Thursday 30 December 2010

how to manage personal finances

[blogsearch]
surface encounters rock tops surface encounters rock tops surface encounters complaints surface encounters review surface encounters surface encounters complaints surface encounters review surface encounters complaints surface encounters surface encounters rock tops surface encounters surface encounters rock tops surface encounters review surface encounters review surface encounters complaints surface encounters rock tops surface encounters review surface encounters review surface encounters complaints surface encounters review

Windows Phone Marketplace hits 5000 Apps and is Cracked

There's been good news and bad for Microsoft this week. The good news is that the number of apps available in the new Windows Phone marketplace has been growing steadily since October and has now passed the 5000 mark. ...

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

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

Small Business <b>News</b>: Small Biz Tech Primer

Technology is vastly changing the scope and reach of small business not only in the world of marketing but in all aspects of operating your venture. From tech.


surface encounters rock tops surface encounters surface encounters review surface encounters rock tops surface encounters surface encounters review surface encounters surface encounters surface encounters complaints surface encounters review surface encounters surface encounters surface encounters surface encounters surface encounters complaints surface encounters complaints surface encounters

Tuesday 28 December 2010

Stock Making Money

I don’t know how many times I have heard that stock picking doesn’t pay or you can’t beat the markets over the long haul picking stocks etc. That is rubbish.


Picking stocks is exactly how you beat the markets. It is true that you need to spend time developing a successful strategy for picking stocks and your casual investor is likely better off with a conservative broad basket of ETFs, but that is not my audience, nor is it any fun, so it is not relevant to this article!


We are here to look at the market differently, turn convention on its head and uncover the best darn new technology stocks in the world and make some money.


A Friendly Market


There is no way to put this delicately. I kicked some market ass in 2010. Three buyouts of portfolio holdings, all at better than 100% premium to 52 week lows and a bunch of other 50-100% gainers. Granted this wasn’t the most difficult year to pick winners. Most everything was higher, but BulwaTechReport.com holdings are names most investors are not aware of, businesses with growth and great technology that trade at sensible valuations.


To buy these names I am not taking a ‘cloudlike’ leap of faith that people will continue to pay 100x earnings to avoid having my investment chopped in half (50x earnings is still unjustifiable in historical market terms).


I am not drawing lines on charts or punching numbers into a computer, I am out there doing research, asking questions, making projections and taking a stand on new companies that I believe make for the best investments. Here is a review of some of the BulwaTechReport.com portfolio’s best 2010 performers, what I said at the time of recommendation and what I think of the prospects after the advance.


Neo Materials (NEM.TO,NEMFF.PK)


Originally purchased and recommended in August 2010 at $3.80, Neo Materials’ stock currently trades over $7/share and hit a recent high of $7.75, for more than 100% gain. While the entire rare earth sector has been on fire, I didn’t feel comfortable buying a miner given the extreme volatility in spot price for the metals, high valuations and lack of profits. When recommending Neo, I wrote this in a research report:


The rare earth space is difficult to play as many companies are unprofitable. Neo Materials offers a diversified investment in a high growth area with exposure to a variety of alternative energy markets.


The allure of rare earth is that the materials are vital to a variety of high technology and alternative energy products including LEDs, displays, sensors and micro motors. Neo Materials specifically offers refined Neodymium and other powders to end users. Neodymium, #60 on the Periodic Table, is essential to the strongest magnetic materials known to man and used in products such as electric motors.


I believe the value of these metals is in the refined end product and this interesting comment from CEO Don Bubar of miner Avalon Rare Metals (AVL) supports this:


“the mining side in the rare earth business made up only about 10-15 percent of the final product value, and digging up ore was only the first step toward a product.”


“It’s not a mining business,” he said. “It’s a sophisticated chemical processing business to produce specialty chemical products for clean technology and high technology.”


I continue to own Neo Materials. I am not as enthusiastic as I was 100% ago but I am of the old fashioned buy low camp. Still if the rare earth boom continues as I believe it will, Neo is uniquely positioned, profitable and has a sterling balance sheet. My 24 month target for the shares is $12.


The Unwanted Acquisition


Crucell (CRXL) is a biotechnology company that licenses proprietary technologies, such as the PER.C6, a human designer cell line to develop and manufacture biopharma products, it also offers MAbstract to discover drug targets and identify human antibodies and a variety of other discovery and manufacturing platforms. The company’s shares are up over 50% for the year on a bid from Johnson and Johnson (JNJ) to acquire the company and I am not happy about it! Every so often you come across a company that truly meets all the investment criteria of you model.


One of those companies was Crucell (CRXL). I recommended purchasing more CRXL in July 2010 saying:


I still believe this is the single best stock to own over the long term. It has a disruptive technology that will alter the way the industry discovers and manufactures drugs. It has relationships with the largest companies in the industry and has already been the target of an attempted takeover. Would buy more at these levels.


This company was in the never sell category and I have owned shares for over 10 years since originally purchasing for around $6/share. I still believe if Crucell stays independent, the shares could reach over $90/share equating to a $9-10 billion market valuation.


Obviously I am not the only one who believes there is value in Crucell and its technology, as Wyeth attempted to purchase the company before Wyeth was acquired by Pfizer, thankfully killing the deal. Now Johnsons & Johnson (JNJ) is doing the bidding and looks to be winning the asset of Crucell at roughly $32.50/share US.


This stock was trading below $20/share only two months before JNJ made its bid at a 56% premium to the previous day’s close. I have very mixed emotion about this offer. Yes it is a nice win in the markets, but I believe I can make much more if CRXL remains independent and I am allowed to participate as a shareholder. Buried in the giant JNJ I will never get that opportunity.


There are some ‘rebel’ share holders out there that agree with me and aren’t eager to tender their shares. There is already a small discount between the offer price of $32.50 US and current quote of just under $31 because of this dissenting body of shareholders. I am considering buying shares.


The deal appears likely to go through, and at current prices that would give current share purchasers about a 4% gain and if JNJ sweetens the deal a bit for the holdouts the gain could be bigger. If the deal falls apart I will be very thankful for any selloff in reaction. I’d then re-establish a serious position in Crucell.


A Top Theme Delivers with Impressive Partnership


Stratasys (SSYS) had a terrific year with stock roughly doubling after starting the year just below $18/share and finishing around $33/share. This company is a leader in machines for rapid prototyping or 3D modeling or digital manufacture or an even fancier term– additive manufacture. The company offers 3D printing machines based on its proprietary technology Fusion Deposition Modeling (FDM). I have been writing about rapid prototyping and digital manufacture since my days at thestreet.com and this was the year the technology and the stocks really started to deliver.


In January, Stratasys announced a partnership with Hewlett Packard (HPQ) where Hewlett will distribute an entry level HP branded line of Stratasys 3D Printers. This sent SSYS shares soaring almost 50% and set the stage for a further 25% gain over remainder of the year to the current quote near $34/share.


3D Systems (TDSC) is a competitor to Stratasys and another stock that I wrote about at theStreet.com. I also owned TDSC in my bulwatechreport.com portfolio as recently as 2010 but sold it much too early in the year. After some industry due diligence, I concluded TDSC was the weakest positioned player in the field and sold only to watch the stock soar another 100% higher. This is a good example of potentially being right longer term and still losing money short term. Timing is very important! But so is sticking to your research supported conclusions.


I feel stronger now than ever that 3D Systems is facing an uphill battle competing for leadership in this exciting industry. The company’s stereolithography (SLA) and selective laser sintering (SLS) equipment produces accurate parts but is expensive to purchase and operate relative to the competition, and because it uses lasers it requires specialized environments in which to operate. RAPID PROTOTYPING IN CHINA lists some of the other disadvantages of SLA relative other technologies as:



  1. over time, the resin will absorb moisture from the air, causing the soft part of the bend and roll thin wings.

  2. helium – cadmium laser tube life of only 3000 hours, the price is more expensive. It is necessary to scan the entire cross-section cure, forming a longer time, so production cost is relatively high.

  3. choose the type of material is limited (translation – the choice of material is limited*author comment), must be a photosensitive resin. Parts made from such resins in most cases cannot test the durability and thermal performance, and photosensitive resin on the environment pollution and skin allergies.


Looking at these stocks heading into 2011 I feel Stratasys (SSYS) is still well positioned given its strong market presence, premier partner in HPQ and best in class materials. I would not own 3D Systems at current prices. The company now sports the largest market cap of the players in the space and in my opinion faces the biggest challenges.


One of the largest challenges for both companies comes in the form of a large privately help competitor named Objet Geometries. This company’s machines use a technology called PolyJet™ that deliver superior accuracy at increasingly competitive pricing and Objet offers the industry’s only multi-material 3D printer.


As a longtime supporter of Stratasys and Rapid Prototyping, it is difficult for me to say, but I would not add to positions at current levels. After comparing products from entry level Stratasys machines and Objet machines, the Objet machine delivers better accuracy than Stratasys and smooth surfaces which Stratasys cannot deliver without post processing.


Stratasys’ strength lies in its higher end machines and specialty materials that offer heat tolerance and other properties that competitors cannot offer for real world functional testing. I am concerned that the HPQ partnership for entry level machines may not be the right fit given Stratasys’ product strengths and competition from Objet and other lower end products in the near future. I hope Objet Geometries decides to offer shares to the public in an IPO because I will line up to participate as this company looks like a winner going forward.


We can only hope 2011 is as good a year for stock picking as this past year. Given the rapid evolution of new technology, investment opportunities are presenting continuously. The environment for investing in new technology companies has never been better.


Long NEM.TO and Short TDSC



Netflix is one of the best performing stocks this year, up 225 percent year-to-date, with a $9.3 billion market cap. But it is also priced to perfection, with a lot of short sellers hoping to profit from its fall and antsy Wall Street analysts downgrading the stock. Today, CEO Reed Hastings defended Netflix’s prospects in a very public, very detailed, and very unusual blog post on Seeking Alpha. The post was in response to a specific short seller, Whitney Tilson, who last week laid out his case against Netflix in another Seeking Alpha blog post. By addressing this one short seller, of course, Hastings is trying to address the market’s jitters as a whole, and he does a pretty convincing job of it.


Tilson raised a number of concerns, ranging from the recent resignation of Netflix’s CFO to pressures on Netflix’s margins to market saturation and increasing competition in streaming video. Hastings acknowledges that Tilson “only has to be right on one or two of these issues in 2011 for him to make money on his short of Netflix. . . . Odds are he is wrong on all of them, in my view.”


Hastings then goes on to rebut the short seller’s argument (short sellers are investors who bet against a stock). I’ll summarize each of Hasting’s counter-arguments below:



  • The CFO left because he wasn’t going to become CEO anytime soon.

  • The First Sale Doctrine (which allows Netflix to rent DVDs after purchasing them) may be under attack, but it won’t change in 2011. And Netflix’s video streaming business is growing so fast that by the time it does have any impact on DVD costs, it won’t matter anymore.

  • Internet bandwidth costs should continue to decline, and while ISPs might like to charge content providers for data, that won’t happen in 2011.

  • Free cash flow has taken a hit because of the increased payments Netflix is making to media companies and content owners, but Netflix will begin smoothing that out on a quarterly basis instead of taking big hits once a year.

  • Market saturation in streaming video over the Internet is not yet an issue.  Market demand is still accelerating.

  • Criticisms about “weak content” are not supported by subscriber’s voracious appetite for what Netflix has to offer, but Netflix is trying to get better movies and TV shows all the time.

  • Content costs are going up, but postage costs are going down as viewers shift to streaming.

  • If necessary, Netflix will take a hit to growth before taking a hot to margins.  ”Management at Netflix largely controls margins, but not growth.”

  • Netflix is facing a growing number of competitors in streaming video, but it maintains advantages in scale and brand.

  • TV Everywhere could become a long-term threat, but it is more of a defensive move fro the cable companies rather than a new profit engine.

  • International expansion could have an impact on margins in the short term


Let’s drill down further into some of these issues. Netflix is obviously betting big on the transition to streaming video. The more it can get subscribers to watch streams instead of DVDs, the more it saves on postage. On the flip side, video content owners are demanding more money for those streaming rights. Hastings thinks that concerns about too many streaming services coming online is overblown at this point:


Streaming is growing rapidly; it is propelling Hulu, YouTube, Netflix and others to huge growth rates. Streaming adoption will likely follow the classic S curve, and we’re still on the first part (acceleration) of the S curve. Since we expanded into streaming, Netflix net subscriber additions have been 1.9m in 2008, 2.9m in 2009, and over 7m this year (estimated). While saturation will happen eventually, given the recent huge acceleration of our business specifically, and streaming generally, saturation seems unlikely to hit in the short term.


And while a major new streaming competitor could come in and blow away Netflix’s lead, Hastings makes the case that Netflix has a huge competitive advantage when it comes to the number of existing paying subscribers and its cost to acquire new ones:


For a competitive firm to materially hurt our growth, they have to have some positive differentiator (price, additional content, integration, etc.), and then they have to market their service effectively. This wild-card of major new competitor offering great content and marketing aggressively is the single best near-term short thesis, but no one knows if it will happen in 2011.


The core competitive barrier for direct competitors is brand/subscriber-evangelism. Our large subscriber base is very happy with Netflix, and tells their friends about Netflix. That means that the cost of acquiring the incremental 1m subscribers is lower for us than for a competitor, and thus our net additions are higher


Finally, in terms of the quality of the movies and TV shows Netflix makes available for streaming versus what people get on cable TV, Hastings points out:


. . . at $7.99 per month, consumers don’t expect to have everything under the sun. A variant of this misunderstanding is when DirecTV (DTV) advertises against Netflix, calling out some Netflix content weaknesses. When an $80 per month service is picking on an $8 per month service, the $8 per month service just gets more attention from consumers and grows even faster.


The key question is whether some combination of Netflix, Hulu Plus, YouTube, Google TV and other Internet video services will some day effectively replace the cable TV experience. And if it can, whether that combination will cost more or less than the $80 or more people pay for cable today. But remember, people are already paying for Netflix, which helps Hasting’s case.


Whether or not the stock will keep going up is another question entirely. At $178 a share, would you buy or short the stock?



bench craft company scam

&#39;Green River Killer&#39; Could Face New Murder Charge - AOL <b>News</b>

Related Searches: top 10 serial killers, green river murders, gary ridgeway, rebecca marrero 1982, capital punishment, the green river killer, green river cc auburn wa, crime news, crime reports, ...

Great <b>news</b>: Congress discovers exciting new ways to earmark « Hot Air

Great news: Congress discovers exciting new ways to earmark.

Fair &amp; Balanced? Fox <b>News</b>&#39; Big Year (VIDEOS) | TPM LiveWire

From lecturing President Barack Obama on racial sensitivity to inflating threats of terror, Fox News offered more than a few journalistic lessons this year. Fox's ratings continued to top the other major cable networks, while its news ...


bench craft company scam

&#39;Green River Killer&#39; Could Face New Murder Charge - AOL <b>News</b>

Related Searches: top 10 serial killers, green river murders, gary ridgeway, rebecca marrero 1982, capital punishment, the green river killer, green river cc auburn wa, crime news, crime reports, ...

Great <b>news</b>: Congress discovers exciting new ways to earmark « Hot Air

Great news: Congress discovers exciting new ways to earmark.

Fair &amp; Balanced? Fox <b>News</b>&#39; Big Year (VIDEOS) | TPM LiveWire

From lecturing President Barack Obama on racial sensitivity to inflating threats of terror, Fox News offered more than a few journalistic lessons this year. Fox's ratings continued to top the other major cable networks, while its news ...


bench craft company scam

&#39;Green River Killer&#39; Could Face New Murder Charge - AOL <b>News</b>

Related Searches: top 10 serial killers, green river murders, gary ridgeway, rebecca marrero 1982, capital punishment, the green river killer, green river cc auburn wa, crime news, crime reports, ...

Great <b>news</b>: Congress discovers exciting new ways to earmark « Hot Air

Great news: Congress discovers exciting new ways to earmark.

Fair &amp; Balanced? Fox <b>News</b>&#39; Big Year (VIDEOS) | TPM LiveWire

From lecturing President Barack Obama on racial sensitivity to inflating threats of terror, Fox News offered more than a few journalistic lessons this year. Fox's ratings continued to top the other major cable networks, while its news ...


bench craft company scam

&#39;Green River Killer&#39; Could Face New Murder Charge - AOL <b>News</b>

Related Searches: top 10 serial killers, green river murders, gary ridgeway, rebecca marrero 1982, capital punishment, the green river killer, green river cc auburn wa, crime news, crime reports, ...

Great <b>news</b>: Congress discovers exciting new ways to earmark « Hot Air

Great news: Congress discovers exciting new ways to earmark.

Fair &amp; Balanced? Fox <b>News</b>&#39; Big Year (VIDEOS) | TPM LiveWire

From lecturing President Barack Obama on racial sensitivity to inflating threats of terror, Fox News offered more than a few journalistic lessons this year. Fox's ratings continued to top the other major cable networks, while its news ...


bench craft company scam

&#39;Green River Killer&#39; Could Face New Murder Charge - AOL <b>News</b>

Related Searches: top 10 serial killers, green river murders, gary ridgeway, rebecca marrero 1982, capital punishment, the green river killer, green river cc auburn wa, crime news, crime reports, ...

Great <b>news</b>: Congress discovers exciting new ways to earmark « Hot Air

Great news: Congress discovers exciting new ways to earmark.

Fair &amp; Balanced? Fox <b>News</b>&#39; Big Year (VIDEOS) | TPM LiveWire

From lecturing President Barack Obama on racial sensitivity to inflating threats of terror, Fox News offered more than a few journalistic lessons this year. Fox's ratings continued to top the other major cable networks, while its news ...


bench craft company scam

&#39;Green River Killer&#39; Could Face New Murder Charge - AOL <b>News</b>

Related Searches: top 10 serial killers, green river murders, gary ridgeway, rebecca marrero 1982, capital punishment, the green river killer, green river cc auburn wa, crime news, crime reports, ...

Great <b>news</b>: Congress discovers exciting new ways to earmark « Hot Air

Great news: Congress discovers exciting new ways to earmark.

Fair &amp; Balanced? Fox <b>News</b>&#39; Big Year (VIDEOS) | TPM LiveWire

From lecturing President Barack Obama on racial sensitivity to inflating threats of terror, Fox News offered more than a few journalistic lessons this year. Fox's ratings continued to top the other major cable networks, while its news ...


bench craft company scam

&#39;Green River Killer&#39; Could Face New Murder Charge - AOL <b>News</b>

Related Searches: top 10 serial killers, green river murders, gary ridgeway, rebecca marrero 1982, capital punishment, the green river killer, green river cc auburn wa, crime news, crime reports, ...

Great <b>news</b>: Congress discovers exciting new ways to earmark « Hot Air

Great news: Congress discovers exciting new ways to earmark.

Fair &amp; Balanced? Fox <b>News</b>&#39; Big Year (VIDEOS) | TPM LiveWire

From lecturing President Barack Obama on racial sensitivity to inflating threats of terror, Fox News offered more than a few journalistic lessons this year. Fox's ratings continued to top the other major cable networks, while its news ...


bench craft company scam

&#39;Green River Killer&#39; Could Face New Murder Charge - AOL <b>News</b>

Related Searches: top 10 serial killers, green river murders, gary ridgeway, rebecca marrero 1982, capital punishment, the green river killer, green river cc auburn wa, crime news, crime reports, ...

Great <b>news</b>: Congress discovers exciting new ways to earmark « Hot Air

Great news: Congress discovers exciting new ways to earmark.

Fair &amp; Balanced? Fox <b>News</b>&#39; Big Year (VIDEOS) | TPM LiveWire

From lecturing President Barack Obama on racial sensitivity to inflating threats of terror, Fox News offered more than a few journalistic lessons this year. Fox's ratings continued to top the other major cable networks, while its news ...


bench craft company scam

&#39;Green River Killer&#39; Could Face New Murder Charge - AOL <b>News</b>

Related Searches: top 10 serial killers, green river murders, gary ridgeway, rebecca marrero 1982, capital punishment, the green river killer, green river cc auburn wa, crime news, crime reports, ...

Great <b>news</b>: Congress discovers exciting new ways to earmark « Hot Air

Great news: Congress discovers exciting new ways to earmark.

Fair &amp; Balanced? Fox <b>News</b>&#39; Big Year (VIDEOS) | TPM LiveWire

From lecturing President Barack Obama on racial sensitivity to inflating threats of terror, Fox News offered more than a few journalistic lessons this year. Fox's ratings continued to top the other major cable networks, while its news ...


bench craft company scam

&#39;Green River Killer&#39; Could Face New Murder Charge - AOL <b>News</b>

Related Searches: top 10 serial killers, green river murders, gary ridgeway, rebecca marrero 1982, capital punishment, the green river killer, green river cc auburn wa, crime news, crime reports, ...

Great <b>news</b>: Congress discovers exciting new ways to earmark « Hot Air

Great news: Congress discovers exciting new ways to earmark.

Fair &amp; Balanced? Fox <b>News</b>&#39; Big Year (VIDEOS) | TPM LiveWire

From lecturing President Barack Obama on racial sensitivity to inflating threats of terror, Fox News offered more than a few journalistic lessons this year. Fox's ratings continued to top the other major cable networks, while its news ...


bench craft company scam

&#39;Green River Killer&#39; Could Face New Murder Charge - AOL <b>News</b>

Related Searches: top 10 serial killers, green river murders, gary ridgeway, rebecca marrero 1982, capital punishment, the green river killer, green river cc auburn wa, crime news, crime reports, ...

Great <b>news</b>: Congress discovers exciting new ways to earmark « Hot Air

Great news: Congress discovers exciting new ways to earmark.

Fair &amp; Balanced? Fox <b>News</b>&#39; Big Year (VIDEOS) | TPM LiveWire

From lecturing President Barack Obama on racial sensitivity to inflating threats of terror, Fox News offered more than a few journalistic lessons this year. Fox's ratings continued to top the other major cable networks, while its news ...


bench craft company scam

Thursday 23 December 2010

Money Making Websites


Twitter launched a number of new features for its website today that allow more companies to embed their content in the site’s right-hand media pane, making the site feel even more “app-like.” Coincidentally enough, while Twitter was making this announcement Google was launching Chrome OS, and talking about all the great apps that users can download from the Chrome store — many of which cost money to download and have features that don’t work fully unless you are using a Chrome browser or the Chrome OS. One is about the web and the other is about apps.


Obviously, Twitter has apps too — it has an iPhone ( aapl) app, an iPad app and an Android app, and may even be working on a Chrome OS app. But the company has also been spending a lot of time and resources on its website and adding new features to it, including the ability to embed Slideshare presentatations, Instagram photos, iTunes links shared via Ping, YouTube videos, Rdio tunes and other multimedia content. The new version of the site (which is still being rolled out to users) even feels app-like in the way content slides out into the media pane. But you don’t have to download it and you don’t have to pay for it.


The features that Google’s Chrome OS apps have to offer are nice as well, and the user interface in many cases is very slick, but they still represent new apps that users have to find and download from a new app store, just as they have to download apps for their iPads or iPhones, or their Android devices. Everyone seems to want to have an app or an app store — even Mozilla is apparently developing one — in part because of the monetization potential that many see, not just from users paying to download the application, but also from in-app purchases or subscriptions or upgrades.


So what happened to just using the Internet and the regular web? The father of the web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, wrote recently in Scientific American about the rise of the walled-garden approach to applications, and his concern about how users are being restricted by proprietary platforms, with limited abilities to link or share content, both of which are at the heart of the web’s power — and he is right to be concerned. In some ways, the web seems to be getting subsumed by a flurry of different platforms and app stores.


One of the powerful things about HTML5, as Google CEO Eric Schmidt noted in his talk following the Chrome OS launch, is that it allows developers to produce rich, interactive websites that look and feel like applications. So why don’t more companies take the approach that Twitter is taking, and develop better websites instead of focusing on building apps for a dozen different stores? Obviously apps have a number of benefits — monetization through downloads being one of them — but there are a ton of benefits to just having a better website as well, and one is that anyone can use it without having to pay for it.


Related GigaOM Pro content (sub req’d):



  • Why Google Should Fear the Social Web

  • Lessons From Twitter: How to Play Nice With Ecosystem Partners

  • What We Can Learn From the Guardian’s Open Platform



We are all obsessed with sites like Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin at the moment but rewind a few years to when the term Web 2.0 first popped up and a whole host of different sites were the hot young startups destined for great things.


It’s amazing what a couple of years do though because as we can see below, some of the biggest sites from the “Web 2.0 generation” are either on a massive decline, facing huge competition or about to be closed down. There’s a good lesson here to highlight; how the hype cycle around websites and services can come and go and what was once lauded and destined for great things can within a couple of years shut down and be abandoned…


Delicious


One of the most popular and useful sites of the Web 2.0 era, this massively practical bookmarking tool was used by many people to keep track of content that they found online. Yahoo bought the site at its peak but users have started to drop off (the graph below might not be reflective as many people use browser plugins etc) and just this week there was speculation that Yahoo are pretty much going to be killing off the site much to the amazement of some of the loyal user base who use it on a daily basis. Fortunately that isn’t the case but the company is looking to sell.



Digg


Possibly the highest profile of all the casualties given it’s rise to fame, the high valuations it received and the online celebrity of its founder Kevin Rose. The traffic had started to stagnate and fall last year but the downturn really accelerated this year when the returning Rose tried to introduce a whole host of new features to try and compete with Facebook and Twitter but those changes backfired spectacularly by alienating the loyal community and the site is shipping users as fast as they once gained them.



Flickr


I wouldn’t say Flickr is in chance of dying nor has it’d downturn been as marked as the other sites on the list but there is no doubt that it is under pressure from a whole host of new photo sharing sites. Flickr is still massively popular but the rise of Twitter and sharing sites like Twitpic, Yfrog and newer apps like Instagram are certainly making people share photos in a whole new way.



Myspace


It’s amazing to think that just over a year ago Myspace were still competing directly with Facebook as one of the world’s biggest social networks but now the decline is so significant that Myspace has had to redesign their entire site and allow you to use Facebook connect to make the site more social. The site has been re-positioned to focus on content but it’ll never be the force it once was and you shouldn’t be surprised if you hear it’s closing down sometime next year.



Bebo


Not as massive around the entire world as it was in Europe and some other markets but people did think the site had enough potential for AOL to pay $850 million for it. Since then the users have pretty much left it and AOL were trying to give it away for free to anybody who would take it. The latest valuation was somewhere around the $20 million mark and you can expect Bebo to fizzle out completely pretty soon I reckon.



What Does All This mean?


It means that you shouldn’t hedge all your bets when building up social media profiles or community within a site. Even though you are getting great results or find a site massively useful at the moment doesn’t mean that in a couple of years it will be the same site. Trends come and go faster than ever on the Internet and sites that you one couldn’t live without are obsolete within a couple of years. I just cringe at some of the money brands poured in to the likes of Bebo to try and promote their products and grow an audience and what are they left with now that Bebo is in a digital cemetery? There are probably sites out there that we all use and love on a daily basis which in a couple of years will be closing their doors and it’s important to just be mindful of that.







bench craft company scam

ArtStudio for iPad adds select tool, gradient fill | iLounge <b>News</b>

iLounge news discussing the ArtStudio for iPad adds select tool, gradient fill. Find more Apps + Games news from leading independent iPod, iPhone, and iPad site.

<b>News</b> Corp. Sells Fox Mobile Group To Investment Firm Jesta

It looks like News Corp. has unloaded its Fox Mobile Group division. According to a release, investment company Jesta Group has acquired Fox Mobile Group (FMG) from News Corporation. Terms of the deal were not disclosed in the release.

Julian Assange | Sarah Palin | Fox <b>News</b> | Mike Huckabee | Mediaite

In an exclusive interview with Cenk Uygur on MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan Show, Julian Assange described criticism in Washington and elsewhere of WikiLeaks as nothing short of attacks on journalism and the first amendment.


bench craft company scam

ArtStudio for iPad adds select tool, gradient fill | iLounge <b>News</b>

iLounge news discussing the ArtStudio for iPad adds select tool, gradient fill. Find more Apps + Games news from leading independent iPod, iPhone, and iPad site.

<b>News</b> Corp. Sells Fox Mobile Group To Investment Firm Jesta

It looks like News Corp. has unloaded its Fox Mobile Group division. According to a release, investment company Jesta Group has acquired Fox Mobile Group (FMG) from News Corporation. Terms of the deal were not disclosed in the release.

Julian Assange | Sarah Palin | Fox <b>News</b> | Mike Huckabee | Mediaite

In an exclusive interview with Cenk Uygur on MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan Show, Julian Assange described criticism in Washington and elsewhere of WikiLeaks as nothing short of attacks on journalism and the first amendment.


bench craft company scam

ArtStudio for iPad adds select tool, gradient fill | iLounge <b>News</b>

iLounge news discussing the ArtStudio for iPad adds select tool, gradient fill. Find more Apps + Games news from leading independent iPod, iPhone, and iPad site.

<b>News</b> Corp. Sells Fox Mobile Group To Investment Firm Jesta

It looks like News Corp. has unloaded its Fox Mobile Group division. According to a release, investment company Jesta Group has acquired Fox Mobile Group (FMG) from News Corporation. Terms of the deal were not disclosed in the release.

Julian Assange | Sarah Palin | Fox <b>News</b> | Mike Huckabee | Mediaite

In an exclusive interview with Cenk Uygur on MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan Show, Julian Assange described criticism in Washington and elsewhere of WikiLeaks as nothing short of attacks on journalism and the first amendment.


bench craft company scam

ArtStudio for iPad adds select tool, gradient fill | iLounge <b>News</b>

iLounge news discussing the ArtStudio for iPad adds select tool, gradient fill. Find more Apps + Games news from leading independent iPod, iPhone, and iPad site.

<b>News</b> Corp. Sells Fox Mobile Group To Investment Firm Jesta

It looks like News Corp. has unloaded its Fox Mobile Group division. According to a release, investment company Jesta Group has acquired Fox Mobile Group (FMG) from News Corporation. Terms of the deal were not disclosed in the release.

Julian Assange | Sarah Palin | Fox <b>News</b> | Mike Huckabee | Mediaite

In an exclusive interview with Cenk Uygur on MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan Show, Julian Assange described criticism in Washington and elsewhere of WikiLeaks as nothing short of attacks on journalism and the first amendment.


bench craft company scam

ArtStudio for iPad adds select tool, gradient fill | iLounge <b>News</b>

iLounge news discussing the ArtStudio for iPad adds select tool, gradient fill. Find more Apps + Games news from leading independent iPod, iPhone, and iPad site.

<b>News</b> Corp. Sells Fox Mobile Group To Investment Firm Jesta

It looks like News Corp. has unloaded its Fox Mobile Group division. According to a release, investment company Jesta Group has acquired Fox Mobile Group (FMG) from News Corporation. Terms of the deal were not disclosed in the release.

Julian Assange | Sarah Palin | Fox <b>News</b> | Mike Huckabee | Mediaite

In an exclusive interview with Cenk Uygur on MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan Show, Julian Assange described criticism in Washington and elsewhere of WikiLeaks as nothing short of attacks on journalism and the first amendment.


bench craft company scam

ArtStudio for iPad adds select tool, gradient fill | iLounge <b>News</b>

iLounge news discussing the ArtStudio for iPad adds select tool, gradient fill. Find more Apps + Games news from leading independent iPod, iPhone, and iPad site.

<b>News</b> Corp. Sells Fox Mobile Group To Investment Firm Jesta

It looks like News Corp. has unloaded its Fox Mobile Group division. According to a release, investment company Jesta Group has acquired Fox Mobile Group (FMG) from News Corporation. Terms of the deal were not disclosed in the release.

Julian Assange | Sarah Palin | Fox <b>News</b> | Mike Huckabee | Mediaite

In an exclusive interview with Cenk Uygur on MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan Show, Julian Assange described criticism in Washington and elsewhere of WikiLeaks as nothing short of attacks on journalism and the first amendment.


bench craft company scam

ArtStudio for iPad adds select tool, gradient fill | iLounge <b>News</b>

iLounge news discussing the ArtStudio for iPad adds select tool, gradient fill. Find more Apps + Games news from leading independent iPod, iPhone, and iPad site.

<b>News</b> Corp. Sells Fox Mobile Group To Investment Firm Jesta

It looks like News Corp. has unloaded its Fox Mobile Group division. According to a release, investment company Jesta Group has acquired Fox Mobile Group (FMG) from News Corporation. Terms of the deal were not disclosed in the release.

Julian Assange | Sarah Palin | Fox <b>News</b> | Mike Huckabee | Mediaite

In an exclusive interview with Cenk Uygur on MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan Show, Julian Assange described criticism in Washington and elsewhere of WikiLeaks as nothing short of attacks on journalism and the first amendment.


bench craft company scam

ArtStudio for iPad adds select tool, gradient fill | iLounge <b>News</b>

iLounge news discussing the ArtStudio for iPad adds select tool, gradient fill. Find more Apps + Games news from leading independent iPod, iPhone, and iPad site.

<b>News</b> Corp. Sells Fox Mobile Group To Investment Firm Jesta

It looks like News Corp. has unloaded its Fox Mobile Group division. According to a release, investment company Jesta Group has acquired Fox Mobile Group (FMG) from News Corporation. Terms of the deal were not disclosed in the release.

Julian Assange | Sarah Palin | Fox <b>News</b> | Mike Huckabee | Mediaite

In an exclusive interview with Cenk Uygur on MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan Show, Julian Assange described criticism in Washington and elsewhere of WikiLeaks as nothing short of attacks on journalism and the first amendment.


bench craft company scam

ArtStudio for iPad adds select tool, gradient fill | iLounge <b>News</b>

iLounge news discussing the ArtStudio for iPad adds select tool, gradient fill. Find more Apps + Games news from leading independent iPod, iPhone, and iPad site.

<b>News</b> Corp. Sells Fox Mobile Group To Investment Firm Jesta

It looks like News Corp. has unloaded its Fox Mobile Group division. According to a release, investment company Jesta Group has acquired Fox Mobile Group (FMG) from News Corporation. Terms of the deal were not disclosed in the release.

Julian Assange | Sarah Palin | Fox <b>News</b> | Mike Huckabee | Mediaite

In an exclusive interview with Cenk Uygur on MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan Show, Julian Assange described criticism in Washington and elsewhere of WikiLeaks as nothing short of attacks on journalism and the first amendment.


bench craft company scam

ArtStudio for iPad adds select tool, gradient fill | iLounge <b>News</b>

iLounge news discussing the ArtStudio for iPad adds select tool, gradient fill. Find more Apps + Games news from leading independent iPod, iPhone, and iPad site.

<b>News</b> Corp. Sells Fox Mobile Group To Investment Firm Jesta

It looks like News Corp. has unloaded its Fox Mobile Group division. According to a release, investment company Jesta Group has acquired Fox Mobile Group (FMG) from News Corporation. Terms of the deal were not disclosed in the release.

Julian Assange | Sarah Palin | Fox <b>News</b> | Mike Huckabee | Mediaite

In an exclusive interview with Cenk Uygur on MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan Show, Julian Assange described criticism in Washington and elsewhere of WikiLeaks as nothing short of attacks on journalism and the first amendment.


bench craft company scam

ArtStudio for iPad adds select tool, gradient fill | iLounge <b>News</b>

iLounge news discussing the ArtStudio for iPad adds select tool, gradient fill. Find more Apps + Games news from leading independent iPod, iPhone, and iPad site.

<b>News</b> Corp. Sells Fox Mobile Group To Investment Firm Jesta

It looks like News Corp. has unloaded its Fox Mobile Group division. According to a release, investment company Jesta Group has acquired Fox Mobile Group (FMG) from News Corporation. Terms of the deal were not disclosed in the release.

Julian Assange | Sarah Palin | Fox <b>News</b> | Mike Huckabee | Mediaite

In an exclusive interview with Cenk Uygur on MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan Show, Julian Assange described criticism in Washington and elsewhere of WikiLeaks as nothing short of attacks on journalism and the first amendment.


bench craft company scam

Wednesday 8 December 2010

foreclosure

With recent revelations of the fraudclosure scandal, and a spike in interest toward all things REO, we decided to go back to basics and present some "appendices" over why this process of excess bank inventory clearance is so important and what its implications are, especially in a world in which foreclosing has suddenly become legally impossible.

First, courtesy of UBS, an outline of the Foreclosure process:

The Foreclosure Process

The foreclosure process may vary significantly across states and even across countries, but the following description is general enough that it should be applicable to most of the US.

Delinquency and foreclosure. After a homeowner with a mortgage loan has missed three monthly payments, he or she is considered to be “90 days delinquent,” and the servicer of the mortgage (the company to which the mortgage payments are made) can initiate foreclosure proceedings.

Auction. At some point, the borrower will be asked to vacate the home, and if necessary at some later point, the borrower will be compelled to vacate the home by local authorities. The home will then go up for auction.

REO. If the auction bids do not reach a high enough level to cover the outstanding balance of the loan, the lender can take ownership of the property. Once the lender owns the property (referred to as real-estate-owned or REO), it will typically remain vacant until the lender is able to sell it.

A quick back of the envelope analysis that shows how much incremental inventory foreclosure creates:

A flow chart of the foreclosure process:

The charts below show the geographic/spatial concentration of foreclosure filings, as well as concentration of GSE in selected states:

The states where foreclosure accounts for the bulk of transactions:

A snapshot of contagion effects of foreclosure on homes in the same naighborhood:

Those who wish to dig into the fascinating topic of contagion (in foreclosures, not in default European countries), can find more info below:

As those who have been following our RealtyTrac updates know, in the last quarter the discount between a regular home sale and that in foreclosure just hit an all time record. Here is how the pricing matrix looks like by state and nationally:

And possibly the scariest chart of all: the end buyer of all the REOs, the properties that end up having the lowest salvage value, for the most part end up being acquired by the nationalized GSEs. And since the GSEs are on the US shadow balance sheet, these are simply more "assets" that collateralize US treasurys, and therefore, the US currency.

Take all the data above, and layer on top the complete confusion courtesy of the self-imposed foreclosure moratorium, and the utter confusion in the market becomes apparent.



Foreclosure Deposition Clip

 

More examples from Matt Weidner’s Blog for a Florida perspective…

Attorney Signatures – The Next Fraud Battle Ground

The Florida Rules of Civil Procedures require that all pleadings filed in a case be signed by a licensed Florida attorney
I have started to examine files and am becoming increasingly
suspicious that this important rule is not being followed by the foreclosure mills.

I
am therefore starting to examine all my pleadings closely and I
encourage each of you to do the same.  Ultimately I would like to
build a database of these signatures to compare, so for those of you
out there that are spending time looking at court filings, please
start examining the signatures and making a cut and past document
similar to the one I attach below.

My first example of gross
irregularities in the signature of an attorney who makes filings in a
court case comes from Ohio.  The document was prepared by a reader
of this blog and it comes from an Ohio foreclosure mill attorney. 
Please look at the sheet. There really is no commentary necessary
regarding whether these were signed by the same person….

Given
what we know about the foreclosure mills and their operations
(particularly the offshore components of their practice) I cannot
imagine that they are following this rule. (I mean the violate every
other rule)

Foreclosure Fraud – Attorney Signatures – The Next Battle Ground

Foreclosure Fraud - Attorney Signatures - The Next Battle Ground

You can read more about Matt’s excellent work here…

Next up, Patrick J. Loughren’s Complaint in Equity

Patrick J. Loughren Complaint in Equity

Patrick J. Loughren Complaint in Equity

Far-Reaching Consequences

Loughren declined to talk with DailyFinance
(nor would he even give us the complaint, which is electronically
available from the court), and as of now, GMM hasn’t returned our calls
either. (We learned of the case from Walter Roche’s story in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.) But
Loughren’s complaint is so detailed, and the partners’ admissions so
damning, that if this case is decided on the merits, it’s hard to see
how Loughren could lose.

If Loughren does win, the consequences could be far-reaching: All
current foreclosure actions filed by GMM could be dismissed on the
grounds that lawsuits filed by nonlawyers are a “nullity,” meaning they
don’t count
. That’s hundreds, potentially thousands, of cases across Pennsylvania.

All completed foreclosures that were brought using this method could also be called into question for the same reason, and given that the practice has been going on for years, a Loughren win could throw into question the title to thousands of Pennsylvania properties. In addition, any homeowners who paid legal fees to the banks and GMM during their foreclosures could get that money back.

Bank of America Knew

Loughren notes that in both cases involving the partners’ testimony about the practice, Bank of America (BAC)
was the foreclosing bank. It was actually present during the December
2009 trial when the admissions were first made. Loughren points out
that BofA’s representative at that trial, John Smith, is himself a
lawyer, and so presumably understood the legal significance of GMM’s
admission.

Other BofA employees surely learned about the
practice too, given that the December case was an effort by the U.S.
Bankruptcy Trustee to sanction both the bank and GMM for misconduct,
and evidence submitted for it showed the involvement of “high-ranking”
BofA people not normally involved in a foreclosure, such as its
assistant general counsel.

Although the practice of having
nonlawyers file suit wasn’t at issue in that case, learning of it upset
U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Thomas Agresti so much he wrote in his
Oct. 5, 2010 order:


bench craft company scam

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs <b>News</b> 12/8 - Arrowhead Pride

It's Wednesday and we still have a 2 game lead in the West with 4 games to play. I just like saying that. Lots of Kansas City Chiefs news today. Enjoy!

The arrest of Julian Assange: as it happened | <b>News</b> | guardian.co.uk

Follow the latest reaction and fallout as the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is denied bail, and the latest leaked cables reveal US plans to defend Poland and Baltic states against Russia.

<b>News</b> Corp. COO: Please Don&#39;t Associate Us With Our Newspapers <b>...</b>

Rupert Murdoch may have printer's ink flowing through his veins, as is often said of the News Corp. chairman, but for his No. 2, president and COO Chase Carey, newspapers are more like an albatross around the neck.


bench craft company scam

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs <b>News</b> 12/8 - Arrowhead Pride

It's Wednesday and we still have a 2 game lead in the West with 4 games to play. I just like saying that. Lots of Kansas City Chiefs news today. Enjoy!

The arrest of Julian Assange: as it happened | <b>News</b> | guardian.co.uk

Follow the latest reaction and fallout as the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is denied bail, and the latest leaked cables reveal US plans to defend Poland and Baltic states against Russia.

<b>News</b> Corp. COO: Please Don&#39;t Associate Us With Our Newspapers <b>...</b>

Rupert Murdoch may have printer's ink flowing through his veins, as is often said of the News Corp. chairman, but for his No. 2, president and COO Chase Carey, newspapers are more like an albatross around the neck.


bench craft company scam

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs <b>News</b> 12/8 - Arrowhead Pride

It's Wednesday and we still have a 2 game lead in the West with 4 games to play. I just like saying that. Lots of Kansas City Chiefs news today. Enjoy!

The arrest of Julian Assange: as it happened | <b>News</b> | guardian.co.uk

Follow the latest reaction and fallout as the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is denied bail, and the latest leaked cables reveal US plans to defend Poland and Baltic states against Russia.

<b>News</b> Corp. COO: Please Don&#39;t Associate Us With Our Newspapers <b>...</b>

Rupert Murdoch may have printer's ink flowing through his veins, as is often said of the News Corp. chairman, but for his No. 2, president and COO Chase Carey, newspapers are more like an albatross around the neck.


bench craft company scam

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs <b>News</b> 12/8 - Arrowhead Pride

It's Wednesday and we still have a 2 game lead in the West with 4 games to play. I just like saying that. Lots of Kansas City Chiefs news today. Enjoy!

The arrest of Julian Assange: as it happened | <b>News</b> | guardian.co.uk

Follow the latest reaction and fallout as the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is denied bail, and the latest leaked cables reveal US plans to defend Poland and Baltic states against Russia.

<b>News</b> Corp. COO: Please Don&#39;t Associate Us With Our Newspapers <b>...</b>

Rupert Murdoch may have printer's ink flowing through his veins, as is often said of the News Corp. chairman, but for his No. 2, president and COO Chase Carey, newspapers are more like an albatross around the neck.


bench craft company scam

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs <b>News</b> 12/8 - Arrowhead Pride

It's Wednesday and we still have a 2 game lead in the West with 4 games to play. I just like saying that. Lots of Kansas City Chiefs news today. Enjoy!

The arrest of Julian Assange: as it happened | <b>News</b> | guardian.co.uk

Follow the latest reaction and fallout as the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is denied bail, and the latest leaked cables reveal US plans to defend Poland and Baltic states against Russia.

<b>News</b> Corp. COO: Please Don&#39;t Associate Us With Our Newspapers <b>...</b>

Rupert Murdoch may have printer's ink flowing through his veins, as is often said of the News Corp. chairman, but for his No. 2, president and COO Chase Carey, newspapers are more like an albatross around the neck.


bench craft company scam

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs <b>News</b> 12/8 - Arrowhead Pride

It's Wednesday and we still have a 2 game lead in the West with 4 games to play. I just like saying that. Lots of Kansas City Chiefs news today. Enjoy!

The arrest of Julian Assange: as it happened | <b>News</b> | guardian.co.uk

Follow the latest reaction and fallout as the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is denied bail, and the latest leaked cables reveal US plans to defend Poland and Baltic states against Russia.

<b>News</b> Corp. COO: Please Don&#39;t Associate Us With Our Newspapers <b>...</b>

Rupert Murdoch may have printer's ink flowing through his veins, as is often said of the News Corp. chairman, but for his No. 2, president and COO Chase Carey, newspapers are more like an albatross around the neck.


bench craft company scam

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs <b>News</b> 12/8 - Arrowhead Pride

It's Wednesday and we still have a 2 game lead in the West with 4 games to play. I just like saying that. Lots of Kansas City Chiefs news today. Enjoy!

The arrest of Julian Assange: as it happened | <b>News</b> | guardian.co.uk

Follow the latest reaction and fallout as the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is denied bail, and the latest leaked cables reveal US plans to defend Poland and Baltic states against Russia.

<b>News</b> Corp. COO: Please Don&#39;t Associate Us With Our Newspapers <b>...</b>

Rupert Murdoch may have printer's ink flowing through his veins, as is often said of the News Corp. chairman, but for his No. 2, president and COO Chase Carey, newspapers are more like an albatross around the neck.


bench craft company scam

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs <b>News</b> 12/8 - Arrowhead Pride

It's Wednesday and we still have a 2 game lead in the West with 4 games to play. I just like saying that. Lots of Kansas City Chiefs news today. Enjoy!

The arrest of Julian Assange: as it happened | <b>News</b> | guardian.co.uk

Follow the latest reaction and fallout as the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is denied bail, and the latest leaked cables reveal US plans to defend Poland and Baltic states against Russia.

<b>News</b> Corp. COO: Please Don&#39;t Associate Us With Our Newspapers <b>...</b>

Rupert Murdoch may have printer's ink flowing through his veins, as is often said of the News Corp. chairman, but for his No. 2, president and COO Chase Carey, newspapers are more like an albatross around the neck.


bench craft company scam

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs <b>News</b> 12/8 - Arrowhead Pride

It's Wednesday and we still have a 2 game lead in the West with 4 games to play. I just like saying that. Lots of Kansas City Chiefs news today. Enjoy!

The arrest of Julian Assange: as it happened | <b>News</b> | guardian.co.uk

Follow the latest reaction and fallout as the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is denied bail, and the latest leaked cables reveal US plans to defend Poland and Baltic states against Russia.

<b>News</b> Corp. COO: Please Don&#39;t Associate Us With Our Newspapers <b>...</b>

Rupert Murdoch may have printer's ink flowing through his veins, as is often said of the News Corp. chairman, but for his No. 2, president and COO Chase Carey, newspapers are more like an albatross around the neck.


bench craft company scam

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs <b>News</b> 12/8 - Arrowhead Pride

It's Wednesday and we still have a 2 game lead in the West with 4 games to play. I just like saying that. Lots of Kansas City Chiefs news today. Enjoy!

The arrest of Julian Assange: as it happened | <b>News</b> | guardian.co.uk

Follow the latest reaction and fallout as the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is denied bail, and the latest leaked cables reveal US plans to defend Poland and Baltic states against Russia.

<b>News</b> Corp. COO: Please Don&#39;t Associate Us With Our Newspapers <b>...</b>

Rupert Murdoch may have printer's ink flowing through his veins, as is often said of the News Corp. chairman, but for his No. 2, president and COO Chase Carey, newspapers are more like an albatross around the neck.


bench craft company scam

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs <b>News</b> 12/8 - Arrowhead Pride

It's Wednesday and we still have a 2 game lead in the West with 4 games to play. I just like saying that. Lots of Kansas City Chiefs news today. Enjoy!

The arrest of Julian Assange: as it happened | <b>News</b> | guardian.co.uk

Follow the latest reaction and fallout as the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is denied bail, and the latest leaked cables reveal US plans to defend Poland and Baltic states against Russia.

<b>News</b> Corp. COO: Please Don&#39;t Associate Us With Our Newspapers <b>...</b>

Rupert Murdoch may have printer's ink flowing through his veins, as is often said of the News Corp. chairman, but for his No. 2, president and COO Chase Carey, newspapers are more like an albatross around the neck.


bench craft company scam

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs <b>News</b> 12/8 - Arrowhead Pride

It's Wednesday and we still have a 2 game lead in the West with 4 games to play. I just like saying that. Lots of Kansas City Chiefs news today. Enjoy!

The arrest of Julian Assange: as it happened | <b>News</b> | guardian.co.uk

Follow the latest reaction and fallout as the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is denied bail, and the latest leaked cables reveal US plans to defend Poland and Baltic states against Russia.

<b>News</b> Corp. COO: Please Don&#39;t Associate Us With Our Newspapers <b>...</b>

Rupert Murdoch may have printer's ink flowing through his veins, as is often said of the News Corp. chairman, but for his No. 2, president and COO Chase Carey, newspapers are more like an albatross around the neck.


bench craft company scam

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs <b>News</b> 12/8 - Arrowhead Pride

It's Wednesday and we still have a 2 game lead in the West with 4 games to play. I just like saying that. Lots of Kansas City Chiefs news today. Enjoy!

The arrest of Julian Assange: as it happened | <b>News</b> | guardian.co.uk

Follow the latest reaction and fallout as the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is denied bail, and the latest leaked cables reveal US plans to defend Poland and Baltic states against Russia.

<b>News</b> Corp. COO: Please Don&#39;t Associate Us With Our Newspapers <b>...</b>

Rupert Murdoch may have printer's ink flowing through his veins, as is often said of the News Corp. chairman, but for his No. 2, president and COO Chase Carey, newspapers are more like an albatross around the neck.


bench craft company scam

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs <b>News</b> 12/8 - Arrowhead Pride

It's Wednesday and we still have a 2 game lead in the West with 4 games to play. I just like saying that. Lots of Kansas City Chiefs news today. Enjoy!

The arrest of Julian Assange: as it happened | <b>News</b> | guardian.co.uk

Follow the latest reaction and fallout as the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is denied bail, and the latest leaked cables reveal US plans to defend Poland and Baltic states against Russia.

<b>News</b> Corp. COO: Please Don&#39;t Associate Us With Our Newspapers <b>...</b>

Rupert Murdoch may have printer's ink flowing through his veins, as is often said of the News Corp. chairman, but for his No. 2, president and COO Chase Carey, newspapers are more like an albatross around the neck.


bench craft company scam

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs <b>News</b> 12/8 - Arrowhead Pride

It's Wednesday and we still have a 2 game lead in the West with 4 games to play. I just like saying that. Lots of Kansas City Chiefs news today. Enjoy!

The arrest of Julian Assange: as it happened | <b>News</b> | guardian.co.uk

Follow the latest reaction and fallout as the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is denied bail, and the latest leaked cables reveal US plans to defend Poland and Baltic states against Russia.

<b>News</b> Corp. COO: Please Don&#39;t Associate Us With Our Newspapers <b>...</b>

Rupert Murdoch may have printer's ink flowing through his veins, as is often said of the News Corp. chairman, but for his No. 2, president and COO Chase Carey, newspapers are more like an albatross around the neck.


bench craft company scam

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs <b>News</b> 12/8 - Arrowhead Pride

It's Wednesday and we still have a 2 game lead in the West with 4 games to play. I just like saying that. Lots of Kansas City Chiefs news today. Enjoy!

The arrest of Julian Assange: as it happened | <b>News</b> | guardian.co.uk

Follow the latest reaction and fallout as the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is denied bail, and the latest leaked cables reveal US plans to defend Poland and Baltic states against Russia.

<b>News</b> Corp. COO: Please Don&#39;t Associate Us With Our Newspapers <b>...</b>

Rupert Murdoch may have printer's ink flowing through his veins, as is often said of the News Corp. chairman, but for his No. 2, president and COO Chase Carey, newspapers are more like an albatross around the neck.


bench craft company scam

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs <b>News</b> 12/8 - Arrowhead Pride

It's Wednesday and we still have a 2 game lead in the West with 4 games to play. I just like saying that. Lots of Kansas City Chiefs news today. Enjoy!

The arrest of Julian Assange: as it happened | <b>News</b> | guardian.co.uk

Follow the latest reaction and fallout as the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is denied bail, and the latest leaked cables reveal US plans to defend Poland and Baltic states against Russia.

<b>News</b> Corp. COO: Please Don&#39;t Associate Us With Our Newspapers <b>...</b>

Rupert Murdoch may have printer's ink flowing through his veins, as is often said of the News Corp. chairman, but for his No. 2, president and COO Chase Carey, newspapers are more like an albatross around the neck.


bench craft company scam

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs <b>News</b> 12/8 - Arrowhead Pride

It's Wednesday and we still have a 2 game lead in the West with 4 games to play. I just like saying that. Lots of Kansas City Chiefs news today. Enjoy!

The arrest of Julian Assange: as it happened | <b>News</b> | guardian.co.uk

Follow the latest reaction and fallout as the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is denied bail, and the latest leaked cables reveal US plans to defend Poland and Baltic states against Russia.

<b>News</b> Corp. COO: Please Don&#39;t Associate Us With Our Newspapers <b>...</b>

Rupert Murdoch may have printer's ink flowing through his veins, as is often said of the News Corp. chairman, but for his No. 2, president and COO Chase Carey, newspapers are more like an albatross around the neck.


bench craft company scam

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs <b>News</b> 12/8 - Arrowhead Pride

It's Wednesday and we still have a 2 game lead in the West with 4 games to play. I just like saying that. Lots of Kansas City Chiefs news today. Enjoy!

The arrest of Julian Assange: as it happened | <b>News</b> | guardian.co.uk

Follow the latest reaction and fallout as the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is denied bail, and the latest leaked cables reveal US plans to defend Poland and Baltic states against Russia.

<b>News</b> Corp. COO: Please Don&#39;t Associate Us With Our Newspapers <b>...</b>

Rupert Murdoch may have printer's ink flowing through his veins, as is often said of the News Corp. chairman, but for his No. 2, president and COO Chase Carey, newspapers are more like an albatross around the neck.


Tuesday 7 December 2010

Making Money Work

This guest post from Jacq Jolie is part of the “reader stories” feature at Get Rich Slowly. Some stories contain general advice; others are examples of how a GRS reader achieved financial success — or failure. These stories feature folks from all levels of financial maturity and with all sorts of incomes. You can read more about Jacq’s story at Single Mom Rich Mom.


On 31 December 2009, I finished what I hope will be my last full-time, permanent job. I’ve worked a bit here and there over the past year, but it’s on my own terms, and not because I have to. I’m now semi-retired at the age of 45. But what does that mean?


About nine years ago, after reading Your Money or Your Life, I changed from an under-earning, confused woman to a woman with a mission: to never have to work again (unless I wanted to). In November of last year, I reached the Crossover Point, where the income from investments exceeded my expenses. (I think it actually happened sooner than that, but I hadn’t been paying attention.) At last, nine years after first figuring out what I wanted to work hard and save money for, I’d reached Financial Independence.


I’m fortunate that in the last few years, I’ve managed to raise my income so that I can work a few months a year and earn the same amount as I have working full-time (and overtime!) in previous jobs. I’m also fortunate that my wants remain relatively small and I never succumbed to lifestyle inflation. I’ve never wanted a big house, a fast car, or exotic travel.


In a “normal” year, I can easily live on about $36,000, including mortgage payments of about $15,000 per year (that I’m prepaying). So I knew that my Crossover Point was somewhere around $20,000/year with a paid-off house. In the next year, I intend to downsize and move to a (mortgage-free!) townhouse that will be close to public transit for those times I choose to work, and, more importantly, be low maintenance to allow for periods of long travel during the summers.


I’m trying not to plan too far in advance. I want to be flexible. My hope is that I can continue to work part-time or a few months a year for the next 5-10 years until a part of my pension is eligible for withdrawal. My net worth is somewhere around the $500-600k mark, not including pensions. Since I don’t have any intention of touching my savings for the next ten years, I’m hopeful that it will last as long as I need it. If not, I’ll go back to work full-time for a couple of years.


I think what Financial Independence has given me has been a confidence in life itself — that I can handle anything that comes up. If life is difficult, sometimes throwing a bit of cash at a problem resolves it. It’s also given me the freedom that I first dreamed of when reading Your Money or Your Life — that I could work because I enjoyed working, and that I could have my life be about more than work. I have the flexibility to leave any work situation that doesn’t contribute to my overall happiness.


Having lived very frugally for long periods in the past, I experienced frugality burnout earlier this year. I’ve consciously been spending more lately on the things that I’ve “deprived” myself of over the last almost 30 years I’ve been working. For example, my bed was over 50 years old and desperately in need of replacement. A new bed is being delivered this week, and I couldn’t be happier. I’ve also stopped thinking that I should DIY everything; I’ve had house cleaners come in this last month — something I would never have considered doing just six months ago.


Part of me still worries about the future:



  • What is it like to be looking for a job and networking once I get over 50?

  • Will it be hard — or impossible — to find work if I stay out of the job market too long?

  • What if the stock market falls again?

  • Are my investments too aggressive or not aggressive enough given that I hope not to draw down on them for quite some time?

  • Am I jumping too fast? Should I keep working full-time for a few years and get to that magical million and give myself even more of a buffer?


I only have a year of semi-retirement under my belt, so I’m not sure if that’s necessarily a “success”; I’m still just learning what works. I do know I’ll never go back to a regular job again though and definitely not go back to driving myself as hard as I have in the past again. My hope is that my approach is flexible enough and that I’m resourceful enough to survive and thrive through whatever lies ahead.


The national Tea Party Nation group is planning to send a letter to Sarah Palin asking the former governor of Alaska and John McCain sidekick to run for chair of the Republican National Committee.


Tea Party Nation leader Judson Phillips says in his letter to Palin that without her at the helm of the RNC, the party will fall back into “establishment” hands.


“We need you as Chairman of the RNC. You have shown in the past no hesitation to take on the establishment. You did it in Alaska,” Phillips writes in the letter. “If we end up with establishment control of the GOP and their support for an establishment candidate in 2012, Obama and the socialists will have won…We need someone who will put conservatives in control of the party apparatus, not RINOs.”



The letter takes a shot at current RNC chair Michael Steele, who Phillips writes has “spent Republican money with the gusto of a liberal.” The letter references the numerous criticisms of Steele’s fiscal management of the RNC.


“Something is really wrong with the GOP when the RNC cannot fund a get out the vote campaign for mid-term elections,” Phillips writes.


Phillips writes that Palin has the collection of skills and national appeal to right the RNC ship in time to take on President Obama in 2012.


“You have an unbelievable ability to light up a crowd and to raise money. Both of which the Republican Party needs,” Phillips writes. “The GOP needs a conservative who can raise money and energize the troops. You are the only one out there with these unique talents.”


Palin has been seen as a natural ally of Steele’s heading into the January chair election, which Steele has not officially said he’ll be a part of yet. While many other prominent Republicans kept their distance from the gaffe-prone Steele over the past year, Palin joined Steele at several stops on his GOTV bus tour this fall and there’s been speculation that Palin might endorse Steele’s bid for a second term if he runs.


For his part, Phillips is prone to making big promises on behalf of the tea party movement other activists often distance themselves from. Phillips planned to play host to the second national tea party convention in Las Vegas before the event collapsed under open hostility from Nevada tea party and what appeared to be a lack of ticket sales.


Phillips has become a source of tea party headlines however, recently causing a national stir with his call to “retire” Muslim members of Congress.


Read the full Tea Party Nation letter, which the group says on its website will be “sent to Sarah Palin in the next few days,” here:


Dear Governor Palin,


John Kennedy once said, “ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.”


Right now, your country needs you as the Chairman of the Republican National Committee.


We are in a fight for the survival of our country. The Democrats have walked off the socialist cliff and are driving the country headlong into the abyss. Unfortunately, there are many on the Republican side who do not seem to get it. They are the embodiment of the old political joke that says, with the Democrats you get more of the same and with Republicans you get less of the same.


We need you as Chairman of the RNC. You have shown in the past no hesitation to take on the establishment. You did it in Alaska. If we end up with establishment control of the GOP and their support for an establishment candidate in 2012, Obama and the socialists will have won. An establishment candidate will not work to repeal Obamacare and the other programs Obama, Pelosi and Reid have put in place. We need someone who will put conservatives in control of the party apparatus, not RINOs.


Michael Steele has spent Republican money with the gusto of a liberal. You showed in Alaska, you know how to put the brakes on unnecessary spending.


Finally, you are a superstar. You have an unbelievable ability to light up a crowd and to raise money. Both of which the Republican Party needs. Something is really wrong with the GOP when the RNC cannot fund a get out the vote campaign for mid-term elections. The GOP needs a conservative who can raise money and energize the troops. You are the only one out there with these unique talents.


We, the undersigned, are asking you to ask yourself what you can do for your country and to step up and become a candidate for Chairman of the RNC.


Thank you for your consideration and for what you continue to do for this great country.


Judson Phillips, Founder – Tea Party Nation




Note – this post was written by Evan McMorris-Santoro. for Talking Points Memo and is re-purposed here via a content sharing agreement.


Follow us on Twitter.


Sign up for Mediaite’s daily newsletter.




before after bench craft company rip off

AMERICAblog <b>News</b>: Krugman thinks tax deal is bad for Obama&#39;s <b>...</b>

News and opinion about US politics from a liberal perspective.

Source: Nationals to offer Lee seven-year deal - NY Daily <b>News</b>

The Washington Nationals are prepared to make Cliff Lee a seven-year offer, one that could drastically alter the Yankees' offseason plans. According to a major-league source, the Nationals - who already blew the market open with their ...

Small Business <b>News</b>: The Small Business Samba

From the slow dance Republicans and Democrats have been doing in Washington the last few weeks over tax cuts and jobless benefit extensions approved earlier.



bench craft company rip off methods

AMERICAblog <b>News</b>: Krugman thinks tax deal is bad for Obama&#39;s <b>...</b>

News and opinion about US politics from a liberal perspective.

Source: Nationals to offer Lee seven-year deal - NY Daily <b>News</b>

The Washington Nationals are prepared to make Cliff Lee a seven-year offer, one that could drastically alter the Yankees' offseason plans. According to a major-league source, the Nationals - who already blew the market open with their ...

Small Business <b>News</b>: The Small Business Samba

From the slow dance Republicans and Democrats have been doing in Washington the last few weeks over tax cuts and jobless benefit extensions approved earlier.



free bench craft company rip off program

AMERICAblog <b>News</b>: Krugman thinks tax deal is bad for Obama&#39;s <b>...</b>

News and opinion about US politics from a liberal perspective.

Source: Nationals to offer Lee seven-year deal - NY Daily <b>News</b>

The Washington Nationals are prepared to make Cliff Lee a seven-year offer, one that could drastically alter the Yankees' offseason plans. According to a major-league source, the Nationals - who already blew the market open with their ...

Small Business <b>News</b>: The Small Business Samba

From the slow dance Republicans and Democrats have been doing in Washington the last few weeks over tax cuts and jobless benefit extensions approved earlier.



vimax bench craft company rip off

AMERICAblog <b>News</b>: Krugman thinks tax deal is bad for Obama&#39;s <b>...</b>

News and opinion about US politics from a liberal perspective.

Source: Nationals to offer Lee seven-year deal - NY Daily <b>News</b>

The Washington Nationals are prepared to make Cliff Lee a seven-year offer, one that could drastically alter the Yankees' offseason plans. According to a major-league source, the Nationals - who already blew the market open with their ...

Small Business <b>News</b>: The Small Business Samba

From the slow dance Republicans and Democrats have been doing in Washington the last few weeks over tax cuts and jobless benefit extensions approved earlier.



truebench craft company rip off

AMERICAblog <b>News</b>: Krugman thinks tax deal is bad for Obama&#39;s <b>...</b>

News and opinion about US politics from a liberal perspective.

Source: Nationals to offer Lee seven-year deal - NY Daily <b>News</b>

The Washington Nationals are prepared to make Cliff Lee a seven-year offer, one that could drastically alter the Yankees' offseason plans. According to a major-league source, the Nationals - who already blew the market open with their ...

Small Business <b>News</b>: The Small Business Samba

From the slow dance Republicans and Democrats have been doing in Washington the last few weeks over tax cuts and jobless benefit extensions approved earlier.



free bench craft company rip off exercises

This guest post from Jacq Jolie is part of the “reader stories” feature at Get Rich Slowly. Some stories contain general advice; others are examples of how a GRS reader achieved financial success — or failure. These stories feature folks from all levels of financial maturity and with all sorts of incomes. You can read more about Jacq’s story at Single Mom Rich Mom.


On 31 December 2009, I finished what I hope will be my last full-time, permanent job. I’ve worked a bit here and there over the past year, but it’s on my own terms, and not because I have to. I’m now semi-retired at the age of 45. But what does that mean?


About nine years ago, after reading Your Money or Your Life, I changed from an under-earning, confused woman to a woman with a mission: to never have to work again (unless I wanted to). In November of last year, I reached the Crossover Point, where the income from investments exceeded my expenses. (I think it actually happened sooner than that, but I hadn’t been paying attention.) At last, nine years after first figuring out what I wanted to work hard and save money for, I’d reached Financial Independence.


I’m fortunate that in the last few years, I’ve managed to raise my income so that I can work a few months a year and earn the same amount as I have working full-time (and overtime!) in previous jobs. I’m also fortunate that my wants remain relatively small and I never succumbed to lifestyle inflation. I’ve never wanted a big house, a fast car, or exotic travel.


In a “normal” year, I can easily live on about $36,000, including mortgage payments of about $15,000 per year (that I’m prepaying). So I knew that my Crossover Point was somewhere around $20,000/year with a paid-off house. In the next year, I intend to downsize and move to a (mortgage-free!) townhouse that will be close to public transit for those times I choose to work, and, more importantly, be low maintenance to allow for periods of long travel during the summers.


I’m trying not to plan too far in advance. I want to be flexible. My hope is that I can continue to work part-time or a few months a year for the next 5-10 years until a part of my pension is eligible for withdrawal. My net worth is somewhere around the $500-600k mark, not including pensions. Since I don’t have any intention of touching my savings for the next ten years, I’m hopeful that it will last as long as I need it. If not, I’ll go back to work full-time for a couple of years.


I think what Financial Independence has given me has been a confidence in life itself — that I can handle anything that comes up. If life is difficult, sometimes throwing a bit of cash at a problem resolves it. It’s also given me the freedom that I first dreamed of when reading Your Money or Your Life — that I could work because I enjoyed working, and that I could have my life be about more than work. I have the flexibility to leave any work situation that doesn’t contribute to my overall happiness.


Having lived very frugally for long periods in the past, I experienced frugality burnout earlier this year. I’ve consciously been spending more lately on the things that I’ve “deprived” myself of over the last almost 30 years I’ve been working. For example, my bed was over 50 years old and desperately in need of replacement. A new bed is being delivered this week, and I couldn’t be happier. I’ve also stopped thinking that I should DIY everything; I’ve had house cleaners come in this last month — something I would never have considered doing just six months ago.


Part of me still worries about the future:



  • What is it like to be looking for a job and networking once I get over 50?

  • Will it be hard — or impossible — to find work if I stay out of the job market too long?

  • What if the stock market falls again?

  • Are my investments too aggressive or not aggressive enough given that I hope not to draw down on them for quite some time?

  • Am I jumping too fast? Should I keep working full-time for a few years and get to that magical million and give myself even more of a buffer?


I only have a year of semi-retirement under my belt, so I’m not sure if that’s necessarily a “success”; I’m still just learning what works. I do know I’ll never go back to a regular job again though and definitely not go back to driving myself as hard as I have in the past again. My hope is that my approach is flexible enough and that I’m resourceful enough to survive and thrive through whatever lies ahead.


The national Tea Party Nation group is planning to send a letter to Sarah Palin asking the former governor of Alaska and John McCain sidekick to run for chair of the Republican National Committee.


Tea Party Nation leader Judson Phillips says in his letter to Palin that without her at the helm of the RNC, the party will fall back into “establishment” hands.


“We need you as Chairman of the RNC. You have shown in the past no hesitation to take on the establishment. You did it in Alaska,” Phillips writes in the letter. “If we end up with establishment control of the GOP and their support for an establishment candidate in 2012, Obama and the socialists will have won…We need someone who will put conservatives in control of the party apparatus, not RINOs.”



The letter takes a shot at current RNC chair Michael Steele, who Phillips writes has “spent Republican money with the gusto of a liberal.” The letter references the numerous criticisms of Steele’s fiscal management of the RNC.


“Something is really wrong with the GOP when the RNC cannot fund a get out the vote campaign for mid-term elections,” Phillips writes.


Phillips writes that Palin has the collection of skills and national appeal to right the RNC ship in time to take on President Obama in 2012.


“You have an unbelievable ability to light up a crowd and to raise money. Both of which the Republican Party needs,” Phillips writes. “The GOP needs a conservative who can raise money and energize the troops. You are the only one out there with these unique talents.”


Palin has been seen as a natural ally of Steele’s heading into the January chair election, which Steele has not officially said he’ll be a part of yet. While many other prominent Republicans kept their distance from the gaffe-prone Steele over the past year, Palin joined Steele at several stops on his GOTV bus tour this fall and there’s been speculation that Palin might endorse Steele’s bid for a second term if he runs.


For his part, Phillips is prone to making big promises on behalf of the tea party movement other activists often distance themselves from. Phillips planned to play host to the second national tea party convention in Las Vegas before the event collapsed under open hostility from Nevada tea party and what appeared to be a lack of ticket sales.


Phillips has become a source of tea party headlines however, recently causing a national stir with his call to “retire” Muslim members of Congress.


Read the full Tea Party Nation letter, which the group says on its website will be “sent to Sarah Palin in the next few days,” here:


Dear Governor Palin,


John Kennedy once said, “ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.”


Right now, your country needs you as the Chairman of the Republican National Committee.


We are in a fight for the survival of our country. The Democrats have walked off the socialist cliff and are driving the country headlong into the abyss. Unfortunately, there are many on the Republican side who do not seem to get it. They are the embodiment of the old political joke that says, with the Democrats you get more of the same and with Republicans you get less of the same.


We need you as Chairman of the RNC. You have shown in the past no hesitation to take on the establishment. You did it in Alaska. If we end up with establishment control of the GOP and their support for an establishment candidate in 2012, Obama and the socialists will have won. An establishment candidate will not work to repeal Obamacare and the other programs Obama, Pelosi and Reid have put in place. We need someone who will put conservatives in control of the party apparatus, not RINOs.


Michael Steele has spent Republican money with the gusto of a liberal. You showed in Alaska, you know how to put the brakes on unnecessary spending.


Finally, you are a superstar. You have an unbelievable ability to light up a crowd and to raise money. Both of which the Republican Party needs. Something is really wrong with the GOP when the RNC cannot fund a get out the vote campaign for mid-term elections. The GOP needs a conservative who can raise money and energize the troops. You are the only one out there with these unique talents.


We, the undersigned, are asking you to ask yourself what you can do for your country and to step up and become a candidate for Chairman of the RNC.


Thank you for your consideration and for what you continue to do for this great country.


Judson Phillips, Founder – Tea Party Nation




Note – this post was written by Evan McMorris-Santoro. for Talking Points Memo and is re-purposed here via a content sharing agreement.


Follow us on Twitter.


Sign up for Mediaite’s daily newsletter.




truebench craft company rip off

AMERICAblog <b>News</b>: Krugman thinks tax deal is bad for Obama&#39;s <b>...</b>

News and opinion about US politics from a liberal perspective.

Source: Nationals to offer Lee seven-year deal - NY Daily <b>News</b>

The Washington Nationals are prepared to make Cliff Lee a seven-year offer, one that could drastically alter the Yankees' offseason plans. According to a major-league source, the Nationals - who already blew the market open with their ...

Small Business <b>News</b>: The Small Business Samba

From the slow dance Republicans and Democrats have been doing in Washington the last few weeks over tax cuts and jobless benefit extensions approved earlier.



website

AMERICAblog <b>News</b>: Krugman thinks tax deal is bad for Obama&#39;s <b>...</b>

News and opinion about US politics from a liberal perspective.

Source: Nationals to offer Lee seven-year deal - NY Daily <b>News</b>

The Washington Nationals are prepared to make Cliff Lee a seven-year offer, one that could drastically alter the Yankees' offseason plans. According to a major-league source, the Nationals - who already blew the market open with their ...

Small Business <b>News</b>: The Small Business Samba

From the slow dance Republicans and Democrats have been doing in Washington the last few weeks over tax cuts and jobless benefit extensions approved earlier.



bench craft company rip off pills

AMERICAblog <b>News</b>: Krugman thinks tax deal is bad for Obama&#39;s <b>...</b>

News and opinion about US politics from a liberal perspective.

Source: Nationals to offer Lee seven-year deal - NY Daily <b>News</b>

The Washington Nationals are prepared to make Cliff Lee a seven-year offer, one that could drastically alter the Yankees' offseason plans. According to a major-league source, the Nationals - who already blew the market open with their ...

Small Business <b>News</b>: The Small Business Samba

From the slow dance Republicans and Democrats have been doing in Washington the last few weeks over tax cuts and jobless benefit extensions approved earlier.



advertising enlargement facts

AMERICAblog <b>News</b>: Krugman thinks tax deal is bad for Obama&#39;s <b>...</b>

News and opinion about US politics from a liberal perspective.

Source: Nationals to offer Lee seven-year deal - NY Daily <b>News</b>

The Washington Nationals are prepared to make Cliff Lee a seven-year offer, one that could drastically alter the Yankees' offseason plans. According to a major-league source, the Nationals - who already blew the market open with their ...

Small Business <b>News</b>: The Small Business Samba

From the slow dance Republicans and Democrats have been doing in Washington the last few weeks over tax cuts and jobless benefit extensions approved earlier.



advertising enlargement pumps

AMERICAblog <b>News</b>: Krugman thinks tax deal is bad for Obama&#39;s <b>...</b>

News and opinion about US politics from a liberal perspective.

Source: Nationals to offer Lee seven-year deal - NY Daily <b>News</b>

The Washington Nationals are prepared to make Cliff Lee a seven-year offer, one that could drastically alter the Yankees' offseason plans. According to a major-league source, the Nationals - who already blew the market open with their ...

Small Business <b>News</b>: The Small Business Samba

From the slow dance Republicans and Democrats have been doing in Washington the last few weeks over tax cuts and jobless benefit extensions approved earlier.



bench craft company rip off advice

AMERICAblog <b>News</b>: Krugman thinks tax deal is bad for Obama&#39;s <b>...</b>

News and opinion about US politics from a liberal perspective.

Source: Nationals to offer Lee seven-year deal - NY Daily <b>News</b>

The Washington Nationals are prepared to make Cliff Lee a seven-year offer, one that could drastically alter the Yankees' offseason plans. According to a major-league source, the Nationals - who already blew the market open with their ...

Small Business <b>News</b>: The Small Business Samba

From the slow dance Republicans and Democrats have been doing in Washington the last few weeks over tax cuts and jobless benefit extensions approved earlier.



advertising enlargement pumps

This guest post from Jacq Jolie is part of the “reader stories” feature at Get Rich Slowly. Some stories contain general advice; others are examples of how a GRS reader achieved financial success — or failure. These stories feature folks from all levels of financial maturity and with all sorts of incomes. You can read more about Jacq’s story at Single Mom Rich Mom.


On 31 December 2009, I finished what I hope will be my last full-time, permanent job. I’ve worked a bit here and there over the past year, but it’s on my own terms, and not because I have to. I’m now semi-retired at the age of 45. But what does that mean?


About nine years ago, after reading Your Money or Your Life, I changed from an under-earning, confused woman to a woman with a mission: to never have to work again (unless I wanted to). In November of last year, I reached the Crossover Point, where the income from investments exceeded my expenses. (I think it actually happened sooner than that, but I hadn’t been paying attention.) At last, nine years after first figuring out what I wanted to work hard and save money for, I’d reached Financial Independence.


I’m fortunate that in the last few years, I’ve managed to raise my income so that I can work a few months a year and earn the same amount as I have working full-time (and overtime!) in previous jobs. I’m also fortunate that my wants remain relatively small and I never succumbed to lifestyle inflation. I’ve never wanted a big house, a fast car, or exotic travel.


In a “normal” year, I can easily live on about $36,000, including mortgage payments of about $15,000 per year (that I’m prepaying). So I knew that my Crossover Point was somewhere around $20,000/year with a paid-off house. In the next year, I intend to downsize and move to a (mortgage-free!) townhouse that will be close to public transit for those times I choose to work, and, more importantly, be low maintenance to allow for periods of long travel during the summers.


I’m trying not to plan too far in advance. I want to be flexible. My hope is that I can continue to work part-time or a few months a year for the next 5-10 years until a part of my pension is eligible for withdrawal. My net worth is somewhere around the $500-600k mark, not including pensions. Since I don’t have any intention of touching my savings for the next ten years, I’m hopeful that it will last as long as I need it. If not, I’ll go back to work full-time for a couple of years.


I think what Financial Independence has given me has been a confidence in life itself — that I can handle anything that comes up. If life is difficult, sometimes throwing a bit of cash at a problem resolves it. It’s also given me the freedom that I first dreamed of when reading Your Money or Your Life — that I could work because I enjoyed working, and that I could have my life be about more than work. I have the flexibility to leave any work situation that doesn’t contribute to my overall happiness.


Having lived very frugally for long periods in the past, I experienced frugality burnout earlier this year. I’ve consciously been spending more lately on the things that I’ve “deprived” myself of over the last almost 30 years I’ve been working. For example, my bed was over 50 years old and desperately in need of replacement. A new bed is being delivered this week, and I couldn’t be happier. I’ve also stopped thinking that I should DIY everything; I’ve had house cleaners come in this last month — something I would never have considered doing just six months ago.


Part of me still worries about the future:



  • What is it like to be looking for a job and networking once I get over 50?

  • Will it be hard — or impossible — to find work if I stay out of the job market too long?

  • What if the stock market falls again?

  • Are my investments too aggressive or not aggressive enough given that I hope not to draw down on them for quite some time?

  • Am I jumping too fast? Should I keep working full-time for a few years and get to that magical million and give myself even more of a buffer?


I only have a year of semi-retirement under my belt, so I’m not sure if that’s necessarily a “success”; I’m still just learning what works. I do know I’ll never go back to a regular job again though and definitely not go back to driving myself as hard as I have in the past again. My hope is that my approach is flexible enough and that I’m resourceful enough to survive and thrive through whatever lies ahead.


The national Tea Party Nation group is planning to send a letter to Sarah Palin asking the former governor of Alaska and John McCain sidekick to run for chair of the Republican National Committee.


Tea Party Nation leader Judson Phillips says in his letter to Palin that without her at the helm of the RNC, the party will fall back into “establishment” hands.


“We need you as Chairman of the RNC. You have shown in the past no hesitation to take on the establishment. You did it in Alaska,” Phillips writes in the letter. “If we end up with establishment control of the GOP and their support for an establishment candidate in 2012, Obama and the socialists will have won…We need someone who will put conservatives in control of the party apparatus, not RINOs.”



The letter takes a shot at current RNC chair Michael Steele, who Phillips writes has “spent Republican money with the gusto of a liberal.” The letter references the numerous criticisms of Steele’s fiscal management of the RNC.


“Something is really wrong with the GOP when the RNC cannot fund a get out the vote campaign for mid-term elections,” Phillips writes.


Phillips writes that Palin has the collection of skills and national appeal to right the RNC ship in time to take on President Obama in 2012.


“You have an unbelievable ability to light up a crowd and to raise money. Both of which the Republican Party needs,” Phillips writes. “The GOP needs a conservative who can raise money and energize the troops. You are the only one out there with these unique talents.”


Palin has been seen as a natural ally of Steele’s heading into the January chair election, which Steele has not officially said he’ll be a part of yet. While many other prominent Republicans kept their distance from the gaffe-prone Steele over the past year, Palin joined Steele at several stops on his GOTV bus tour this fall and there’s been speculation that Palin might endorse Steele’s bid for a second term if he runs.


For his part, Phillips is prone to making big promises on behalf of the tea party movement other activists often distance themselves from. Phillips planned to play host to the second national tea party convention in Las Vegas before the event collapsed under open hostility from Nevada tea party and what appeared to be a lack of ticket sales.


Phillips has become a source of tea party headlines however, recently causing a national stir with his call to “retire” Muslim members of Congress.


Read the full Tea Party Nation letter, which the group says on its website will be “sent to Sarah Palin in the next few days,” here:


Dear Governor Palin,


John Kennedy once said, “ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.”


Right now, your country needs you as the Chairman of the Republican National Committee.


We are in a fight for the survival of our country. The Democrats have walked off the socialist cliff and are driving the country headlong into the abyss. Unfortunately, there are many on the Republican side who do not seem to get it. They are the embodiment of the old political joke that says, with the Democrats you get more of the same and with Republicans you get less of the same.


We need you as Chairman of the RNC. You have shown in the past no hesitation to take on the establishment. You did it in Alaska. If we end up with establishment control of the GOP and their support for an establishment candidate in 2012, Obama and the socialists will have won. An establishment candidate will not work to repeal Obamacare and the other programs Obama, Pelosi and Reid have put in place. We need someone who will put conservatives in control of the party apparatus, not RINOs.


Michael Steele has spent Republican money with the gusto of a liberal. You showed in Alaska, you know how to put the brakes on unnecessary spending.


Finally, you are a superstar. You have an unbelievable ability to light up a crowd and to raise money. Both of which the Republican Party needs. Something is really wrong with the GOP when the RNC cannot fund a get out the vote campaign for mid-term elections. The GOP needs a conservative who can raise money and energize the troops. You are the only one out there with these unique talents.


We, the undersigned, are asking you to ask yourself what you can do for your country and to step up and become a candidate for Chairman of the RNC.


Thank you for your consideration and for what you continue to do for this great country.


Judson Phillips, Founder – Tea Party Nation




Note – this post was written by Evan McMorris-Santoro. for Talking Points Memo and is re-purposed here via a content sharing agreement.


Follow us on Twitter.


Sign up for Mediaite’s daily newsletter.




url

AMERICAblog <b>News</b>: Krugman thinks tax deal is bad for Obama&#39;s <b>...</b>

News and opinion about US politics from a liberal perspective.

Source: Nationals to offer Lee seven-year deal - NY Daily <b>News</b>

The Washington Nationals are prepared to make Cliff Lee a seven-year offer, one that could drastically alter the Yankees' offseason plans. According to a major-league source, the Nationals - who already blew the market open with their ...

Small Business <b>News</b>: The Small Business Samba

From the slow dance Republicans and Democrats have been doing in Washington the last few weeks over tax cuts and jobless benefit extensions approved earlier.



safe bench craft company rip off

AMERICAblog <b>News</b>: Krugman thinks tax deal is bad for Obama&#39;s <b>...</b>

News and opinion about US politics from a liberal perspective.

Source: Nationals to offer Lee seven-year deal - NY Daily <b>News</b>

The Washington Nationals are prepared to make Cliff Lee a seven-year offer, one that could drastically alter the Yankees' offseason plans. According to a major-league source, the Nationals - who already blew the market open with their ...

Small Business <b>News</b>: The Small Business Samba

From the slow dance Republicans and Democrats have been doing in Washington the last few weeks over tax cuts and jobless benefit extensions approved earlier.



advertising enlargement pumps

AMERICAblog <b>News</b>: Krugman thinks tax deal is bad for Obama&#39;s <b>...</b>

News and opinion about US politics from a liberal perspective.

Source: Nationals to offer Lee seven-year deal - NY Daily <b>News</b>

The Washington Nationals are prepared to make Cliff Lee a seven-year offer, one that could drastically alter the Yankees' offseason plans. According to a major-league source, the Nationals - who already blew the market open with their ...

Small Business <b>News</b>: The Small Business Samba

From the slow dance Republicans and Democrats have been doing in Washington the last few weeks over tax cuts and jobless benefit extensions approved earlier.



advertising girth enlargement