Hilfiger Add to Portfolio Phillips-Van Heusen Corp Go to your Portfolio » Phillips-Van Heusen, which also owns Arrow and Izod and licenses brands like Geoffrey Beene and Kenneth Cole New York, is hoping to take advantage of Tommy Hilfiger’s strong European distribution channels for its own products, these people said. Despite Tommy Hilfiger’s reputation as a quintessentially American clothier, two-thirds of the company’s business is based in Europe. A deal could be announced as soon as Monday morning, though these people warned that talks were continuing and a deal might not be reached. Representatives for the two companies could not be reached for comment. While Mr. Hilfiger no longer holds a management role at the company that bears his name, he remains a principal designer and a public face for the clothier. If completed, the deal would be only the latest to emerge from an active market for mergers and acquisitions, as corporate buyers feel more confident in pursuing long-desired targets. A sale of Tommy Hilfiger would be a lucrative exit for its current owner, the British private equity firm Apax Partners. Apax has twice sought an initial public offering for the clothier, and Tommy Hilfiger’s chief executive, Fred Gehring, told Reuters in September that an I.P.O. was the most likely next step for the company. Speculation had spread about a potential deal between the two companies over recent weeks, including in a report by Women’s Wear Daily. Shares of Phillips-Van Heusen have risen nearly 19 percent in the last month, closing on Friday at $47.74. Under the proposed terms of the deal, Phillips-Van Heusen will pay a combination of cash and stock, though most of the offer would be in cash. Apax will own about 10 to 15 percent of the American clothing company. Phillips-Van Heusen is expected to take on a significant amount of debt as part of the transaction. Phillips-Van Heusen management, led by Emanuel Chirico, will remain in New York, and Tommy Hilfiger’s will remain in Amsterdam. A deal would provide yet another owner for Hilfiger, whose founder has weathered a series of ups and downs over the last two decades. Cashing in on the craze for his particular brand of prep — emblazoned with a stylized American flag — Mr. Hilfiger was among the first American designers to take his company public. His clothing changed with the times, gaining popularity among rap stars as its proportions swelled to take advantage of trends in streetwear. The effect was a hipper Polo Ralph Lauren, with bigger jeans and baggier T-shirts. But by the late 1990s Tommy Hilfiger became unfashionable, a victim of fickle customer tastes. The company was eventually sold in 2006 to Apax and European management, led by Mr. Gehring, for about $1.6 billion in cash. Under Apax and Mr. Gehring, Tommy Hilfiger has staged a big recovery. In 2007, it struck a deal with Macy’s that gave the department store giant exclusive sales rights for its clothing. Tommy Hilfiger also sells its clothing at its own branded stores and sells licensed products like fragrances elsewhere. The company has also sought to reclaim its preppy heritage, slimming down its sizes and returning to an image of young American aristocrats at play. That has rejuvenated the company’s fortunes, first in Europe and then elsewhere. The company shares some ties with Phillips-Van Heusen: the American conglomerate already owns a license to produce some Tommy Hilfiger clothing. more

Resolved Question: Republicans: Would you prefer a return to the type of society and economy we had between 1945 and 1980?

On average, the United States had little national debt and enjoyed a budget surplus which allowed us to be the World's Lender. Our industries were the envy of the World, our exports strong and our trade deficit non-existent. During this time under the Republican President Dwight Eisenhower we started a World Class freeway system that was paid for with real, not borrowed, money. Our middle class was strong and our schools some of the best in the World. Most of our large industries, such as steel makers, auto manufactuers and airlines offered defined benefit pension programs which allowed workers to retire with security and dignity. We were energy independent for most of these years and enjoyed the benefits of low cost gasoline and electricity. Most small business such as restaurants, retail outlets, hardware stores, office suppliers and such were locally owned and operated companies. Our clothing, appliances and automobiles were produced in this country by American workers. Of course, this all came at a price. Marginal tax rates on very high incomes exceeded 75% at times. Corporate tax structure was different, discouraging the formation of mega-retailers such as Walmart and restaurant chains such as Taco Bell and Burger King. Auto loans were restricted to no more than 36 months, causing people to live more within their means. Or do you prefer the post 1980's with the Reagan tax cuts which lead to the first large budget deficits? Do you prefer the post 1980's with a steady decline in middle class income with its attendent increase in consumer debt? Are you more satisfied with more modern times, working for less real money than your father did? Do you enjoy having to work for 5 or more years to pay for the same transportation that your father paid for in two or three years? This is not a strictly political question but one of lifestyle preference. Is the remote possibility that you may someday earn multi-million dollar incomes worth the reality of an almost certain decline in real income and securitythat your parent's enjoyed? Or would you prefer the almost certain prospect that if you get a good education and work hard that you can live a comfortable middle class lifestyle, free of debt and with the means to provide security to your family and afford a good education for your children?No Kevin. I have just been on the planet longer than you. more

Resolved Question: I'm trapped at home and I don't know what to do.?

I'm a 20-year-old college student who lives at home. During the past year, I've moved to another state, several friends and relatives have passed away, and I lost a serious boyfriend. My mom has always been overprotective and doesn't hardly let me leave the house. If she does, she wants to be with me or she expects me to text her constantly. She has a tracking device in my phone and she keeps records of my phone calls. My mom has started dating accounts in my name, she got access to all of my email accounts, and she is withholding access to my bank accounts including the account for a business I own. I want to move out, but my parents don't want me to and they are paying my tuition. No one has access to the bank accounts except my mom, including my dad. He says he's so far into debt that he won't be able to retire until he's 68, and he wants me to get a job to help him pay down their mortgages. I would be going to school full-time, working full-time, and running a business. And I would be giving up my earnings. Even if I get a job, he wants me to stay in the house until I get married. I'm so upset over my situation that I'm not bothering to date. The house is a mess, I'm not allowed to do anything for myself (including cook or do laundry), and my mom has parental controls on my computer. I literally have no freedom, but she expects me to be grateful for everything she's "doing for me." I'm seeing a therapist, but it's not helping. This semester has been rough, and although I'm normally a 4.0 student, I'm losing motivation. I don't see a way out. I have people who would be willing to take me in, but that would endanger me continuing college because my parents control my tuition. It could also lead to major problems for anyone who helps me. If I get a job, my mom will take my earnings. I want to help my dad but not at the expense of me being able to leave home someday. What should I do? Are there any resources that could help me? more

Resolved Question: Health care rebuttals?

heres what I have so far- 1.Opening statement- I believe that nationalizing the Health insurance in America would be a terrible idea because at the condition that this country is in this would just cause more debt for this country, and it is also up to the people whether they want government coverage. 2.Private health care companies have make sure they reach government health insurance requirements 3.It will cost billions of dollars possibly even trillions, example it will cost over 100,000 billion dollars a year, and at this current time this countries debt is already a very high so therefore it would create just more debt so I believe it would not be appropriate at this time. 4.Taxes for every American will increase by 1-2% depending on how much they make. In order to pay off the costs for health reform. 5.There will be long waiting lists for cat scans, MRI’s, and surgerys, as Europe and Canada have expercinced because they have Socialized Medicine. 6.Private health insurance rates will be increased.1 7.The health care bill will put many private health insurances out of business 8.People who are under the nation health insurance coverage will not always be able to choose there docter or practioner. 9.You will need to report to your local government when you are traveling because in the event you have health services. (Mandate- a document giving a command) 10.Will cause tax on job growth. If they don’t meet government health insurance requirements they will have tax penalty on pay roll. 11. The NFIB the leading small business assocation, opposes the health care bill due to the fact 86 percent of small businesses who offer coverage only offer one plan. Small employers and their employees want the ability to choose from a variety of affordable plans. H.R. 3200 reduces options available to small businesses. The bill gives a political board the power to determine whether an employer plan is “acceptable.” It does nothing to ensure that the new plans will be less expensive than what small employers are paying today. 12.Americans who are not covered will be forced to pay a fine or get insured by 2014.What is the difference between socialized medicine and the health care bill? What do you mean less poverty this isnt just going to get more people off the streets its just simply getting them health care. The reason why this wont take action until 2014 is because it is going to cost so much more money and therefore they must wait till the goverment to have enough funding to begin. more

Resolved Question: Which of the following paths will lead to the greatest financial/rewarding success after a B.S. degree?

1. Having one's company pay for an MBA on a part-time basis (~3 years; must stay an additional 2 yrs with company with little to no salary bump or job promotion) 2. Paying for an MBA full-time (~2 years; take out loans but not geographically-challenged, possibly greater jobs/salary out there) 3. Either (1) or (2) PLUS 1-2 more advanced degrees on a part-time basis (Pay out of pocket; no company reimbursement). JD (Law) degree and/or CPA (Accounting) degree. 4. Just pursue MBA part time with company paying for it (i.e. no debt load) and invest heavily in things like mutual funds, stocks, bonds, real estate, etc. To wrap it up, what makes the most sense- degree-chasing to be well-respected, highly educated, and well-rounded in business OR heavy investment in appreciable assets? more

Resolved Question: Grade my essay please?

I know my teacher is gonna grade it anyways, but I only have one shot at this. It's for AP American history, so it has to be like perfect. Constructive criticism is appreciated and thanks for reading I know it's very boring! And whoever can steel themselves into reading this I definitely admire you :) What caused the Roaring Twenties to come to a grinding halt? Analyze the events of the 1920s that contributed to the demise of the American economy, using economic, social and political variables. The 1920s were a decade of economic prosperity. The employment rate was high, and the productivity rate was soaring due to new technological advancements. Globally, the United States was extending it's power across the world and establishing itself firmly in the global market. However, the country was unconsciously setting itself up for economic doom. Consumers, bolstered by the new availability of loans and slower payments from companies, were making purchases that cost many times their regular salary, resulting in a doubling of installment debt throughout the country. Factories were producing more than could actually be afforded by their low-cost employees, and due to an originally successful high tariff, the United States began a global tariff war in which it quickly became the center. Extremely high productivity rates, severe political mistakes, income inequality and nation-wide loans were the leading causes to the demise of the American economy. During World War I, farmers were both encouraged to and assisted in increasing crop production. European nations looked to the US for food, and farmers found themselves gaining a steady income. However, after the war, that government assistance was snatched away, leaving farmers with debt that could no longer be paid off easily. This forced them to plant more cash crops, leading to a surplus of wheat on the market, driving prices down and impelling farmers to plant even more crops for the next year. A similar problem was occurring in factories. In an effort to match popular demand, factories produced an increasing amount of consumer goods. Factory output soared with the utilization of new machines and techniques designed to increase production, while employee wages did not rise any higher. Demand could not keep up with supply, and as a result the price of goods collapsed. Overproduction led to a severely damaged economy leading up to the Great Depression. President Herbert Hoover and his administration simply downplayed the depression in the beginning, and assured citizens that they were only facing a temporary slump in the economy. They claimed that it would actually clean up the current corrupted practices within the system. However, when the economy continued to fail, Hoover declared the government would play a strict laissez-faire, or hands-off policy, stating that the government should not interfere with the economy, but instead let it right itself. He advised American citizens to practice self-reliance and work hard. In addition to his inaction, Hoover approved the Smooth-Hawley tariff, which pulled the average tariff rate for imported goods up nearly sixty percent. This was intended to protect American goods and businesses, but the main result was retaliation from foreign nations, who ceased to buy American products. US producers were desperate for any sales at all, and were severely hurt by this move. Political practices not only failed to aid American citizens during the recession, but actually added to the accumulating disasters. By the late 1920s, income inequality was more severe than in any other time in U.S. history. More than a third of all the nation's wealth was owned by the top one percent of Americans, while the poorest twenty percent were forced to make do with only four percent of it. Very few Americans were incredibly wealthy, whereas the vast majority were in poverty or barely above poverty. There was practically no middle class, and this giant difference in classes added more difficulty to the plummeting economy. On top of this, Americans had begun making purchases on credit since the beginning of the century, agreeing to pay for their items later rather than up front. When the economy began to fall, these same people found themselves unable to pay up, and creditors were left to absorb millions of dollars in faulty loans. In addition, consumers had begun buying stocks on margin, borrowing money from a broker and then using the money they gained from their investment to pay off their debt. This led to a stock market built up on imaginary money, and eventually led to the inevitable crash of the stock market. The crash of the stock market marked the end of the prosperous nineteen twenties. In an ironic twist, the economic prosperity that had afforded such glamour and technological boom during the twenties caused the greatest economic depression this country has ever seen. Consumers, politicians and businesses alike more

Resolved Question: Do you think this can explain the housing bubble in a way you will understand?

Heidi is the proprietor of a bar in Detroit. She realizes that virtually all of her customers are unemployed alcoholics and, as such, can no longer afford to patronize her bar. To solve this problem, she comes up with a new marketing plan that allows her customers to drink now, but pay later. Heidi keeps track of the drinks consumed on a ledger (thereby granting the customers' loans). Word gets around about Heidi's "drink now, pay later" marketing strategy and, as a result, increasing numbers of customers flood into Heidi's bar. Soon she has the largest sales volume for any bar in Detroit. By providing her customers freedom from immediate payment demands, Heidi gets no resistance when, at regular intervals, she substantially increases her prices for wine and beer, the most consumed beverages. Consequently, Heidi's gross sales volume increases massively. A young and dynamic vice-president at the local bank recognizes that these customer debts constitute valuable future assets and increases Heidi's borrowing limit. He sees no reason for any undue concern, since he has the debts of the unemployed alcoholics as collateral. At the bank's corporate headquarters, expert traders figure a way to make huge commissions, and transform these customer loans into DRINKBONDS, ALKIBONDS and PUKEBONDS. These securities are then bundled and traded on international security markets. Naive investors don't really understand that the securities being sold to them as AAA secured bonds are really the debts of unemployed alcoholics. Nevertheless, the bond prices continuously climb, and the securities soon become the hottest-selling items for some of the nation's leading brokerage houses. One day, even though the bond prices are still climbing, a risk manager at the original local bank decides that the time has come to demand payment on the debts incurred by the drinkers at Heidi's bar. He so informs Heidi. Heidi then demands payment from her alcoholic patrons, but being unemployed alcoholics they cannot pay back their drinking debts. Since Heidi cannot fulfill her loan obligations she is forced into bankruptcy. The bar closes and the eleven employees lose their jobs. Overnight, DRINKBONDS, ALKIBONDS and PUKEBONDS drop in price by 90%. The collapsed bond asset value destroys the banks liquidity and prevents it from issuing new loans, thus freezing credit and economic activity in the community.The suppliers of Heidi's bar had granted her generous payment extensions and had invested their firms' pension funds in the various BOND securities. They find they are now faced with having to write off her bad debt and with losing over 90% of the presumed value of the bonds. Her wine supplier also claims bankruptcy, closing the doors on a family business that had endured for three generations, her beer supplier is taken over by a competitor, who immediately closes the local plant and lays off 150 workers. Fortunately though, the bank, the brokerage houses and their respective executives are saved and bailed out by a multi-billion dollar no-strings attached cash infusion from their cronies in Government. The funds required for this bailout are obtained by new taxes levied on employed, middle-class, non-drinkers who have never been in Heidi's bar. Any questions? more

Resolved Question: Why is a stock exchange necessary?

I will plead ignorance on this matter. Clearly, the activities of Wall Street are largely to blame for our current economic crisis. The focus on extremely short term profits has been detrimental for most American workers. Over the last century, the banks and brokerage houses have essentially taken over our government- and the big boys have set the rules for themselves, and have put their own men in charge of regulating their own activities, leading to the selective enforcement of law. Now, Americans have a choice, whether to accept the debt incurred by the banking speculators, onto the backs of the young and unborn, or liquidate the debt as illegitimate, putting the criminals in prison. My question is, if we were to start over, what benefit does the NYSE (and exchanges like it) provide society. Clearly, it has made stockbrokers inestimable fortunes, but it has also moved businesses overseas, made workers minimal stakeholders in the companies that employ them, and led to the ponzi-scheming crony capitalists (and the politicians whom they own) to sit on atop of our nation like kings! more

Resolved Question: What about this solution to one aspect of the health care crisis?

Of course our health care problems are multi-faceted, and this only addresses one issue. But I honestly think that it's the only way to get around this issue that everyone could (possibly) agree on. The issue that bothers me the most, selfishly, is the fact that my insurance premiums are so high, and medical costs are over the top, in part because those of us who pay for insurance/medical care have to pay for those who don't. Currently, a hospital cannot refuse treatment to someone regardless of their ability to pay, but a regular doctor can. This leads to those who can't pay putting off their problems until they are half dead in the ER. Untreated health problems get worse, and by the time someone gets treatment it is much more expensive than just taking care of the problem would have been. So WE are paying for the most expensive treatments for people who spent their money on things other than health insurance for years. They end up in the hospital, and in the end, they just don't pay at all. These people go to private hospitals because they don't want to wait in the long queue at a charity hospital, and because the facilities are better- the same reason I go to a private hospital, as a matter of fact. The difference is, I pay to keep the private hospital in business-for myself, and for them. In return, they clog the private hospitals' emergency rooms with problems that would be better treated by a doctor, making my visit to the emergency room less pleasant and more expensive. We can either stop giving treatment to those without insurance who don't have the money to pay up front, or force everyone to carry insurance. The latter has been a bone of contention in the process of seeking reform. What if there was a sort of "credit bureau"- separate from the others-for medical costs? Everyone has heard the saying "screw me once, shame on you; screw me twice, shame on me." When a person with no insurance shows up to the hospital and wants to take out what amounts to a $1000+ dollar LOAN to pay for their costs, there would be a quick check run on them. If he or she has a history of not paying medical bills, no treatment. Refer him or her to a charity hospital. This would give everyone a chance to "screw us once," because those with no history would be given the benefit of the doubt. That way, if a person actually intends to pay, they can get treatment at a private, higher cost, better equipped hospital. If not, then they can head to the nearest charity ward and wait in line. This seems to resolve the argument "I don't need insurance, I can afford to pay outright." Just as with any loan, a person who could pay all of the cost up front wouldn't be subject to any check. And a person who consistently sticks to their payment plans and pays their debts would have treatment available to them as well. I'm not advocating allowing someone to die-someone who had "bad medical credit" would "know their score" and wouldn't even bother trying to go to a private hospital. Private hospitals are businesses. There are non-profit charity hospitals that aren't, but people don't want to go to them. I have a friend who had her first child in the charity ward of a hospital-she was young, and knew she couldn't pay. Although she didn't have much money, she was raised well and knew that walking out on one's debts is unacceptable. She didn't think she was too good for charity, and neither should anyone else. I'm not even saying that basic medical care isn't a right-I'm just saying that top-notch, cushy medical care in a private facility isn't a right. This may sound callous,but I am not a rich person. I can't afford to pay for others' medical care. However, I consider mine on par with food-a necessity, not an option. I don't get a fluffy inexpensive plan through a job; I purchase my own private insurance. I've had to sacrifice things I've wanted to pay for it. It is unfair for me to have to sacrifice to pay so that others can do what they want with their money, and then get the best of treatment on my dime. There are also programs in every state to pay for the health care of minor children from low-income families. Even if they are not already part of these programs, there are social workers whose only job is to work in hospitals and identify these cases, and get them signed up. So just because mom and dad didn't want to buy insurance, junior won't have to suffer. I'd love to hear arguments for and against this idea; I'm aware that there will probably be many, in this group. ;)Kelly Bundy Bounces...I'm 25, I am college educated, and I have a 7 year old with cerebral palsy(so I am well versed in pre-existing conditions), my husband's insurance WAS discontinued by his employer, then his job was eliminated 2 months later. We bought private insurance and went deeply into debt for our basic needs, one of which was private insurance, which we are sacrificing heavily to pay off. In fact, we have reduced our debt by 70% in the past two years, by doing without. One of the tenets that I was raised on was not to walk out on a debt, ever. If you had read the entire statement, you would see that I do not get insurance through an employer. Now you know the rest of the story. And um...no, an ER visit is not supposed to be pleasant. But some of us are willing to pay because we aren't willing to have a patently UNPLEASANT experience. I'm pretty sure that I stated several times that I did not think that this was the ONLY problem with the current system.There is obviously one thing i didn't think about. The phrase "charity hospital." Where I live, tax-exempt churches put their money where their mouth is and take care of the Jesus-ing for all of us...meaning they fund charity hospitals. Also, hospitals ALREADY get a tax break for running no-cost or sliding scale wards...same hospital, same equipment, no amenities other than basic medical care...just like anyone in the US gets a tax break for donating to charity. I knew that folks would think me misanthropic. I've been a hard core liberal since I can remember. But I can't, for the life of me, justify one person paying for the other IN OUR CURRENT SYSTEM. It has now become clear that there will be no public option. By the way, I was all for it. Maybe I would not be paying the insurance company literally 2000% profit each year on myself. There must be some way to make it fair. I see lots and lots of personal attacks, but no suggestions.g-I drive 30 miles to the nearest PRIVATE hospital unless I want to pay 5000+ dollars for an ambulance, which I can't afford. "what happens when YOU go to that hospital and YOUR insurance turns you down to stay at that hosptial for some silly reason? they wouldn't have to treat you?" Just as I said...if I had no history of defaulting on medical bills they would give me the benefit of the doubt and treat me. Billy Joe Clegg's Ghost-you are correct, I was only thinking of my state, Louisiana. I apologize for that. "So, you'd happily tossed a disabled worker like me on the scrap heap." I should have mentioned the programs that exist to help the disabled acquire health care. There is definitely federal disability! Do you have a long history of not even making an ATTEMPT to pay your medical bills? If not, no problem. 40 dollars a month is an attempt. I have paid that for my son's bills on more than one occasion.It seems that many think that health care should be free. So being a doctor is the only profession that shouldn't pay? What incentive is there to become a doctor then? long years in school, followed by ridiculous amounts of time at work for the first several years, as well as exposure to disease-why do it? Because you want to help others? If you can live on 18,000 dollars a year, get a bachelors in social work, the hours are better. And our research scientists can become professors. "Use your mind AND have twice the free time...for more money." I'd be an excellent candidate for government-paid healthcare. Working family with disabled child. But that's NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. Not now. That'll happen when pot becomes legal and guns illegal. Not today, unfortunately. There are some of us making a sincere effort, clinging to the bottom rung of the middle class ladder with all of our strength. For us, this question is immediate. It's a matter of "food, or health care?" every day.Billy Joe Clegg's Ghost...*chuclkle* no ivory tower here. Dad dead, raised by a disabled single mom who did a great job but was broke. We never knew it though...she managed her money so we could be just like everyone else. She would have bought "first cars" and helped pay for college, but she couldn't. She herself is a college graduate with 2 degrees, who dropped out of school at 16, lived on her own, got a GED and worked 3 jobs to put herself through college. I'm not spoiled. I just believe that a person can do anything if they put their mind to it.Pat z... I couldn;t agree with you more. Unfortunately, I don't think our country is ready for that now. I was sincerely hoping, but the party that is supposed to be espousing these ideas-the party I've always voted for-the democratic party, was apparently too cowardly to force it through when they had the chance. Now they may not have it anymore, which means they are going to be even more careful. when we end up with the John McCain healthcare bill because they were too busy pandering to the other party to stand up for what's right, we'll be in the same EXACT boat we are in now. No change.Pat z-My husband worked in Canada for a year, and we were more than happy to pay the higher income tax...it saved us THOUSANDS of dollars on insurance, just for him, to be able to participate in their plan! And he loved it...he thought it was just fine. Not sub-par like many seem to think.I could have stated this much more concisely, now that I think about it. "if an American adult or Immigrant adult to America has a history of incurring medical bills and not making any attempt, however small, to pay them, he or she may be turned down for medical service by a private medical institution. Children, the elderly, and the disabled are exempt from this policy, as they qualify for governmental programs to help alleviate the burden of medical cost." Very low (less than 2x the poverty level) or no income adult Americans or adult members of American families that are working or making a sincere attempt to work shall be afforded reasonable payment plans (much like those of my student loans), not to exceed 15% (less than the % for student loans, actually) of their monthly income for medical costs incurred. more

Resolved Question: Do you still believe that Obama's spending is going to save the US Economy ?

Warren Buffets business partner does not From Money News Feb 21, 2010 Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett’s longtime business partner in Berkshire Hathaway, warns in a new column that the U.S. economic empire is crumbling before our eyes, thanks to federal debt and poor planning. In an article penned for Slate.com, Munger uses the form of a parable to explain how Wall Street’s love affair with gambling has destroyed America’s Main Street. The article leads with this headline: “Basically, It’s Over.” The U.S. deficit — just the gap between spending and income in one year — is projected to hit $1.6 trillion in 2010. Total debt is project to exceed 100 percent of GDP starting in 2011. more

Resolved Question: ARE YOU ARE REPUBLICAN OR A DEMOCRAT ?

Whatever your political affiliation is, OUR country is in trouble..... It seems like Obama is intentionally trying to screw up America so bad that it will never ever be able to be repaired. The things he's done and has proposed to do are the exact opposite of "hope and change". What a better way to destroy a country than from within? LQQk where and what he's spending our money on, it's so obvious he's just pissing our money away on frivilous wasteful pet pork projects that add up to absolutely nothing. Tell me how is this helping the USA? Maybe this is all just a ploy to bankrupt the country? Read some of the "Stimulus Bill" that was pushed through very quickly.... www.readthestimulus.org As I observe our president, I am embarrassed by him and for him. Since taking office thirteen months ago, he has not assumed responsibility for his decisions and their subsequent consequences. Rather, a recurring theme in many of his speeches (now numbering more than 400) is the placing of blame for America's current troubles on his predecessor in office. Reasonable people do not absolve President Bush of any responsibility. However, reasonable people also know that the office of president now belongs to president Obama. He owns it. Since Mr. Obama's ascendency to the Oval Office, he has spent (and borrowed) more taxpayer money than all previous presidents in U.S. history combined. The immaturity he displays in handling our economy is compounded by his narcissistic and egotistical attitude toward the American people. In his last few speeches, he blamed the failure of his programs as a failure of the American people to understand what he is proposing to us. He alleges that we are ignorant, ill-informed and swayed by conservative talk radio. He'd prefer we get our news from MSNBC, CNN, ABC, CBS and NPR, which form the nucleus of the Obama Fan Club. Regrettably, with the help of the "Oil Man" Bush-bashing media, we have elected an inexperienced president at a time of great peril from radical Islamists, record unemployment, out-of-control federal spending and massive government debt. Communist China now owns almost half of our debt. Is it any coincidence that the White House National Security Council recently directed U.S. spy agencies to lower the priority placed on intelligence for China in spite of strong opposition from high level American intelligence officers? Great Britain ceased to be a world power after World War I when it had to borrow massive amounts of money to stay afloat. The lender then was us. The same thing is happening today except the lender is China and we are the borrower. President Obama has never run a business and never served in the military. He was a community organizer and a U.S. senator for 143 days. He has repeatedly bashed and berated America abroad while criticizing the Constitution at home, advising us it needs "reform." Despite the fact that most Americans do not want his health care "reform" plan, he and leading Democrats - including Kanjorski, Casey and Specter - are determined to ram something through Congress. Quoting the Wall Street Journal, President Obama "has surrounded himself with the most radical left-wing liberals available. These people are creatures of the Great Society of the '60s and '70s and have spent their lives in government knowing nothing about the private sector." The administration is philosophically ill-equipped to turn the economy around, they have no practical experience at solving economic problems. Without business and consumer confidence that the people in charge of our government know what they're doing, it becomes clear that the people in charge are actually making our economic problems worse. There is a populist movement under way as evidenced in Virginia, New Jersey and, most recently, Massachusetts. This movement does not approve of the direction our country is headed with the Democrats at the helm, nor is there blanket endorsement of Republicans. Clearly, though, the movement is evidence that Americans want jobs, less spending, less government, lower taxes, less debt, as well as truth and transparency from public officials. KEEP THE GOVERNMENT OUT of our LIVES... SEE YOU AT THE TEA PARTIES WE THE PEOPLE UNITED WE STAND, Divided we fall.... and we are so divided right now among the "D's and the R's it is so sickening. Fellow Americans, this divide and conquer strategy that is being played is so obvious. We are all arguing and bickering amongst ourselves, our lovely politicians are robbing us blind. They are laughing all the way to the bank. Trillions... they got us really good!!! I watched this shocking video that was released before the Obama administration, and it will make you understand what's really going on... Please watch it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dmPchuXI… more

Resolved Question: Need some help with Accounting Homework urgent PLEASE!?

18. The interest charged on a $100,000 note payable, at the rate of 6%, on a 60-day note would be A. $3,333. B. $1,500. C. $6,000. D. $1,000. 19. The current portion of long-term debt should A. be reclassified as a current liability. B. not be separated from the long-term portion of debt. C. be paid immediately. D. be classified as a long-term liability. 20. Which one of the following payroll taxes does not result in a payroll tax expense for the employer? A. FICA tax B. State unemployment tax C. Federal income tax D. Federal unemployment tax 21. A hybrid form of business organization with certain features like a corporation is a(n) A. sub-chapter "S" corporation. B. limited liability partnership. C. limited liability company. D. "S" corporation. 22. A partnership A. is not an accounting entity for financial reporting purposes. B. must file an information tax return. C. has only one owner. D. pays taxes on partnership income. 23. A general partner in a partnership A. has unlimited liability for all partnership debts. B. is the partner who lacks a specialization. C. is liable for partnership liabilities only to the extent of that partner's capital equity. D. is always the general manager of the firm. 24. The individual assets invested by a partner in a partnership A.are jointly owned by all partners. B.determine the scope of authority of that partner. C.revert back to that partner if the partnership liquidates. D.determine that partner's share of net income or loss for the year. 25. In a partnership, mutual agency means A.each partner acts on his own behalf when engaging in partnership business. B.the act of any partner is binding on all other partners, only if partners act within their scope of authority. C.that partners must pay taxes on a mutual or combined basis. D.an act by a partner is judged as binding on other partners depending on whether the act appears to be appropriate for the partnership. 26. A partnership A.is dissolved only by the withdrawal of a partner. B.is dissolved upon the acceptance of a new partner. C.dissolution means the business must liquidate. D.has unlimited life. 27. The partner in a limited partnership that has unlimited liability is referred to as the A.head partner. B.unlimited partner. C.lead partner. D.general partner. 28. Limited partnerships A.guarantee that a partner will receive a return. B.guarantee that a partner will get back his original investment. C.must have at least one general partner. D.are limited to only three partners. 29. The Polen-James partnership is terminated when creditor claims exceed partnership assets by $40,000. James is a millionaire and Polen has no personal assets. Polen's partnership interest is 75% and James's is 25%. Creditors A.may collect the entire $40,000 from James. B.must collect their claims 75% from Polen and 25% from James. C.may not require James to use his personal assets to satisfy the $40,000 in claims. D.must collect their claims equally from Polen and James. 30. Eberle and Lankton are partners who share income and losses in the ratio of 3:2, respectively. On August 31, their capital balances were: Eberle, $175,000 and Lankton, $150,000. On that date, they agree to admit Newman as a partner with a one-third capital interest. If Newman invests $125,000 in the partnership, what is Eberle's capital balance after Newman's admittance? A.$160,000. B.$150,000. C.$175,000. D.$158,333. more

Resolved Question: Income tax related, pls clarify?

In FY2007-08, my share transaction are Turn over (in total year)is Rs.50 crores. (i.e, Delivery, intraday, futures and options). In equity segment i got profit of Rs.6,50,000/- (for less than 1 year) In futures segment I got loss of 3,00,000/- and in options segment i got loss of 50,000/- I am an employee of a PSU. In that year my income from salary was Rs.4,00,000/-. And i didnot show this share income. Now i got notice from ITO and I have to disclose all these. So How much i have to pay? Is it 10% of (6,50,000 - 3,00,000 - 50,000) 3,00,000/- i.e, 30,000 + interest + fine OR ELSE? If else how much? Does it come under capital gain tax or business income? Actually in that same year in my wife account (she is a house wife and has seperate pan no.) i got loss of 3,00,000/- And in FY2008-09, in my wife account i got a loss of Rs3,00,000/- in Delivery, intraday, futures and options I am very much in trouble and i am having huge debts. I cant pay much FOR THE SAME QUESTION 1) I was told that as my turnover is morethan 40 lakhs, i should have audited my accounts and as i didnot, i will be penalised for 1 lakh. Is it true? if Yes how to get rid of it 2) As i did trade in my wife's account (or i can say that i gave MY money to mywife and she traded), is there any POSSIBILITY that i can add that loss to my account? 3) A financial professional from 'caclubindia.com' answered about '2' in the above is given here. "If the conditions as in section 64(1)(iv) is satisfied, wife's loss can be included in husbands income. But if the husband declares his as well as wife's income after receipts of notice under section 143(2), penalty provisions under section 271(1)(c) may attract. " I read section64(1)(iv) but could not understand. What are those conditions? Finally, ur advice is needed for this. The ITO i am appearing is a lady of about 40 years and i was told that "she is good, honest and not corrupt (but not sure). In general also they(ITOs) dont harass salaried people." For me also she appeared good.(by the way she talks.,etc) So, can i say my problems (so discloses everything) to her? or does it lead to more problems? I am really in a mess. please answer me. Thanks in advance. more

Resolved Question: p/s help with geography economic lands hw!! thanks?

1. Which country does not use the euro as its currency? * Germany * France * Denmark * Italy 2. The euro allows people living in the EU to * avoid the inconvenience of converting currency when entering another EU country. * become more frustrated trying to convert their money at the border of a neighboring country. * develop an understanding of how the value of currency fluctuates from one country to another. * be more receptive to outside currencies, such as the franc and the mark. 3. Which country has adopted the euro as its currency? * Sweden * Denmark * United Kingdom * Portugal 4. This country’s steel and coal industries were shut down following World War II. * Germany * the Soviet Union * the United Kingdom * Italy 5. Which of the following terms best characterizes the EU’s economy? * mass market * single market * closed market * world market 6. The steel and coal industries of which two countries did not help restore Europe's economic prosperity following World WarII? * Spain and Denmark. * France and West Germany. * Italy and Belgium. * Luxembourg and the Netherlands. 7. The creation of a single European market would * promote competition, which would lower prices and improve consumer power. * promote competition, which would raise prices so that businesses earn more and consumers buy less. * prevent competition from occurring between European countries. * prevent consumers from obtaining too much consumer power which may lead to outrageous debt. 8. Which scenario would be the most problematic, considering the limited usage of the euro? * A German family tries to purchase snacks at a French grocery store. * A German family attempts to pay for postcards at a French souvenir shop. * A Danish family attempts to pay for their meal at an Italian restaurant in Sicily. * An Italian family attempts to purchase tickets for a tour of a German zoo. 9. The collective focus of the European Steel and Coal Community was to * build military machinery and weapons following the war. * promote fear over Germany’s government due to damages obtained in World War II. * promote the self-interest and individual success of each European country. * strengthen cooperation in trade and economics. 10. The concept of establishing a United States of Europe in order to restore economic prosperity following the war was proposed by * John F. Kennedy. * Fidel Castro. * Jacques Chirac. * Winston Churchill. more

Voting Question: How would you respond to this statement?

TARP was instated in order to stop AIG from collapsing under the weight of it's debt. That would be wonderful if they could collapse and the economy could take it, but it can't; there are not enough assets to do so. The toxic assets were absorbed by the US because we can handle the spoilage of a few loans whereas companies cannot. A better example would be shooting yourself in the head (business) or giving yourself a flesh wound. Neither is good, one is better. Even if you yourself can live without banks and prefer the money-in-the-mattress approach to financing, most people have their assets in banks. Others are completely reliant upon loans from banks in order to either start businesses or maintain them. I don't like bailing out AIG, but the alternative is much, much worse. By the way, why is the government separate from the people? In our founding documents, the US is a government of the people, for the people. People run it. People criticize it. People corrupt it and People fix it. Addressing your point on how I have the power to fix the entire financial system, what you have is an ideological wet dream. Of course I can control where my money goes, but people are not inherently group-thinkers. People who are poor will naturally gravitate towards the cheapest option, which does not lie here in America, nor employ Americans, nor foster growth; it will end at China, or India, or Pakistan. Most people do not care where they get their stuff from. It's proven that people who are shopping undergo a dopamine high from low prices, something that American-Made cannot boast. Now I think it would be wonderful for the system to work like you want it to, but the fact is, in the real world, people are self-serving. The poor will buy the cheapest things, the rich will protect their money, and business will put stockholders ahead of morality or long term national prosperity. All unregulated conservatism/laissez-faire systems lead to are race-to-the-bottom economics.Ha, I'm just trying to get some ideas on a response to this! I have my own, but i want to see what other people would say more

Resolved Question: At age 21 and under $40,000 in debt, how can I figure out my passion and what I want to do in life?

So recently I turned 21 and I'm going to be finishing my Junior year in college soon. I'm trying my best to keep up my GPA and it's around 3.8 right now. I'm majoring in business. But the fact of the matter is, I still don't know what my passion is, and that bothers me a lot. I don't want to be a kid anymore but I feel like I still am. With graduation in sight and unemployment rumors everywhere, I feel stupid just trying to graduate. I see some of my mature friends with a firm goal in their mind, like going to Med school, or becoming a physician's assistant, or lawyer or something like that. And that's really awesome and they know exactly what they want to do. But I don't have that kind of a goal. And I don't want to be one of those kids who just drift into jobs and watch life go by. So I guess my question is, how did you find your passion? Is there anything I can do right now to find my passions so I don't continue to waste time pursuing something I really couldn't care less about? I picked business as my major because frankly, well, I didn't really know what I wanted to do. And I thought maybe a lucrative job in business would be good and I would be kinda good at it too working with people and projects and leadership and sales. But I know it's not a passion. It might even turn out that I'm good at it or something like that but ... it's not a passion in any definition of the word. When I see my peers get excited about some financial tool they learned in class or Bank of America internship or something like that, I kind of want to throw up. I am already like $40,000 down the hole with tuition loans so I know I have to try to get a job as soon as possible after graduation. I feel stupid for having invested so much money into my bachelor's degree in business like this ... when I'm like 3/4 of the way done, and just confused as shit because I didn't care about initially finding my passion and jumped right into a career path without any research. What do you think I should do? just stay focused on my Bachelor's degree until I graduate with high grades so I can get a good job right after graduation so I can pay off my loans as fast as possible and try to look for something else that excites me along the way? I know I'm a creative type, a good writer, have a sense of humor and good instincts as a performer and director on stage, good at leading people, solving problems ... but incredibly opposite from banking or investment or finance ... just math in general more

Resolved Question: Does anyone have any comment on my decision to buy Praesepe (PRA) shares?

Praesepe plc is an AIM listed company with the specific purpose of consolidating the very fragmented UK and European AGC (the technical phrase for Amusement Arcades) industry. The plan is to build a business by acquisition with EBITDA of £100m within 2 years and to exit, via means of a trade sale, on an 8x multiple. The CEO, Nick Harding, started this journey once before as CEO of Talarius plc. From June 05 to Jan 07 he grew Talarius to become the largest UK AGC operator (200 sites), taking the share price from 80p to 280p in the process. His plans for Talarius were cut short – in a nice way – by an earlier than expected, acceptable offer to sell to an Australian based trade buyer on a 9x multiple. The expectation was that Talarius, under its new ownership, would continue with its acquisition plans but, due to problems in its home market, it hasn’t. Nick’s no compete clause expired and he began the same journey again with Praesepe. This time he and his main backers are more determined to reach the £100m EBITDA target and an early buy out offer is, therefore, less likely to be accepted. Praesepe is at the early stage of its journey. At the time of writing it has 54 sites across the UK, EBITDA for the 6 months to July 09 of £1.14m, a strong deal pipeline and a market capitalisation of £17.8m. The main shareholder (38.5%) is Marwyn – a big backer (and beneficiary) of Talarius previously. It is committed to the plan and is unlikely to sell out before the target exit. Depending on the size of the business being bought, Praesepe has acquired sites / groups of sites on EBITDA multiples up to 7x, with the average around 5.2x. Nick Harding is President of BACTA (the AGC trade body) and is well thought of in the industry across Europe – this makes doing deals that bit easier. On acquisition, sites are usually rebranded (Cashino), refitted with new machines on a revenue share model with leading manufacturers (uniquely for the industry – lower capex requirements / no ‘failed’ machines) and the operations are sharpened across the board. Based on The Crystal Room (so far the flagship Praesepe site in Leicester Square, London), such actions have a dramatic impact on revenue and earnings: The Crystal Room weekly revenue is +60% versus the weeks before the acquisition was completed. Acquisitions will be funded by a mix of new equity and debt. Currently there are 220m shares in issue, with 400m authorised. Have in mind that there is the potential for dilution unless further investments are made as new shares are issued. If the business sells for £800m with 400m shares issued, that is £2 a share. Compare that to the 8.5p market price today and, if you believe that the AGC market will follow the rule of consolidation and that Nick Harding can repeat and build on his previous success at Talarius, then it is worth a look. more