78 Ways for Your Small Business to Save Money in this Economy
Inside CRM
Oct 14, 2008
http://www.insidecrm.com/features/78-ways-save-economy-101408/
With the economy struggling, every business is trying to cut costs to make ends meet. Small businesses, which have fewer resources, especially feel the burn.
Not to fear. We’ve come up with a mega-list of ways to trim the fat off your enterprise so you don’t become a casualty of the latest economic downturn.
Technology
1. Go green!
2. Switch to open-source software.
3. Consider a smaller ISP.
4. Check out VoIP.
5. Get a cheaper business phone service.
6. Switch from a merchant account to an online payment service like Paypal.
7. Reduce the number of phone lines.
8. Look for cheap or free web hosting.
9. Buy recycled printer cartridges.
10. Reassess your phone plan.
11. Eliminate unnecessary lighting.
12. Turn off equipment when it's not being used.
13. Lighten up.
14. Time yourself.
15. If appropriate, use laptop computers.
16. Stop paying for software.
17. Do it online.
18. Share printers.
Overhead
19. Reduce your variable expenses.
20. Do house cleaning on your weekly unneeded expenses.
21. Get a freelancer.
22. Keep a close watch on energy consumption.
23. Sublet office space.
24. Keep it in the family.
25. Hire college students or interns for credit.
Office Items and Office Space
26. Take advantage of member rewards.
27. Plan shipping or mailings.
28. Don't pay retail.
29. Eliminate unnecessary paper waste.
30. Barter.
31. Free form it.
32. Buy used equipment.
33. Check out going-out-of-business sales.
34. Get creative and recycle.
35. Opt for industrial space over commercial office space.
36. Clean up your mailing list.
37. Use online coupons.
Advertising
38. Word-of-mouth marketing works.
39. Create an e-newsletter.
40. Use YouTube.
41. Place an ad on local television stations.
42. Communicate on online forums and message boards.
43. Start a blog.
44. Use email.
45. Get to know your neighbor businesses.
46. Get your clients to advertise for you.
47. Be a guest speaker.
48. Join trade associations.
49. Prune your mailing list.
50. Be an early bird.
51. Shop around for an overnight courier.
52. Piggyback your advertising.
Insurance and Finances
53. Re-evaluate your insurance coverage and policy costs.
54. Consider a four-day work week.
55. Bank on an early deposit.
56. Consider outsourcing your HR, benefits and payroll to an external provider.
57. Order your checks from a printing company.
58. Consider raising your deductibles.
59. Ask about cash management or sweep accounts.
60. Take a stand on property taxes.
61. Check up on your medical insurance.
62. Consider a PEO (Professional Employer Organization).
63. Try to bargin.
64. Time your payments.
65. Seek at least three bids on everything.
66. Commission your sales force.
67. Form a buying alliance.
68. Don't overlook crucial tax deductions.
69. Save by association.
70. Temp it out.
71. Get the best business credit-card deal.
Travel
72. Shop for discounted fares online.
73. Get your rental car through a discount broker.
74. Sharing is saving.
75. Go dutch.
76. Don't eat where you sleep.
Think Outside the Box
77. Get an "executive suite."
78. Don't scrimp on disaster-recovery planning.
This is just a start, but these tips will definitely help your business make ends meet during the economic crunch.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Liquidation Thesis: Government Services And Payments Are Going To Be Liquidated
Liquidation Thesis: Government Services And Payments Are Going To Be Liquidated
Richard
Apr 15, 2008
http://my.opera.com/richardinbellingham/
blog/show.dml/1927463
I. Introduction
The Liquidation Thesis holds forth two principles: One, irredeemable debt and unfunded retiree benefits, must be liquidated, that is done away with. Two, government services and payments as well as service sector jobs, of all types, being unsustainable, will be done away with as well.
The current Debt Bubble, seen in the chart of the ratio of household and business debt to GDP, courtesy of Steven Kee's Oz Debtwatch April 15, 2008, shows how debt was liquidated by the 1929 to 1932 depression, and will have to be done so once again, by an even greater world wide depression.
Chart courtesy of Reggie Middleton shows that current housing prices will have to fall 75% to arrive at the long rate trendline.
Vulture Capitalism works on both greed, and desire for liquidity at any cost, to destroy both capital and debt.
Elaine Meinel Supkis in article Financial black holes in reference to Will Hutton's Guardian.co.uk The Observer article As we suffer, City speculators are moving in for the kill relates how Vulture Capitalism works on greed: "The insurance companies and pension funds are being drained of all wealth by the hedge funds. They are on the hook and can't get off without bleeding to death. The hedge fund pirates tell these victims that if they disengage this process, they will all die. Note how the drainage of wealth is around $13 trillion. Amazing! This 'market' is gigantic. And it is, lo and behold, part of the hideous Derivatives Beast I keep trying to describe. All the elements of this creature are set up in such a way that if the wealth is drained out of all systems, the Beast suddenly becomes terribly visible! It doesn't take all that much to drain all the wealth out of anything. Namely, all we have to do is put everything into hock".
Vulture capitalism works on the desire for liquidity at any cost as well, to destroy both capital and debt. In 'Godfather 2' type fashion, investment bankers "come to the aid" of stricken corporations and municipalities, only to provide financialization services that pick apart the victim organizations and secure corporate resources to the disadvantage of stock holders and the community at large, with the result eventually being, that the investment bankers getting the corporation's assets at zero value.
States rely on income and sales taxes to pay for schools, health care and criminal justice; these public services are going to be rapidly and drastcaly reduced.
Municipalities are going to send out blight bills to property owners who fail to maintain their properties, whether they be foreclosed homeowners or banks, savings and loans or credit unions.
Abandoned and blighted buildings are going to be bulldozed, and their lots stoned or grassed over; nicer properties are going to be secured with theft proof doors, and security alarms.
As property values fall, municipalities are going to reduce property tax bills, and in some cases write the tax bill to nearly zero in cities such as Detroit and Cleveland where properties have negative value.
Public education spending, which has been pased on property taxes, can no longer pay the $12,000 to $25,000 per student, and the $60,000 teachers salaries; public education will be drastically reconstituted with superfluous curriculum, such as foreign language eliminated; and junior high and senior high students will be spending a large part of their day at home, as schools operate on part time basis.
Other municipalities are choosing to actually raise proprety taxes, which puts the squeeze on companies burdened by the economic downturn; and these businesses choose to cease operations.
And many municipalities are imposing new or higher service fees.
Municipalities have been promising government workers more in salaries and pension benefits than cannot possibly be met. Unfunded liabilities have been mounting for years; the ticking time bomb is going to go off; cities are going to be force into bankruptcy.
The bubble of financial service jobs, retail jobs, and food service jobs, created by Alan Greenspan credit liquidity, are going to evaporate.
And, commerical lending provided by IX, COF, IX, GE, CIT, BKCC, GCA, ADVNB, NEWS, WRLD, "simply will not be available at any cost". And "letters of credit" will not be renewed by money center banks such as Bank of America and Citigroup; the "credit crunch" will morph to become "credit gridlock". The outcome will be two fold: first, a company's stock values will immediately fall as news is made public that its credit lines are cut; and secondly, "liquidation" -- companies lacking liquidity will be shutting down literally overnight, in "Bear Stearns fashion"; declaring bankruptcy; and selling any assets for pennies on the dollar.
Faced with falling sales, and unvailable credit, retailers will abandond leases, and the commercial real sector already battered by long gone real-estate agents, lawyers, builders, contractors, mortgage brokers, insurance companies, furniture stores and all the rest, will "freeze up" leaving the strip mall and shopping center owners to "board up".
Condo projects under development, and those recently built will go back to the regional and commercial banks, as Regions Financial, RF, as would be investors back out of deals; these will board up the properties in mass, before they themselves go into bankruptcy; gleeming condo towers will stand as tombs to a bygone era.
Student lenders will go out of existance, and those remaining will not be able to meet the demand for student loans.
Declining enrollment and soaring costs, will force Colleges and Universities to reduce curriculum offerings, and to lay off in mass; small high schools will shutter and students bussed long distance to larger ones; neighborhoods that have provided student rental housing will turn into sparsly populated "bohemian gettos". REITS that engage in the management of student housing communities near university campuses will become awesome ghost towns.
An ever growing portion of credit card debt, like Target, TGT, Walmart, WMT, American Express, AMX, Discover Financial Services, DFS, Master Card, MA, and Visa, V, and bank card debt like that of Citigroup, C, is going to have to be liquidated -- simply written off as consumers are soon going to be walking away from that debt; rising unemployment will send retailer's profits down and down, dividends will be cut to the bone, more and more banks and retailers will be going into bankruptcy.
Banks, investment bankers and commercial lenders all will "self liquidate" -- they will do this by selling new shares to raise ongoing capital and by changing their dividend from cash to stock; these endeavors dilute share holder value, and lower the company's stock value; and only temporarily replenish capital written off as bad debt, without ever totally discharging the debt in their portfolio.
As banks both large and small run out of cash they will lower their dividends, this will result in rapid "stock marketplace liquidation"; watch for the high yield dividend achievers ETF, PEY, to rapidly fall in value.
The next steps for banks will be what is truly required -- "total liquidation" of the themselves and the debt that is in their portfolio -- writing it all off; and over time this will indeed happen.
The senior healthcare housing REITS, will shutter their doors as Medicare and Medicaid will not be able to pay the $3,000 a month for long term elder care.
The number of vacant homes will soar from the current level of 2.9 percent of U.S. homes -- 2.28 million homes.
Some homeowners will be exempt from the liquidation process for months and possibly years, especially those in Florida where mold, mice and bugs can be a problem: banks may let let the owners stay in them to keep health hazards low, so as to avoid having to bulldoze down vermin infected and rotting properties!
The golden age of learning is over. Educational software providers such as Renaissance Learning, RLRN, will fold as there will simply not be buying deman for their services. And educational providers such as Devry, DV, will soon be dramatically laying off.
What little is left of US manufacturing is being liquidated as production facilities are quickly being transferred overseas to promote the Milton Friedman neoliberal free trade paradigm; for example Kyocera Mita is moving its printer-copier plant to China and La-Z-Boy and Whirlpool is moving to Mexico. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, total manufacturing employment in the United States was down to 15.3 million in 2007 from 15.6 million in 2006 and 18.9 million in 2000; the relocation of manufacturing to low cost plants overseas is what enable profits to rise and the S&P to grow 65% in the last five years.
Sourcing manufacturing globally to emerging nations under free trade agreements is causing the liquidation of manufacturing capability not only in the US but in Australia and New Zealand as well. Julian D. W. Phillips writes that global manufacturing is moving to Asia with China in the lead. And Ambrose Evans-Pritchard writes that construction is booming in the Middle Eastern oil producing contries as the Gulf shore from Dubai to Kuwait is one long arc of construction cranes.
II. Financial Service Sector Jobs And Public Private Debt Have Risen Dramatically
III. Charts of Economic Reports Show A Recession Is Underway
IV. Charts Show How Terrifically Indebted Americans Are
V. The Principle And Paradigm of The Liquidation Thesis
VI. Charts
VII. Some Localities Are All Ready Liquidation Zones
VIII. Articles Written By Others On The Topic Of Debt Liquidation
Antal E. Fekete writes that "Irredeemable debt is now causing capital destruction". And he adds: " ... conclusion is that the unwieldy size of the debt structure excludes the possibility of a normal correction: a major liquidation would dwarf the calamities of the Great Depression. The twilight of irredeemable debt is upon us. The sign is that banks are reluctant to take the promissory notes of one another. Significantly, this also includes overnight drafts. The banks know there is bad debt at large, and they don't want to be victimized by taking in some inadvertently. What the banks don't yet know, but will soon learn, is that all irredeemable debt is bad debt, and there is no way to rid the system of poison through administering more. The present crisis is just the first sign of that denouement. More is on the way."
Richard
Apr 15, 2008
http://my.opera.com/richardinbellingham/
blog/show.dml/1927463
I. Introduction
The Liquidation Thesis holds forth two principles: One, irredeemable debt and unfunded retiree benefits, must be liquidated, that is done away with. Two, government services and payments as well as service sector jobs, of all types, being unsustainable, will be done away with as well.
The current Debt Bubble, seen in the chart of the ratio of household and business debt to GDP, courtesy of Steven Kee's Oz Debtwatch April 15, 2008, shows how debt was liquidated by the 1929 to 1932 depression, and will have to be done so once again, by an even greater world wide depression.
Chart courtesy of Reggie Middleton shows that current housing prices will have to fall 75% to arrive at the long rate trendline.
Vulture Capitalism works on both greed, and desire for liquidity at any cost, to destroy both capital and debt.
Elaine Meinel Supkis in article Financial black holes in reference to Will Hutton's Guardian.co.uk The Observer article As we suffer, City speculators are moving in for the kill relates how Vulture Capitalism works on greed: "The insurance companies and pension funds are being drained of all wealth by the hedge funds. They are on the hook and can't get off without bleeding to death. The hedge fund pirates tell these victims that if they disengage this process, they will all die. Note how the drainage of wealth is around $13 trillion. Amazing! This 'market' is gigantic. And it is, lo and behold, part of the hideous Derivatives Beast I keep trying to describe. All the elements of this creature are set up in such a way that if the wealth is drained out of all systems, the Beast suddenly becomes terribly visible! It doesn't take all that much to drain all the wealth out of anything. Namely, all we have to do is put everything into hock".
Vulture capitalism works on the desire for liquidity at any cost as well, to destroy both capital and debt. In 'Godfather 2' type fashion, investment bankers "come to the aid" of stricken corporations and municipalities, only to provide financialization services that pick apart the victim organizations and secure corporate resources to the disadvantage of stock holders and the community at large, with the result eventually being, that the investment bankers getting the corporation's assets at zero value.
States rely on income and sales taxes to pay for schools, health care and criminal justice; these public services are going to be rapidly and drastcaly reduced.
Municipalities are going to send out blight bills to property owners who fail to maintain their properties, whether they be foreclosed homeowners or banks, savings and loans or credit unions.
Abandoned and blighted buildings are going to be bulldozed, and their lots stoned or grassed over; nicer properties are going to be secured with theft proof doors, and security alarms.
As property values fall, municipalities are going to reduce property tax bills, and in some cases write the tax bill to nearly zero in cities such as Detroit and Cleveland where properties have negative value.
Public education spending, which has been pased on property taxes, can no longer pay the $12,000 to $25,000 per student, and the $60,000 teachers salaries; public education will be drastically reconstituted with superfluous curriculum, such as foreign language eliminated; and junior high and senior high students will be spending a large part of their day at home, as schools operate on part time basis.
Other municipalities are choosing to actually raise proprety taxes, which puts the squeeze on companies burdened by the economic downturn; and these businesses choose to cease operations.
And many municipalities are imposing new or higher service fees.
Municipalities have been promising government workers more in salaries and pension benefits than cannot possibly be met. Unfunded liabilities have been mounting for years; the ticking time bomb is going to go off; cities are going to be force into bankruptcy.
The bubble of financial service jobs, retail jobs, and food service jobs, created by Alan Greenspan credit liquidity, are going to evaporate.
And, commerical lending provided by IX, COF, IX, GE, CIT, BKCC, GCA, ADVNB, NEWS, WRLD, "simply will not be available at any cost". And "letters of credit" will not be renewed by money center banks such as Bank of America and Citigroup; the "credit crunch" will morph to become "credit gridlock". The outcome will be two fold: first, a company's stock values will immediately fall as news is made public that its credit lines are cut; and secondly, "liquidation" -- companies lacking liquidity will be shutting down literally overnight, in "Bear Stearns fashion"; declaring bankruptcy; and selling any assets for pennies on the dollar.
Faced with falling sales, and unvailable credit, retailers will abandond leases, and the commercial real sector already battered by long gone real-estate agents, lawyers, builders, contractors, mortgage brokers, insurance companies, furniture stores and all the rest, will "freeze up" leaving the strip mall and shopping center owners to "board up".
Condo projects under development, and those recently built will go back to the regional and commercial banks, as Regions Financial, RF, as would be investors back out of deals; these will board up the properties in mass, before they themselves go into bankruptcy; gleeming condo towers will stand as tombs to a bygone era.
Student lenders will go out of existance, and those remaining will not be able to meet the demand for student loans.
Declining enrollment and soaring costs, will force Colleges and Universities to reduce curriculum offerings, and to lay off in mass; small high schools will shutter and students bussed long distance to larger ones; neighborhoods that have provided student rental housing will turn into sparsly populated "bohemian gettos". REITS that engage in the management of student housing communities near university campuses will become awesome ghost towns.
An ever growing portion of credit card debt, like Target, TGT, Walmart, WMT, American Express, AMX, Discover Financial Services, DFS, Master Card, MA, and Visa, V, and bank card debt like that of Citigroup, C, is going to have to be liquidated -- simply written off as consumers are soon going to be walking away from that debt; rising unemployment will send retailer's profits down and down, dividends will be cut to the bone, more and more banks and retailers will be going into bankruptcy.
Banks, investment bankers and commercial lenders all will "self liquidate" -- they will do this by selling new shares to raise ongoing capital and by changing their dividend from cash to stock; these endeavors dilute share holder value, and lower the company's stock value; and only temporarily replenish capital written off as bad debt, without ever totally discharging the debt in their portfolio.
As banks both large and small run out of cash they will lower their dividends, this will result in rapid "stock marketplace liquidation"; watch for the high yield dividend achievers ETF, PEY, to rapidly fall in value.
The next steps for banks will be what is truly required -- "total liquidation" of the themselves and the debt that is in their portfolio -- writing it all off; and over time this will indeed happen.
The senior healthcare housing REITS, will shutter their doors as Medicare and Medicaid will not be able to pay the $3,000 a month for long term elder care.
The number of vacant homes will soar from the current level of 2.9 percent of U.S. homes -- 2.28 million homes.
Some homeowners will be exempt from the liquidation process for months and possibly years, especially those in Florida where mold, mice and bugs can be a problem: banks may let let the owners stay in them to keep health hazards low, so as to avoid having to bulldoze down vermin infected and rotting properties!
The golden age of learning is over. Educational software providers such as Renaissance Learning, RLRN, will fold as there will simply not be buying deman for their services. And educational providers such as Devry, DV, will soon be dramatically laying off.
What little is left of US manufacturing is being liquidated as production facilities are quickly being transferred overseas to promote the Milton Friedman neoliberal free trade paradigm; for example Kyocera Mita is moving its printer-copier plant to China and La-Z-Boy and Whirlpool is moving to Mexico. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, total manufacturing employment in the United States was down to 15.3 million in 2007 from 15.6 million in 2006 and 18.9 million in 2000; the relocation of manufacturing to low cost plants overseas is what enable profits to rise and the S&P to grow 65% in the last five years.
Sourcing manufacturing globally to emerging nations under free trade agreements is causing the liquidation of manufacturing capability not only in the US but in Australia and New Zealand as well. Julian D. W. Phillips writes that global manufacturing is moving to Asia with China in the lead. And Ambrose Evans-Pritchard writes that construction is booming in the Middle Eastern oil producing contries as the Gulf shore from Dubai to Kuwait is one long arc of construction cranes.
II. Financial Service Sector Jobs And Public Private Debt Have Risen Dramatically
III. Charts of Economic Reports Show A Recession Is Underway
IV. Charts Show How Terrifically Indebted Americans Are
V. The Principle And Paradigm of The Liquidation Thesis
VI. Charts
VII. Some Localities Are All Ready Liquidation Zones
VIII. Articles Written By Others On The Topic Of Debt Liquidation
Antal E. Fekete writes that "Irredeemable debt is now causing capital destruction". And he adds: " ... conclusion is that the unwieldy size of the debt structure excludes the possibility of a normal correction: a major liquidation would dwarf the calamities of the Great Depression. The twilight of irredeemable debt is upon us. The sign is that banks are reluctant to take the promissory notes of one another. Significantly, this also includes overnight drafts. The banks know there is bad debt at large, and they don't want to be victimized by taking in some inadvertently. What the banks don't yet know, but will soon learn, is that all irredeemable debt is bad debt, and there is no way to rid the system of poison through administering more. The present crisis is just the first sign of that denouement. More is on the way."
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Brown: Use This Crisis To Create New Financial World Order
Brown: Use This Crisis To Create New Financial World Order
Steve Watson
Oct 13, 2008
http://www.infowars.com/?p=5263
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has called for a new Bretton Woods system, saying that the financial crisis should be used to make world leaders agree to fresh rules and regulations under a long planned new global financial order.
Speaking at Thomson Reuters’ editorial headquarters, Brown called for “a new financial architecture for the global age”, stating that the Bretton Woods system devised after the second world war was out of touch with the new world order.
Brown said: “This crisis demonstrates beyond doubt that a global capital market requires much stronger global cooperation and supervision. And we need to ensure that we have an effective global early warning system to alert us across continents to economic and financial risk.”
Brown contended that the current financial system is “too clouded with opacity, conflicts of interest, irresponsible risk-taking, and when problems occur countries have tended to look inwards and deal with them in isolation when it is clear they should look outwards and join in international co-operation.”
“We are proposing a world leaders’ meeting in which we must agree the principles and policies for restructuring the financial system across the globe,” Brown added.
His speech came after the UK government announced it would bail out three high street banks - RBS, HBOS and Lloyds TSB - to the tune of £37bn. Since that announcement, shares in the banks have plunged on the stock market.
Brown’s call echoes that of elite figures such as CFR member Jeffrey Garten and Timothy Geithner, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, who have both recently called for a “new global monetary authority”, a de-facto global financial dictatorship, operating across borders and forcing nations and corporations to register and adhere to strict monitoring and regulations.
The call is also similar to plans recently touted for a new centralized system of financial supervision across the EU providing greater regulatory powers.
Steve Watson
Oct 13, 2008
http://www.infowars.com/?p=5263
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has called for a new Bretton Woods system, saying that the financial crisis should be used to make world leaders agree to fresh rules and regulations under a long planned new global financial order.
Speaking at Thomson Reuters’ editorial headquarters, Brown called for “a new financial architecture for the global age”, stating that the Bretton Woods system devised after the second world war was out of touch with the new world order.
Brown said: “This crisis demonstrates beyond doubt that a global capital market requires much stronger global cooperation and supervision. And we need to ensure that we have an effective global early warning system to alert us across continents to economic and financial risk.”
Brown contended that the current financial system is “too clouded with opacity, conflicts of interest, irresponsible risk-taking, and when problems occur countries have tended to look inwards and deal with them in isolation when it is clear they should look outwards and join in international co-operation.”
“We are proposing a world leaders’ meeting in which we must agree the principles and policies for restructuring the financial system across the globe,” Brown added.
His speech came after the UK government announced it would bail out three high street banks - RBS, HBOS and Lloyds TSB - to the tune of £37bn. Since that announcement, shares in the banks have plunged on the stock market.
Brown’s call echoes that of elite figures such as CFR member Jeffrey Garten and Timothy Geithner, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, who have both recently called for a “new global monetary authority”, a de-facto global financial dictatorship, operating across borders and forcing nations and corporations to register and adhere to strict monitoring and regulations.
The call is also similar to plans recently touted for a new centralized system of financial supervision across the EU providing greater regulatory powers.
Monday, October 13, 2008
We'll always have Paris
We'll always have Paris
Patrice Lewis
Oct 11, 2008
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php
?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=77633
No doubt you've heard that the House of Representatives passed the $700-plus billion bailout of the U.S. financial system, thus shackling American citizens into an abyss of debt unprecedented in history. Unfortunately, it hasn't helped the stock market, which continues to fluctuate to an alarming degree. Americans are bracing for an unknown economic future.
But on the bright side, you'll be happy to know that Britney Spears is planning to launch a new line of fitness videos capitalizing on her amazing physical recovery after having kids.
European markets are being impacted by the widening economic spiral. (Iceland is close to bankruptcy.) Stocks worldwide are free-falling. Investors are taking an understandably bleak view of the future because no one sees an end to the crisis.
But all this fades in importance when we consider that Kim Kardashian got booted off "Dancing with the Stars." I consider this much more shocking than the potential for another Great Depression.
The Bush administration is considering taking part ownership of certain U.S. banks as an option for dealing with the global credit crisis (socialism, anyone?), but I'm relieved to learn that Beyonce's marriage to Jay-Z is real. "It's not about interviews or getting the right photo-op," she assured Essence Magazine. "It's real." Phew.
Honestly, it's the most incredible disconnect imaginable. I'll log onto the Internet, concerned about the state of the economy or the presidential election ... only to be faced with screaming headlines about some Hollywood twit's latest personal meltdown, scandal, serial marriage or wardrobe malfunction.
What is with us, anyway? Why do any of us really give a rat's rear end about Brangelina or Madonna or Britney or Lindsey or whomever?
Now, I realize that nothing but a constant diet of sobering domestic and international bad news could result in a serious case of mental depression, but on the other hand Americans seem obsessed with the fluff and blather of celebrities to the exclusion of serious issues.
If you stop someone on the street and ask them about Barney Frank's role in the stock dives of Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, they'll probably reply "Barney who?" But if you ask them about Ashlee Simpson-Wentz's white-trash birthday bash, you'll probably get a diatribe worthy of Bill O'Reilly.
If I wanted to enter the realm of deep, dark conspiracy theory, I would say that our obsession with celebrities to the exclusion of serious concerns is encouraged. It's so handy, after all, when the American sheeple are anesthetized into complaisance by the latest news of Ellen DeGeneres' love life or Amy Winehouse's sobriety issues. That way we're too preoccupied to object when the government fetters our great-grandchildren with trillions of dollars of debt and sells our American souls to terrorists. By filling our brains with Jennifer Lopez and Tom Cruise, we don't notice Wall Street bailouts or congressional peccadilloes.
Even schools encourage (or at least surrender to) celebrity obsession by assigning essays based on sitcom viewing rather than, say, classic literature. Wonderful.
So, while the government (once again) ignores the wishes of 70 percent of the population and unconstitutionally grabs more power than at any time since the Great Depression, at least our school kids can sharpen their rhetorical skills by discussing Heather Locklear's DUI.
Patrice Lewis
Oct 11, 2008
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php
?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=77633
No doubt you've heard that the House of Representatives passed the $700-plus billion bailout of the U.S. financial system, thus shackling American citizens into an abyss of debt unprecedented in history. Unfortunately, it hasn't helped the stock market, which continues to fluctuate to an alarming degree. Americans are bracing for an unknown economic future.
But on the bright side, you'll be happy to know that Britney Spears is planning to launch a new line of fitness videos capitalizing on her amazing physical recovery after having kids.
European markets are being impacted by the widening economic spiral. (Iceland is close to bankruptcy.) Stocks worldwide are free-falling. Investors are taking an understandably bleak view of the future because no one sees an end to the crisis.
But all this fades in importance when we consider that Kim Kardashian got booted off "Dancing with the Stars." I consider this much more shocking than the potential for another Great Depression.
The Bush administration is considering taking part ownership of certain U.S. banks as an option for dealing with the global credit crisis (socialism, anyone?), but I'm relieved to learn that Beyonce's marriage to Jay-Z is real. "It's not about interviews or getting the right photo-op," she assured Essence Magazine. "It's real." Phew.
Honestly, it's the most incredible disconnect imaginable. I'll log onto the Internet, concerned about the state of the economy or the presidential election ... only to be faced with screaming headlines about some Hollywood twit's latest personal meltdown, scandal, serial marriage or wardrobe malfunction.
What is with us, anyway? Why do any of us really give a rat's rear end about Brangelina or Madonna or Britney or Lindsey or whomever?
Now, I realize that nothing but a constant diet of sobering domestic and international bad news could result in a serious case of mental depression, but on the other hand Americans seem obsessed with the fluff and blather of celebrities to the exclusion of serious issues.
If you stop someone on the street and ask them about Barney Frank's role in the stock dives of Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, they'll probably reply "Barney who?" But if you ask them about Ashlee Simpson-Wentz's white-trash birthday bash, you'll probably get a diatribe worthy of Bill O'Reilly.
If I wanted to enter the realm of deep, dark conspiracy theory, I would say that our obsession with celebrities to the exclusion of serious concerns is encouraged. It's so handy, after all, when the American sheeple are anesthetized into complaisance by the latest news of Ellen DeGeneres' love life or Amy Winehouse's sobriety issues. That way we're too preoccupied to object when the government fetters our great-grandchildren with trillions of dollars of debt and sells our American souls to terrorists. By filling our brains with Jennifer Lopez and Tom Cruise, we don't notice Wall Street bailouts or congressional peccadilloes.
Even schools encourage (or at least surrender to) celebrity obsession by assigning essays based on sitcom viewing rather than, say, classic literature. Wonderful.
So, while the government (once again) ignores the wishes of 70 percent of the population and unconstitutionally grabs more power than at any time since the Great Depression, at least our school kids can sharpen their rhetorical skills by discussing Heather Locklear's DUI.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Stocks end wild session mixed, Dow falls 128
Stocks end wild session mixed, Dow falls 128
Tim Paradis, AP Business Writer
Oct 10, 2008
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/081010/wall_street.html
Wall Street ends mixed after week of massive losses; Dow swings over 1,000 pts
Wall Street capped one of its worst weeks ever with a wild session Friday that saw the Dow Jones industrials gyrate within a 1,000 point range before closing with a relatively mild loss and the Nasdaq composite index actually ending with a modest advance. Investors were still agonizing over frozen credit markets, but seven days of massive losses and the possibility of further government support for the markets tempted some investors late in the session.
The Dow lost 128 points, giving the blue chips an eight-day loss of just under 2,400, or 22.1 percent. The average had its worst week on record in both point and percentage terms. The Standard & Poor's 500 index, the indicator most watched by market professionals, posted its worst weekly run since 1933.
The latest loss also means the Dow is down 40.3 percent since reaching a record high close of 14,164.53 a year ago, on Oct. 9, 2007. The S&P 500, which reached its high of 1,565.15 the same day, is down 42.5 percent.
Investors suffered a paper loss for the day of about $100 billion, as measured by the Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 index. For the week, investors lost $2.4 trillion, and over the past year, the losses have piled up to $8.4 trillion.
But there were signs Friday that some investors believe the market is near a bottom. On Thursday, selling accelerated in the last hour of trading. The Dow was down 221 points at 3 p.m. but closed down 679 points an hour later. On Friday, the Dow was down 468 points at 3 but rocketed 790 points and was up 322 points just after 3:30. It then sold off but closed down only 128.
And the Russell 2000 index, which tracks the movements of smaller company stocks, had a 4.66 percent gain Friday; small-cap stocks are often first on investors' shopping lists when they think a market turnaround is at hand.
Investors have shuddered the past month over a credit market that remains frozen, posing a threat to the economy by making it harder and costlier for businesses and consumers to get a loan. But Friday's gainers included financial stocks, the ones most decimated by the credit crisis.
The major indexes' sharp swings Friday were likely exacerbated by the computer-driven "buy" and "sell" orders that kicked in when prices fell far enough.
Market index stats again told how horrific the run has been on Wall Street:
-- The Dow lost 1,874.19 points, or 18.2 percent, during the week. Its dismal performance outdid the week that ended July 22, 1933, which saw a 17 percent drop -- and back then, during the Great Depression, there were six trading days in a week.
-- The Dow has fallen for eight straight sessions -- the longest losing streak since the eight days of declines following the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, when the blue chips lost 1,038.12, or 10.8 percent.
-- It's been the worst run for the Dow since the nearly two-year bear market that ended in December 1974 when the Dow lost 45 percent.
-- Since hitting their record highs a year ago, the Dow has lost 5,713 points, or 40.3 percent, while the S&P 500 is off 665.90 points, or 42.5 percent.
Most major central banks around the world slashed interest rates this week after continuing problems in the credit market triggered concerns that banks will run out of money. Analysts have described the mood on trading floors this week as panicked at times, with investors bailing out of investments on fears there is no end in sight to the financial carnage.
A stream of selling forced exchanges in Austria, Russia and Indonesia to suspend trading, and those that remained opened were hammered. The rout in Australian markets caused traders there to call it "Black Friday."
European stocks sank Friday, with Britain's FTSE-100 falling 8.85 percent, German's DAX declining 7.01 percent, and France's CAC-40 ending down 7.73 percent. In Asia, the collapse of Japan's Yamato Life Insurance caused already nervous investors to pull even more money out of the market -- the Nikkei 225 fell 9.6 percent.
An index considered to be Wall Street's fear gauge reached record highs on Friday in another sign of massive investor anxiety. The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, known as the VIX, rose to an all-time intraday high of 76.94 Friday. The VIX, which usually trades under 50, tracks options activity for the companies that make up the S&P 500.
The auction was for credit default swaps, which are contracts used to insure against the default of financial instruments like bonds and corporate debt. Traded in a $60 trillion, unregulated market, many of the instruments have fallen sharply because of their ties to bad mortgage debt. Those big losses and nervousness about who holds what CDS has made financial institutions hesitant to lend to one another. The auction could help the market determine which companies are most at risk from CDS losses.
Tim Paradis, AP Business Writer
Oct 10, 2008
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/081010/wall_street.html
Wall Street ends mixed after week of massive losses; Dow swings over 1,000 pts
Wall Street capped one of its worst weeks ever with a wild session Friday that saw the Dow Jones industrials gyrate within a 1,000 point range before closing with a relatively mild loss and the Nasdaq composite index actually ending with a modest advance. Investors were still agonizing over frozen credit markets, but seven days of massive losses and the possibility of further government support for the markets tempted some investors late in the session.
The Dow lost 128 points, giving the blue chips an eight-day loss of just under 2,400, or 22.1 percent. The average had its worst week on record in both point and percentage terms. The Standard & Poor's 500 index, the indicator most watched by market professionals, posted its worst weekly run since 1933.
The latest loss also means the Dow is down 40.3 percent since reaching a record high close of 14,164.53 a year ago, on Oct. 9, 2007. The S&P 500, which reached its high of 1,565.15 the same day, is down 42.5 percent.
Investors suffered a paper loss for the day of about $100 billion, as measured by the Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 index. For the week, investors lost $2.4 trillion, and over the past year, the losses have piled up to $8.4 trillion.
But there were signs Friday that some investors believe the market is near a bottom. On Thursday, selling accelerated in the last hour of trading. The Dow was down 221 points at 3 p.m. but closed down 679 points an hour later. On Friday, the Dow was down 468 points at 3 but rocketed 790 points and was up 322 points just after 3:30. It then sold off but closed down only 128.
And the Russell 2000 index, which tracks the movements of smaller company stocks, had a 4.66 percent gain Friday; small-cap stocks are often first on investors' shopping lists when they think a market turnaround is at hand.
Investors have shuddered the past month over a credit market that remains frozen, posing a threat to the economy by making it harder and costlier for businesses and consumers to get a loan. But Friday's gainers included financial stocks, the ones most decimated by the credit crisis.
The major indexes' sharp swings Friday were likely exacerbated by the computer-driven "buy" and "sell" orders that kicked in when prices fell far enough.
Market index stats again told how horrific the run has been on Wall Street:
-- The Dow lost 1,874.19 points, or 18.2 percent, during the week. Its dismal performance outdid the week that ended July 22, 1933, which saw a 17 percent drop -- and back then, during the Great Depression, there were six trading days in a week.
-- The Dow has fallen for eight straight sessions -- the longest losing streak since the eight days of declines following the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, when the blue chips lost 1,038.12, or 10.8 percent.
-- It's been the worst run for the Dow since the nearly two-year bear market that ended in December 1974 when the Dow lost 45 percent.
-- Since hitting their record highs a year ago, the Dow has lost 5,713 points, or 40.3 percent, while the S&P 500 is off 665.90 points, or 42.5 percent.
Most major central banks around the world slashed interest rates this week after continuing problems in the credit market triggered concerns that banks will run out of money. Analysts have described the mood on trading floors this week as panicked at times, with investors bailing out of investments on fears there is no end in sight to the financial carnage.
A stream of selling forced exchanges in Austria, Russia and Indonesia to suspend trading, and those that remained opened were hammered. The rout in Australian markets caused traders there to call it "Black Friday."
European stocks sank Friday, with Britain's FTSE-100 falling 8.85 percent, German's DAX declining 7.01 percent, and France's CAC-40 ending down 7.73 percent. In Asia, the collapse of Japan's Yamato Life Insurance caused already nervous investors to pull even more money out of the market -- the Nikkei 225 fell 9.6 percent.
An index considered to be Wall Street's fear gauge reached record highs on Friday in another sign of massive investor anxiety. The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, known as the VIX, rose to an all-time intraday high of 76.94 Friday. The VIX, which usually trades under 50, tracks options activity for the companies that make up the S&P 500.
The auction was for credit default swaps, which are contracts used to insure against the default of financial instruments like bonds and corporate debt. Traded in a $60 trillion, unregulated market, many of the instruments have fallen sharply because of their ties to bad mortgage debt. Those big losses and nervousness about who holds what CDS has made financial institutions hesitant to lend to one another. The auction could help the market determine which companies are most at risk from CDS losses.
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