Business and Financial Affairs

Green Jobs That Make $30 an Hour

2009-11-12T20:18:00.000-08:00

Aside from the everyday efforts you make to help the environment, such as recycling or taking the bus, wouldn't it be great if you could be well-paid to help the planet? As it happens, many environmental jobs pay around $30 an hour or more.

Fueled in part by massive federal funding for environmental projects included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) -- better known as the stimulus bill -- green jobs have a bright future. There's a broad range of occupations that allow you to make a difference, so there is likely a green job for you no matter what your interest and skills.

Below is a list of well-paid, green gigs with their median annual salary according to online salary database PayScale.com. That figure is then broken down to an hourly rate by dividing by 2080, the typical number of working hours in a year, according to PayScale.

1. Regional sales manager. When companies create new, more energy-efficient products, it's critical that these products are accepted by customers, says Jim Cassio, career consultant and co-author of "Green Careers: Choosing Work for a Sustainable Future, and the Green Careers Resource Guide." Sales managers for environmentally conscious companies make sure better products reach their target audience. With stimulus funds going to research and development of more energy-efficient goods, particularly in batteries, growth is expected in green sales-manager jobs, says Cassio.

Regional sales managers oversee sales within an entire territory, often supervising a sales team, providing training and guidance. Many are experienced sales reps who've worked their way up to this supervisory post.

Regional sales manager: $87,200 per year / $42 per hour

2. Environmental engineer. This engineering specialty focuses on developing solutions for better water and air quality, says Laurence Shatkin, author of "200 Best Jobs for Renewing America." Other fields for environmental engineers include recycling, waste disposal and environmental cleanup. With stimulus funding for many of these areas, demand for environmental engineers is expected to rise, Shatkin predicts.

Most engineers have a bachelor's degree in engineering from a four-year institution, and participate in continuing education or graduate school to deepen their knowledge or a specialty or learn about emerging best practices in the field. Much of the work ahead, Shatkin notes, will involve devising solutions to clean up nuclear sites left over from World War II.

Environmental engineer: $68,600 per year / $33 per hour

3. Computer systems analyst. Without systems analysts, Shatkin says, "We'll never have a smart [electric] grid." Technological savvy will be needed to design systems that will allow electric transmission systems and broadband networks to operate with greater energy efficiency.

Demand is so great for this IT expertise that the Bureau of Labor Statistics forecasts nearly 50 percent growth in the field from 2006-2016, despite the fact that the existing labor force for this job is unusually young, with few analysts nearing retirement age. Most analysts have a four-year degree in computer science, information science, or management information systems.

Operating systems analyst: $63,000 per year / $30 per hour

4. Urban/regional planner. Urban and regional planners have a chance to dramatically impact the landscapes under their jurisdictions, says Shatkin. They aid governments in designing and locating schools, roads, and other infrastructure in a city or rural area, with an eye to minimizing environmental impact. They can also design zoning codes to help support environmental goals.

Schooling is rigorous -- even entry-level jobs with state, federal or municipal agencies require a master's degree in urban or regional planning or a similar field. As regulations grow more complex for meeting environmental requirements, more urban planners will be needed, he adds.

Urban/regional planner: $60,600 per year / $29 per hour

5. Hydrologist. This scientific specialty centers on using your knowledge of geology to locate and study bodies of water and suggests methods for keeping it pure, says Shatkin. Hydrologists use advanced techniques and instruments to assess water quality.

Many work for consulting firms and are often hired to solve water pollution, flooding or other water problems. Entry-level positions may be filled with candidates with a bachelor's degree in hydrologic science.

Hydrologist: $68,100 per year / $33 per hour

6. Construction project manager. A great move-up job for workers with construction experience, project managers coordinate and oversee large construction projects. The field of construction management is becoming one where environmental concerns play an increasing role, says Shatkin.

"They're using recycled materials in building new buildings," he says, "and then recycling the old building."

Construction project manager: $68,000 per year / $33 per hour

7. Nonprofit executive director. This job recently topped a list of the Top 25 Green Dream Jobs compiled by Cassio and Rona Fried, CEO of SustainableBusiness.com. Chief executives at an environmental charity or advocacy group have the opportunity to shape their groups' agenda, organizing their constituencies to improve the environment, preserve land or ocean habitat, or change environmental laws. It's a chance to use managerial, marketing, and media skills for green ends, notes Cassio.

At smaller organizations, volunteers may move up into this paying position, while larger nonprofits expect professionally trained executive directors who often have a graduate degree in either business administration, public administration, or nonprofit management.

Nonprofit executive director: $60,000 per year / $29 per hour

Source: All salary data is from PayScale.com. The salaries listed are median, annual salaries for full-time workers with 5-8 years of experience and include any bonuses, commissions or profit sharing. Hourly rates are calculated by dividing the yearly salary by 2080.

Business reporter Carol Tice contributes to several national and regional business publications.

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Regulators close Georgian bank

2009-09-27T17:20:00.000-07:00

Regulators on Friday shut down Atlanta-based Georgian Bank, the 95th U.S. bank to fail this year as loan defaults rise in the worst financial climate in decades.

In coming months, more banks are expected to buckle under the weight of commercial real estate and other loans that go sour. Those failures could imperil the insurance fund for deposits, already at the lowest point in nearly 20 years.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. took over Georgian Bank, with about $2 billion in assets and $2 billion in deposits as of July 24. First Citizens Bank and Trust Co., based in Columbia, S.C., agreed to assume the assets and deposits of the failed bank. Georgian Bank's five branches will reopen Monday as offices of First Citizens Bank.

In addition, the FDIC and First Citizens Bank agreed to share losses on Georgian Bank's roughly $2 billion in loans and other assets.

The failure of Georgian Bank is expected to cost the federal deposit insurance fund an estimated $892 million. The fund has been so diminished by the wave of collapsing banks that some analysts have warned it could sink into the red by year's end.

The fund fell 20 percent to $10.4 billion at the end of June. That's its lowest point since 1992, at the height of the savings-and-loan crisis. The FDIC estimates bank failures will cost the fund around $70 billion through 2013.

Home Based Online Business - The Greatest Shift of Wealth the World Will Ever See

2009-09-17T22:12:00.000-07:00

A home based online business...do you realize that nothing in our lifetime has ever been projected to grow and make more fortunes as fast as the Internet; and that for the first time in the history of the world what is quite simply the most phenomenally powerful, once-in-a-lifetime, tool to ever have been developed or created, has been handed to ordinary people like you and me?

We're living in the midst of what economists call the Information Age or Information Revolution, as far as Internet Technology is concerned. In most revolutions, from a historical perspective, you either had to be wealthy to start with in order to end up "mega rich" during these transitions, or you either had to be in an extremely lucky position to benefit or profit from what was taking place, i.e. you had to know someone, or know someone who knew someone (in other words, ride on someone else's coattails). The majority of people on the other hand--the average John and Jane Doe's standard of living remained the same, or became much worse.

Read more on Home Based Online Business

Networks, Advertisers Seek Better Viewer Counts

2009-09-10T19:06:00.000-07:00

Fourteen media companies said they are joining forces to fund new ways to track viewership of television programming throughout various platforms.

ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox are all involved, along with Time Warner and Viacom. Prominent advertisers Procter & Gamble, AT&T and Unilever are also included in the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement.

The companies have all agreed to make contributions of at least $1 million combined. The coalition will give money to companies or individuals that present promising research opportunities.

Television networks have frequently grumbled about Nielsen Media Research, the company that has a virtual monopoly on counting TV viewers, the currency for a multibillion dollar advertising business.

In particular, there are worries about an insufficient ability to account for people who watch programming in different forms -- on their computers, through on-demand services and in public places. Although attempts to compete with Nielsen have failed, networks have been convinced in the past that complaints or other research initiatives prod Nielsen into updating its methods.

But Alan Wurtzel, chief researcher for NBC Universal, said the coalition simply wanted to look for innovative ideas at a time when habits and technology are rapidly changing.

''The notion that this is about Nielsen is just a misunderstanding of why we got together,'' Wurtzel said.

Nancy Tellem, president of CBS Paramount Network Television Entertainment Group, said the coalition hopes Nielsen will be part of the solution.

Nielsen did not immediately respond to e-mail and telephone messages seeking comment Thursday.

Sources: NY Times TV Measurement

What You Need to Know About a Short Sale

2009-08-24T00:12:00.000-07:00

When the owner can't afford to keep paying the mortgage there is a the possibility of a short sale. The home will be sold at a much smaller price. This is not the ideal way to make a sale but it's an alternative to bankruptcy.

If a person accepts a short sale that means that he is agreeing to receive less than the total amount due. It's important to know that not all sellers qualify for a short sale. The lawyer can help you figure out if you can have a short sale or not.

Before deciding to purchase a short sale you should obtain first legal advice from a real estate lawyer. Also is important to discuss with your accountant the tax ramifications. It's possible that all the debts forgiveness will be considered as income.

The first step is to submit a letter of authorization which must include the property address, the loan reference number, your agent's name and contact information. If you do this you will receive better cooperation from the closing agent or the lawyer.

Your lawyer or agent should prepare a preliminary net sheet. This will show the sales price and all the costs of the sale. If you find it impossible to calculate all these fees they will be able to make a clear list for you. If you don't understand anything feel free to ask. Read more

Where to Invest Money - Find Out Now

2009-08-22T06:51:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wondered where to invest money that you have accumulated throughout your lifetime? If you have, then you are not alone. Today, thousands or even tens of thousands of individuals situated in the United States and all over the world are wondering the same. It is very difficult to make this decision since there are now numerous ways and means in investing ones money. There are so many businesses out there where you can invest your money. The most popular among these investing procedures is "stock investing".

Stock investing mainly focuses on the trading of stocks in the stock market. Trading stocks involves both the buying and selling of stocks. In order to gain the highest possible profit, stocks are bought at the cheapest or lowest price attainable. The investor will then wait for the right time when these stocks will be at the highest or most expensive price before actually selling it. The key in order to be able to buy at the cheapest and sell at the most expensive is to know the "fluctuation" of the prices. These fluctuations can be predicted by using the tried and tested stock market formulas that have been widely used since the last five decades.

The stock market must be taken into account as a whole. Therefore, a suitable and complete market analysis must be conducted in order to have adequate data and information of the stock market as a whole. This can be done with the aid of numerous stocks trading software widely that is widely available in the market as of today. All of the necessary computations together with the charts and tables that are needed in order to predict the market trend and the much anticipated "fluctuation" will be done by this kind of software. Time, effort and energy are thus saved whilst having accurate data and information at the same time.

Short Sale Info You Must Know

2009-08-21T01:22:00.000-07:00

So, you are looking for a house and you fell in love with a home that is offered as a short sale. What does that mean for you? What is a short sale and what is the difference between a short sale and a foreclosure?

To sum it up, a foreclosure happens when mortgage payments are not made and the banks takes over the home. The bank takes over not only the home, but also the title to the home and evicts the person who used to be buying the house. For this reason foreclosed homes are usually empty.

A short sale happens before a forclosure. Its when the home owner has fallen behind on their payments or they can see it coming in the near future, and they think that if only they could sell the house, not only would they be saved from a total foreclosure, but they may end up with some money in their pocket also. So they list the home and it doesn't sell. So they lower the price, again and again, until finally, they can't lower it anymore and pay all of the realtor commissions, closing fees, and the bank. So someone needs to start cutting their pay. Realtors aren't in the business of working for free, so they may give a little and the bank ends up giving the most. Since the bank will be taking a loss, they now get involved with negotiating the deal. In fact, they can really stick their nose in things now.

When you submit an offer on a short sale, it goes straight to the bank and they decide whether they will accept it or not. This can take up to four months of your offer sitting on a desk, thousands of miles away. Unfortunately, its out of everybody's hands at this point. The seller can't do anything, neither can the realtors, the lender or you, the buyer.

At this point you are just waiting to find out whether you even have an offer or not. Sometimes the bank is considering multiple offers, which makes the game even more confusing for the buyers.

What kind of deal are you going to get? Will it be pennies on the dollar? Probably not. The bank has a good idea of what the home will appraise for, and they don't want to loose any more money than they have to. So the probability of them lowering their payoff, while giving you the equity, is pretty slim. Read More

Get Rich Slow in Real Estate?

2009-08-21T01:07:00.000-07:00

So much about building wealth in real estate today assumes you wish to make a quick profit. Buy low, improve the property, put it on the market right away, sell it and make a quick profit. While that sounds good, things may not go the way you planned and you could end up losing money.

The reason for that is because real estate is really not designed for get rich quick schemes. It's a long term investment. Those who look at it that way usually outperform those that don't. Just look at how many have lost their fortunes during this recent real estate market downturn!

Instead, I'd like to offer an alternative based upon many people I've met growing up. These people didn't have super-high paying jobs. Most didn't have college educations. Most of these people had blue-collar jobs, carpenters, painters, etc. Yet all of them retired quite wealthy and with plenty of money. They did much better than those who pursued what was considered to be the conventional way to wealth.

Here's how they did it: They would buy a house that needed work and was priced below-market. They would move in and do repairs over a period of about 5-10 years. By this time they paid off the house in full. Since they didn't earn a substantial salary, that means they were very disciplined and took any extra money they had and used it to pay down the mortgage. They disliked interest because interest on money borrowed didn't help them build equity in the property. Once the property was paid off and fixed up, it was now ready for a tenant who would gladly pay top market rent for such a nicely updated property.

Next they would buy another property and do it all over again. By the time they retired, they owned five to ten free and clear units. Imagine if you took today's rental value and multiplied it by five or ten. You can see that this method provides plenty of income. And here's the best part: Rental income grows with inflation. This ends that problem I see so often with retirees: When they retire, their retirement income is abundant. But just five years down the road it no longer is enough forcing the retiree to seek other sources of income. Not so if you follow the plan I've just described. Obviously, you set aside some of the rental income in a fund to continually take care of the property when repairs are needed.

But here's the little known benefit to the get rich slow plan: When the real estate market gets slow, or if a tenant cannot pay the rent, because the property is owned free and clear it's not a huge financial drain. Investors who use this plan do great in either fast or slow real estate markets and very seldom see a collapse of their real estate holdings as is so common with the get rich quick folks.

If times really get tough, you can either borrow against the equity in the property or sell it outright. And because the property is owned free and clear, there are selling options not available to those who have to pay off a loan. For example you may be able to carry the financing for the buyer. That one option alone can open the door to more potential home buyers leading to a higher sales price.

It's rare, however to see the get rich slow people ever sell their properties, though. That's because whenever you sell, you trigger tax consequences. If you buy but never sell, taxation on your sales profits won't be an issue. Read more

Michael Jackson business partner warns Santa Barbara residents

2009-07-01T00:51:00.000-07:00

A businessman who set up a joint venture with Michael Jackson to take ownership of Neverland Ranch has written an an open letter to Santa Barbara residents warning them that mourners are about to converge on their community, according to press reports. Thomas J. Barrack Jr. told residents that they must "prepare to accommodate Michael's family's wishes as they contemplate the location of his final resting place and their own return to the tranquil grounds of the Michael Jackson family compound." A viewing of Jackson's body is set to occur Friday at the 2,500-acre ranch within the Santa Barbara County limits.

read more News Brief (news-briefs.ew.com)

House Approves Higher Business Tax Exemption

2009-05-04T19:08:00.000-07:00

By chron.com ---->

Thousands of small Texas companies would get a two-year break from the state business tax under a measure preliminarily adopted in the House on Monday.

The new tax, which businesses are currently paying for just the second time, was designed to fix the state's franchise tax and school funding system. But small businesses have complained that the tax is hitting them especially hard.

After a chorus of complaints from the business community, the plan by Rep. Rene Oliveira would temporarily increase the exemption to include businesses making $1 million or less. The exemption currently stands at $300,000.

"Because Texas and the United States are currently in a severe recession, what we have done here is provided some temporary relief," said Oliveira, D-Brownsville.

But increasing the exemption would cost the state more than $172 million in lost revenue at a time when state revenue is already plummeting.

Lawmakers agreed to make the increased exemption temporary, "in recognition that when we return in the next biennium, estimates are we may be as much as $12 billion in the hole," Oliveira said. "If that is true, we will have to revisit this."

The Legislature adopted the business tax under court order in 2006 to help cover the $14 billion cost of reducing school property tax rates. But the revenue from the business tax, known as the margins tax, has fallen more than $1.5 billion short of projections.

Under the tax structure, companies are taxed at 1 percent — 0.5 percent for retailers — of gross receipts. Companies can deduct for costs of goods or employee benefits like salary and health care.

Businesses also are lobbying for a measure that would ease their tax burden in years when they're not profitable. But, in recognition of the looming state budget quagmire, more than a dozen proposed amendments to the plan were withdrawn and the legislation was adopted without changes.

The new business tax was intended to overhaul the state's old franchise tax, which was so full of loopholes it was widely considered an optional tax.

Lawmakers spent years trying to fix it, but stumbled over how to structure a new tax within legal constraints that would apply equally to different business structures.

Dr Pepper Snapple

2009-03-26T05:35:00.000-07:00

Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. said Thursday that it lost $621 million in the fourth quarter as it wrote down assets and spent heavily on restructuring and severance, but its adjusted profit was better than Wall Street expected.

The seller of drinks such as A&W, Squirt and Hawaiian Punch lost $2.44 per share in the quarter that ended Dec. 31, compared to a profit of $138 million, or 54 cents per share, a year earlier.

Revenue fell to $1.38 billion from $1.39 billion.

The Plano, Texas-based company was spun-off from Cadbury Schweppes PLC in May 2008.

Without the one-time costs, the company earned 39 cents per share, beating a consensus profit estimate of 37 cents per share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters typically exclude one-time items.

The company said it expects 2009 profit of $1.59 to $1.67 per share, excluding a 12-cent per share gain related to the termination of a contract with Hansen Natural Corp. It expects full-year revenue to decline by 2 percent to 4 percent.

In 2008, Dr Pepper Snapple lost $312 million, or $1.23 per share. That compares to a profit of $497 million, or $1.96 per share, in 2007. Revenue rose slightly to $5.71 billion from $5.7 billion.

Excluding one-time charges, the company earned $1.85 per share in 2008. Analysts had expected $1.82 per share.

Financial Regulation

2009-03-25T01:48:00.000-07:00

The Obama administration is preparing an overhaul of U.S. banking rules that would force financial companies to keep more cash on hand in case their trading bets go wrong.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told lawmakers yesterday that changes will include “strong oversight, including appropriate constraints on risk-taking.” Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said the case of American International Group Inc. showed the “intense problem” of trading with insufficient capital to guard against losses.

Former 1970s radical returns to her Minnesota home

2009-03-20T01:23:00.000-07:00

Former 1970s radical Sara Jane Olson is expected to check in with her probation agent on her first full day back in Minnesota.

The 62-year-old Olson arrived in Minnesota on Wednesday evening after serving seven years in a California prison for crimes committed with the Symbionese Liberation Army.

Ramsey County Community Corrections spokesman Chris Crutchfield says he expects Olson to check in with her agent in person at a community corrections office by the end of the business day Thursday.

Olson spent more than 20 years in hiding in St. Paul. While she was a fugitive, she discarded her birth name of Kathleen Soliah and assumed a new persona as a housewife, mother, community volunteer and actress.

United Technologies to cut 11,600 jobs worldwide

2009-03-11T23:28:00.000-07:00

United Technologies Corp., the world’s largest maker of elevators and air conditioners, said it will cut 11,600 jobs worldwide to cope with the global economic slowdown.

The Hartford, Connecticut-based conglomerate (UTX) is also lowering its 2009 profit forecast. The cuts are part of an expanded $750 million restructuring program.

The company, which owns Pratt & Whitney jet engines and Sikorsky helicopters, cut its 2009 earnings per share forecast to between $4 per share and $4.50 per share, down from its December outlook of $4.65 to $5.15. Analysts, on average, had expected $4.60.

United Technologies also reduced the amount it would spend on share repurchases by half this year to $1 billion. Last month, Pratt & Whitney Canada announced plans to lay off up to 1,000 employees because of falling business jet orders.

Daily Contributor

Nine-Year-Old Writes Hit iPhone App

2009-02-10T01:16:00.000-08:00

Nine-year-old Lim Ding Wen.

This young prodigy from Singapore is fluent in six programming languages, according to a BBC report this week, and his newest creation, an iPhone drawing game called Doodle Kids, has racked up over 4,000 downloads in just two weeks. He wrote it for his younger sisters, who love to draw.

Doodle Kids, which lets players sketch with their fingers on the iPhone's screen and shake it, Etch-A-Sketch-style, to clear, has already racked up a healthy three-and-a-half star rating on the App Store. One reviewer commented: "Awesome app!...Amazing that something like this was made by a 9 year old".

Senate Approves $15,000 Tax Credit for Homebuyers

2009-02-04T17:21:00.000-08:00

The Senate voted Wednesday night to give a tax break of up to $15,000 to homebuyers in hopes of revitalizing the housing industry, a victory for Republicans eager to leave their mark on a mammoth economic stimulus bill at the heart of President Barack Obama's recovery plan. The tax break was approved without dissent and came on a day in which Obama pushed back pointedly against Republican critics of the legislation even as he reached across party lines to consider a reduction in the spending it contains.

"Let's not make the perfect the enemy of the essential," Obama said as Senate Republicans stepped up their criticism of the bill's spending and pressed for additional tax cuts and relief for homeowners. He warned that failure to act quickly "will turn crisis into a catastrophe and guarantee a longer recession."

Democratic leaders have pledged to have legislation ready for Obama's signature by the end of next week.

While they concede privately they will have to accept some spending reductions along the way, conservative Republicans failed in their initial attempts to force deep cuts in the bill.

Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., who advanced the homebuyers tax break, said it was intended to help revive the housing industry, which has virtually collapsed in the wake of a credit crisis that began last fall.

The proposal would allow a tax credit of 10 percent of the value of new or existing residences, up to a $15,000 limit. Current law provides for a $7,500 tax break but only for first-time homebuyers.

Isakson's office said the proposal would cost the government an estimated $19 billion.

Democrats readily agreed to the proposal, although it may be changed or even deleted as the stimulus measure makes its way through Congress over the next 10 days or so.

Other GOP attempts to change the measure went down to defeat. The most sweeping of them, by Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., failed on a mostly party-line vote of 36-61. It would have replaced the White House-backed legislation with a series of tax cuts on personal and business income and capital gains at the same time it made cuts passed during the Bush administration permanent.

"This bill needs to be cut down," Republican Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said on the Senate floor. He cited $524 million for a State Department program that he said envisions creating 388 jobs. "That comes to $1.35 million per job," he added.

After days of absorbing rhetorical attacks, Obama and Senate Democrats mounted a counteroffensive against Republicans who say tax cuts alone can cure the economy.

Obama said the criticisms he has heard "echo the very same failed economic theories that led us into this crisis in the first place, the notion that tax cuts alone will solve all our problems."

"I reject those theories and so did the American people when they went to the polls in November and voted resoundingly for change," said the president, who was elected with an Electoral College landslide last fall and enjoys high public approval ratings at the outset of his term.

Obama did not mention any Republicans by name, and most have signaled their support for varying amounts of new spending.

Even so, the president repeated his retort word for word in late afternoon, yet softened the partisan impact of his comments by meeting at the White House with senators often willing to cross party lines.

His first visitor was Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, a moderate GOP lawmaker. Later he met with Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Ben Nelson, D-Neb.

"I gave him a list of provisions" for possible deletion from the bill, Collins told reporters outside the White House. Among them were $8 billion to upgrade facilities and information technology at the State Department and funds for combatting a possible outbreak of pandemic flu and promoting cyber-security. The latter two items, she said, are "near and dear to her," but belong in routine legislation and not an economic stimulus measure.

Collins and Nelson have been working on a list of possible spending cuts totaling roughly $50 billion, although they have yet to make details public.

Massive Stimulus Package

2009-02-02T23:30:00.000-08:00

Australia launches massive stimulus package

Australia launched a 42 billion dollar (26 billion US) stimulus package Tuesday and slashed interest rates to a 45-year low in a bid to battle the global economic crisis, which has choked growth.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said the massive stimulus package was aimed at nation building and supporting up to 90,000 jobs "in the face of the unfolding national and international economic emergency."

The government faced a "stark choice -- to act or fold its arms and let the free market rip," the centre-left Labor Party leader said. "The government has resolved to act and will continue to act."

The package includes spending of 28.8 billion Australian dollars on schools, housing and roads over four years, tax breaks for small businesses and cash handouts of 12.7 billion dollars to eligible workers, farmers and students.

Up to 950 dollars would be paid to workers earning 100,000 dollars or less, supporting up to 8.7 million individuals, the government said in a statement.

Similar amounts would be paid to single-income families, drought-affected farmers and others in need from March.

The government slashed its economic growth forecast by half, upped its estimate of job losses and warned the budget would plunge 22.5 billion dollars into deficit instead of achieving the 21.7 billion surplus predicted last May.

Gross domestic product growth is now expected to be 1.0 percent in 2008/09 and 0.75 percent the following year, compared with respective forecasts of 2.0 percent and 2.25 percent made just three months ago.

The unemployment rate is expected to surge to 7.0 percent in 2009/10 from 4.5 percent in December, the government said.

The latest stimulus package follows a pump-priming exercise in December which fed 10.4 billion dollars into the economy, targeting pensioners and others in a bid to boost consumer spending.

Adding to the new measures, Australia's central bank slashed interest rates by one percentage point to a 45-year low of 3.25 percent Tuesday, the latest in a series of aggressive cuts.

Reserve Bank governor Glenn Stevens said the board had taken the stimulus package into account in making its decision.

"The combination of expansionary monetary and fiscal policies now in place will help to cushion the Australian economy from the contractionary forces coming from abroad," he said.

The International Monetary Fund predicted last week that the Australian economy would contract by 0.2 percent in 2009 if no further measures were taken.

Preparing the way for the budget deficit announcement, Rudd on Monday said the global economic crisis and China's slowdown would punch a 115-billion-dollar hole in tax receipts over the next four years.

Demand in China and other Asian countries for Australian resources such as coal and iron ore has underpinned an economic boom for a decade.

Trade unions welcomed the stimulus plan but said more needed to be done to protect jobs.

Some analysts said the government could be too optimistic in forecasting that Australia would avoid a recession.

"They're unrealistic on their growth numbers but politically it's unpalatable to come out and say we're in recession," JP Morgan chief economist Stephen Walters told Dow Jones Newswires.

Katie Dean, a senior economist at Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd., said the package may help avert a technical recession in the first half of 2009, but the long-term outlook was "still clouded".

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Amazon Stock Soars on Strong Profit and Outlook

2009-01-29T16:37:00.000-08:00

Amazon.com Inc. said Thursday that its fourth-quarter profit rose 9 percent and easily surpassed analysts' forecasts. Those results, plus an optimistic forecast, sent its shares soaring 13 percent in extended trading.

In December, Amazon called the holiday season its "best ever," and the earnings report backed up the idea that the online retailer is not being seriously hurt by cutbacks in consumer spending. Amazon said its revenue in the current quarter should be between $4.53 billion and $4.93 billion, while analysts are expecting $4.57 billion.

Shares of the Seattle-based company shot up $6.60 or 13.2 percent, to $56.60 in after-hours trading following the release of the earnings report. The stock had fallen 36 cents to finish regular trading at $50.

Amazon said its profit in the fourth quarter was $225 million, or 52 cents per share, compared with $207 million, or 48 cents per share, in the same quarter last year. Analysts, on average, had been expecting 39 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters.

Revenue rose 18 percent to $6.7 billion, exceeding analyst estimates for $6.4 billion. If not for the strengthening dollar, which diminishes the value of sales in other currencies, Amazon said its revenue would have risen 24 percent.

Sales of items like books, CDs and DVDs climbed 9 percent to $3.64 billion, and sales of electronics and other merchandise rose 31 percent to $2.89 billion.

The recession's effects may have shown up in one key figure — Amazon's gross profit margin. It declined to 20.1 percent, from 20.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2007.

In a conference call with reporters, Chief Financial Officer Tom Szkutak said the fall could be attributed in part to price cuts.

Retailers were especially hungry for consumer dollars during the holiday quarter: According to data from comScore Inc., Web retail sales alone fell 3 percent to $25.54 billion from Nov. 1 to Dec. 23, and probably fell 4 percent to $36.38 billion in the fourth quarter.

RBC Capital Markets analyst Stephen Ju said the drop in Amazon's gross margin was expected, given the discounting going on at its competitors. "They need to keep up — that's how they operate," he said.

Jeffrey Lindsay, an analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein, said he was "pleasantly surprised" by Amazon's results and that they indicate that the shift among consumers toward buying more items online is definitely holding up.

"People may be spending less in general, but they're spending a lot more of it online. Amazon has benefited from that to a very large extent," he said.

Amazon also said revenue from shipping — which includes revenue from Amazon Prime, its membership-based two-day shipping program, and Fulfillment by Amazon, which is its third-party shipping program — rose less than 1 percent to $266 million.

The company's net shipping cost rose as well, though, climbing 32 percent year over year to $242 million.

During the quarter Amazon made 45,000 additional book titles available for its wireless electronic reading device, the Kindle, for a current total of 230,000. The company has not released sales figures for the Kindle device, and is widely believed to be releasing a new version in early February.

For the full year, Amazon earned $645 million, or $1.49 per share, on $19.2 billion in revenue. The company earned $476 million, or $1.12 per share, on revenue of $14.8 billion during 2007.

Source: Yahoo Tech

Struggling Sprint Nextel to Eliminate 8,000 Jobs

2009-01-26T21:23:00.000-08:00

Faced with persistent subscriber losses and questions about its long-term prospects, Sprint Nextel Corp. is slashing its already shrinking work force by 8,000 people as it seeks to cut annual costs by $1.2 billion.

The layoffs, announced Monday, are just the latest attempt by the nation's third-largest cell phone carrier to right its financial ship in the face of tough competition and a brutal economy. They come slightly more than a year after the company cut 4,000 jobs and closed 125 retail centers as Chief Executive Dan Hesse, then new on the job, aimed to show he was serious about streamlining operations.

Sprint said it expects the latest round of layoffs, which represent a 14 percent reduction of its 56,000 employees, will be largely completed by March 31. The company said it will take a first-quarter charge of more than $300 million for severance and other costs.

About 850 of the layoffs are voluntary, through employees taking buyouts. They will make up about $45 million of the total severance costs, the company said in a securities filing.

In addition to the cuts, Sprint said it will suspend its 401(k) match for the year, extend a freeze on salary increases and suspend a tuition reimbursement program.

"Labor reductions are always the most difficult action to take, but many companies are finding it necessary in this environment," Hesse said in a news release. "Our commitment to quality will not change."

Sprint shares rose 3 cents, or 1.2 percent, to close at $2.49 on Monday.

The Overland Park, Kan.-based company has struggled since acquiring Nextel Communications Inc. in 2005. Technical problems, poor efforts to consolidate the two companies and stiff competition for feature-rich phones, such as the Apple Inc. iPhone on AT&T's service, have led many subscribers to switch.

As of Sept. 30, Sprint had 50.5 million subscribers, down 3.5 million from a year earlier. The falloff contributed to the $1.18 billion net loss that Sprint posted through the first three quarters of 2008.

"Given the current state of operations, (the layoffs were) probably the right thing for them to do," said analyst Christopher King at Stifel Nicolaus.

He doesn't see Sprint as a bankruptcy candidate, at least not for two years. "But certainly as you get into 2011, depending on how their operations shake out over the next couple of years, there could potentially be some concerns there," he said.

Another analyst, John Hodulik at UBS, wrote in a research note Monday that it might be difficult for Sprint to turn the tide of subscriber losses, given that nearly everyone already has a cell phone and few people switch between the major carriers.

The company's layoff announcement comes a month after AT&T Inc. announced it was cutting its work force by 4 percent, or 12,000 jobs, to deal with the effects of the recession and the continued erosion of its traditional wireline business. However, AT&T's wireless arm has been gaining subscribers, as have Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile USA.

Sprint Nextel has had some bright spots. It recently announced a new $50 per month unlimited voice and data plan under its Boost prepaid brand, which doesn't require customers to be tied to contracts. Analysts expect it to attract many people who can't qualify for or don't want to sign two-year contracts.

Also, Sprint will soon be the exclusive seller of the Palm Pre smart phone, a touch-screen device expected to rival the iPhone. The Pre is set to debut in the second half of this year.

Sprint spokesman James Fisher said the company hasn't determined how the newest layoffs will be divided between divisions or geographic locations, including suburban Kansas City, where it is the area's largest private employer.

But he said the company will likely avoid significant reductions in its customer service and network quality divisions, where Sprint has tried to improve in recent years.

One executive-level casualty is Kathy Walker, the company's chief information and network officer, who is leaving as of March 31.

Jeff Kagan, an Atlanta-based wireless analyst, said in a report that while Sprint's cost-cutting efforts are notable, they can't save the company on their own. He discounted the effect of the economy, since Verizon Wireless and AT&T have continued to do well.

"If the economy recovered tomorrow I think Sprint would continue to suffer," Kagan wrote.

Sprint also announced Monday it will release its fourth-quarter earnings on Feb. 19, more than a week earlier than originally scheduled.

Job-Killing Recession Racks Up More Layoff Victims

2009-01-26T19:14:00.000-08:00

The recession is killing jobs at an alarming pace, with tens of thousands of new layoffs announced Monday by some of the biggest names in American business — Pfizer, Caterpillar and Home Depot.

More pink slips, pay freezes and other hits are expected to slam workers in the months ahead as companies desperately look for ways to survive.

"We're just seeing the tip of the iceberg — the big firms," said Rebecca Braeu, economist at John Hancock Financial Services. "There's certainly other firms beneath them that will lay off workers as quickly or even quicker."

Looking ahead, economists predicted a net loss of at least 2 million jobs — possibly more — this year even if President Barack Obama's $825 billion package of increased government spending and tax cuts is enacted. Last year, the economy lost a net 2.6 million jobs, the most since 1945, though the labor force has grown significantly since then.

The unemployment rate, now at a 16-year high of 7.2 percent, could hit 10 percent or higher later this year or early next year, under some analysts' projections.

Obama called on Congress Monday to speedily enact his recovery plan, warning that the nation can't afford "distractions" or "delays."

With the recession expected to drag on through much of this year, more damage will be inflicted on both companies and workers.

The mounting toll was visible Monday as roughly 40,000 more U.S. workers got the grim news.

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc., which is buying rival drugmaker Wyeth in a $68 billion deal, and Sprint Nextel Corp., the country's third-largest wireless provider, said they each will slash 8,000 jobs.

Home Depot Inc., the biggest home improvement retailer in the U.S., will get rid of 7,000 jobs, and General Motors Corp. said it will cut 2,000 jobs at plants in Michigan and Ohio because of slow sales.

"We are seeing no improvement in labor market conditions," said Sal Guatieri, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets Economics. "This year could be as bad as last year in terms of layoffs."

In response to deteriorating business conditions, Caterpillar Inc., the world's largest maker of mining and construction equipment, disclosed nearly 20,000 job cuts, most of which already have been made. They include 5,000 new layoffs of white collar workers, which will occur globally by the end of March.

Earlier actions included the elimination of 2,500 Caterpillar workers through a buyout offer announced in December, the termination of about 8,000 contract and temp agency workers, and the reduction of 4,000 full-time factory workers through firings and buyouts.

Texas Instruments Inc., which makes chips for cell phones and other gadgets, will cut 3,400 jobs due to slumping demand. The Dallas-based company said Monday it will slash 12 percent of its work force — 1,800 jobs through layoffs and another 1,600 through voluntary retirements and departures. And Brooks Automation Inc. said it plans to get rid of 350 jobs, or 20 percent of its work force. It will be the second round of cuts for Brooks, which makes software and equipment for chip manufacturers.

Oilfield services provider Halliburton Co. said it will eliminate jobs in markets particularly hard hit by the recession, though it didn't provide details. Its larger rival Schlumberger Ltd. said last week it will cut up to 5,000 jobs worldwide in the first half of 2009 and consider further reductions this spring.

The flurry of layoffs comes on the heels of similar action by big-name companies just last week.

Microsoft Corp. said it will slash up to 5,000 jobs over the next 18 months. Intel Corp. said it will cut up to 6,000 manufacturing jobs. And United Airlines parent UAL Corp. said it would get rid of 1,000 jobs, on top of 1,500 axed late last year.

And there's no end in sight. In a survey by the National Association for Business Economics, 39 percent of forecasters predicted job reductions through attrition or "significant" layoffs over the next six months, up from 32 percent in the previous survey in October. Around 45 percent in the current survey anticipated no change in hiring plans. About 17 percent thought hiring would increase.

A new report by the placement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas found that companies are often turning to a creative combination of measures to cut costs — beyond layoffs. Those measures include pay freezes or reductions, forced vacations, travel cutbacks and the elimination of year-end bonuses.

"Many companies cannot cut their payrolls as deeply as they have in previous downturns, simply because they did not do as much hiring during the most recent expansion," said John Challenger, president of the firm. "As a result, they are forced to find alternative ways to keep costs down."

Not all the economic news was as grim Monday. Sales of previously owned homes and a separate barometer of economic activity each logged unexpected gains in December. But economists didn't view them as signs of improvement.

"Keep the party hats in boxes and the Champagne in the cellar," said Bernard Baumohl, chief global economist at the Economic Outlook Group. "It's one month's set of data and they tell us little about the future."

Economists said the uptick in home sales was due to sinking prices spurring buyers. In the other report, a government-influenced balloon in the nation's money supply largely affected the outcome.

Wall Street closed moderately higher. The Dow Jones industrials rose 38.47,or 0.48 percent, to 8,116.03, after briefly moving into negative territory.

The National Association of Realtors said sales of existing homes rose 6.5 percent to an annual rate of 4.74 million last month. Buyers took advantage of dramatically lower prices, especially in distressed states like California, Florida and Nevada, where foreclosures are soaring.

The nationwide median sales price sank to $175,400, down 15.3 percent from a year ago. That marked the biggest annual drop on records going back to 1968. The median is the middle point, where half the homes sell for more and half for less.

For all of last year, existing-home sales totaled 4.9 million, down more than 13 percent from the previous year, and the lowest since 1997.

Meanwhile, the Conference Board's monthly forecast of economic activity rose 0.3 percent in December. But that pickup was influenced mainly by federal efforts to ease the credit crisis, which caused the supply of money to expand. If the jump in the money supply were excluded, the board's index would have dropped sharply, economists said.

The national economy, meanwhile, is continuing to backslide.

Many analysts predict the economy will have contracted at a pace of 5.4 percent in the fourth quarter when the government releases that report Friday. If they are correct, that would mark the worst performance since a 6.4 percent drop in the first quarter of 1982. The economy is still contracting now — at a pace of around 4 percent, according to some projections.

Source: Yahoo news on Business

10 Great Cities for Salary Growth

2009-01-25T21:02:00.000-08:00

We all want to know what's going to happen with the job market in 2009, especially where salaries are concerned. Is a raise in your future? It might just come down to where you live.

Yet the most recent and complete numbers for salary growth in metropolitan areas are from 2007, and with everything our economy has been through in recent months -- unstable markets, major businesses collapsing, and an official announcement of a U.S. recession -- those numbers seem all but obsolete.

So, how do you know which city might offer you a salary boost? According to Laurence Shatkin, author of the recently published "150 Recession-Proof Jobs," there is a pattern to discover in the places that do well in a recession. Industries such as basic health care, education, transportation services and government jobs stay strong in a recession because they cater to more basic societal needs. These industries will frequently concentrate in the same areas -- quite often state capitals -- maintaining job growth and wage increases, while other areas suffer more.

Below are some profiles of the top-performing large cities of 2008 and their 2007 statistics on personal income growth, according to the Bureau of Economic Research. Looking at these numbers and how "recession-proof" their main industries are will hopefully give an idea how well they'll continue to perform into 2009.

Austin-Round Rock, TX - pop. 840,066 - 7.7% avg. salary increase
Building off of an already robust government labor sector, the University of Texas at Austin is a huge source of innovation. The area has been using UT's excellent programs from bioengineering to pharmaceutical research programs to invigorate both the technology and burgeoning pharmaceutical industries.

Bakersfield, CA - pop. 315, 837 - 6.6% avg. salary increase
Oilfields and other natural resources created a lot of opportunity for growth around this city recently, and increased demand for services has spurred along the education and health-care sectors. Wages grew here much faster than the national average in recent years, and though that rate is expected to taper, nearby Edwards Air Base and Chevron should help to stabilize the economy and maintain a decent wage growth for transportation and logistics jobs.

Charleston-North Charleston-Summerville, SC - pop. 245,472 - 8.1% avg. salary increase
The Medical University of South Carolina gives weight to this area's healthcare industry and is inspiring recent investment in the biosciences. This adds to Charleston's already strong transportation/logistics industry -- the Port of Charleston is among the most efficient ports in North America, and that should keep business rolling and wages rising.

Huntsville, AL - pop. 171, 327 - 6.4% avg. salary increase
Yet another city whose strong and growing economy is due to the technology industry, Huntsville's U.S. Army post is also expected to grow over the next few years. In addition, it has just opened the doors to HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology which should only encourage more growth in jobs and wages in 2009.

McAllen-Edinburgh-Mission, TX - pop. 197, 183 - 7.1% avg. salary increase
Call centers established by Convergys and T-Mobile in this area have created a healthy chunk of jobs recently. The area has also strengthened its home healthcare industry, which is now the second largest employment sector after state and local government. Drawing off these "recession-proof" industries gives hope that wages will continue to grow.

Orlando-Kissimmee, FL - pop. 289,684 - 5.2% avg. salary increase
The health-care industry has been the impetus behind this area's growth, so odds are that the downturn won't hit this area very hard. The Burnham Institute for Medical Research and a new medical school at the University of Central Florida are expected to attract other industries to the area, particularly high-tech firms, all of which point to good chances for wage growth.

Provo-Orem, UT - pop. 210,670 - 9.7% avg. salary increase
Benefiting from the innovative brain-power of Brigham-Young University, the information service industry in this city has been fueling rapid growth over the last five years. Business investment in the tech sector remains strong, which should help Provo-Orem ride out the ,slowdown in good form.

Raleigh-Cary, NC - pop. 375,806 - 8.7% avg. salary increase
State government employment gives this capital city a sturdy backbone for economic security. High quality educational centers (North Carolina State; University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill) inject creative brainpower into Raleigh's thriving tech companies and its growing biopharmaceutical sector -- all good signs for strength in the coming year.

Salt Lake City, UT - pop 180,651 - 9.2% avg. salary increase
Like Raleigh, Salt Lake City boasts great tech and government jobs. In addition, health care (Intermountain Health Care) and education (University of Utah) add extra spark to SLC's economic fire. Based on this, expectations are high that wage growth will remain comparatively strong.

Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA - pop. 912,077 - 8.4% avg. salary increase
Microsoft and Boeing are the main jolts of force behind this area's continued growth. Looking into the future, with the heightened interest in green technology, Boeing's push for a more fuel-efficient commercial aircraft will likely reap great rewards. Strong health-care and research institutions also keep paychecks growing in slower economic times.

Writers Praise Barack Obama's Inaugural Address

2009-01-20T17:08:00.000-08:00

More novel than short story; more ballad than poem -- most writers agree that restraint and plain speaking were the qualities that distinguished President Obama's inaugural address. Long on plot (and it will thicken), it did what literature does best: the backward glance, the standing on shoulders, the salute to ancestors and other sources of wisdom.

"He is our first (in the best sense of the word) aristocratic president," said author and journalist Malcolm Gladwell. "Bush was a buddy. Clinton was the kindly uncle. Obama is a prince."

And yet, Obama is also a writer, and writers were not at a loss for words. Author Ron Carlson was watching the president's syntax. "What courage," he said, "to use a complex sentence talking to a million people! By expecting the best of us, he just might get it."

Nonfiction writer Mark Kurlansky said the speech "was the most sophisticated view of the world and our role in it of any inaugural address in history."

Others felt the call to action. "With an Obama speech, listening is sometimes enough," said Pulitzer Prize-winner Thomas Powers, "but not this time. The inauguration speech is one we ought to read. It strikes me as clear and determined and grounded in confidence that of course we are still in the middle of the American story, not nearing the end."

Author Susan Straight watched the speech with her two mixed-race daughters. Afterward, they discussed their ancestors, the women in their family who never had birth certificates. "We talked about how hard these women had worked, orphaned and enslaved and desperate, to keep their children alive and get them educated."

Other writers praised the absence of the first person singular. "The word that stood out the most for me," said author Marisa Silver, "was the word 'we.' Taking the 'I' out of the equation makes us keenly aware of the power and responsibility that we, each of us, have to make differences."

USC professor Leo Braudy was moved to think about the difference between general forces in history and the force of the individual, particularly someone who, like Obama, embodies past polarities. "This is how history moves," he said. "It's all well and good to talk about the rise of liberalism or the fall of communism, but really it's the individual who carries these forces within him and is able to move history forward."

Some, like memoirist Patricia Hampl, praised Obama's plain speaking. "I was glad," she says, "that he denied himself rhetorical flourishes and gave a speech as refined and restrained in its power so that political language itself was restored to its greatest value -- saying what the speaker means."

Historian Mike Davis also praised Obama's restraint, calling it a "brilliantly modulated speech that perfectly showcased Obama's gravitas while revealing as little as possible of his actual passions. Hopefully we can now take a break from patriotic celebrations and incantations of 'hope' and return to rescuing the survivors from the wreckage of the Bush era."

Clinton speechwriter and author Ted Widmer liked the obvious lack of "elaborate, orotund, speechwriter language," the "tight language, short sentences and strong images," and the many references to past presidents, although he noted the absence of Lincoln quotes.

Novelist Stacey D'Erasmo had some writerly observations. She was struck by how much Obama looked "like an ordinary man on his way to work, alone. When he looked down during the various opening remarks, he actually looked like he was thinking." She felt she was observing his transformation: "We know that we are watching him become something else, something we can't, entirely, understand. Subtly, we want him to explain it to us: What does his power mean?"

In pre-speech commentary, Reagan speechwriter Peter Robinson (famous for penning the phrase, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall") told a reporter, "Writing is writing. It's a job." A good inaugural speech, he said, contains expectations, while allowing people to fully enjoy the moment.

As many writers will tell you, this is what writing can do: make the complex sound like plain speaking, contain and channel the emotions, create a kind of bridge from the heart to the mind.

"Here's a guy," Ron Carlson said with obvious admiration, "capable of his next idea."

Read on LA Times

America's Weakest Housing Markets

2009-01-12T18:03:00.000-08:00

Last year was brutal for real estate markets in Florida, California and Arizona. This year won't be much better.

In Palm Bay, Fla., a 563,000-person metro area on the central Florida coast, it's not just lush palm trees dotting the landscape--foreclosure signs are all over.

Partly to blame? The area's median home sale price has fallen by half since 2006, from $238,000 to $110,000, according to Trulia.com, an online real estate data provider. This has left many homeowners owing more on their mortgages than their homes are worth.

As a result, almost 1,800 homes are in the process of being repossessed by lenders--twice as many houses as were sold in the six months between May and November.

And more foreclosures are inevitable as homeowners cut their losses and walk away from their mortgages. There are already so many empty homes that the city passed an ordinance two months ago requiring lenders to identify which abandoned properties they owned.

Farther south in Miami, it's a similar story. Online real estate data provider Zillow.com estimates that 96% of Miami's houses are losing value. Median sales prices were 22% lower than last year in the third quarter.

Out West, in Las Vegas, a crushing 98% of homes are losing value and foreclosures account for 45% of all transactions, according to Zillow.

All three top a list of the country's top 25 worst housing markets in 2009. Provo, Utah, and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., round out the top five.
Behind the Numbers

To find them, we asked Moody's Economy.com to compile a list of the country's real estate markets that are furthest from recovery. Moody's looked at the country's Census-defined metro areas--including metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas--with populations over 500,000 and prepared forecasts through 2011. They then compared them with prices in the second quarter of 2008, the latest figures available, to calculate how far prices will likely fall before reaching bottom.

In Palm Bay, real estate values are expected to fall another 41.4% before bottoming late next year. Miami could be in for a similar decline, and Fort Lauderdale is forecast to drop another 30%.

There are more familiar names on the worst-off list: Los Angeles and Phoenix where foreclosure signs and half-built exurbs serve as constant reminders of the real estate frenzy that lead to this crisis.

In Las Vegas, where speculation moved out of the casinos and into the property market, prices have another 43% to lose, according to Moody's.

In Phoenix, too many houses and too much speculation sent property prices into a tailspin two years ago. But the bottom may be in sight late this year--after another 31% drop.

Tucson, Ariz., also looks like it's close to flattening out--after an estimated 33% fall by the end of next year.

For other towns on our list, there's still plenty of time to get 'em while they're cold. Most of these troubled markets--including Santa Ana, Calif.,Orlando, Fla., and Jacksonville, Fla.,--won't even start to recover until next year or the year after.

That's even though real estate prices, on average, across the country should hit bottom by the end of this year, according to Moody's forecasts, after an average 15% drop.

It's not just the cities already facing massive foreclosures that are poised to further stumble; this year the gloom is spreading to the country's second-home markets.

Many of these places were doing well until recently as retiring boomers and investors bought property where they played. But the market for second homes followed Wall Street into a deep dive last year. Because the downturn hit many of these markets late, the worst is yet to come.

Just over a year ago, for example, property prices in Salt Lake City were still rising, even though they were falling just about everywhere else.

By the third quarter of 2007, the median home sold for $247,000 versus $203,000 in 2006. Prices haven't fallen much yet; the median price in late 2008 was $230,000, according to the National Association of Realtors.

But Salt Lake City, which is surrounded by some of the best ski resorts in the West, is just starting to feel the effects of the drop-off in second-home buying. Prices are set to fall 29% over the next two years, according to Moody's forecasts.

Provo, Utah, and Boise City, Idaho, are also headed down with the drop in nearby ski home sales, says Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody's Economy.com.

Honolulu hurt by the drop in buyers from Asia and California, is beginning a long and slow descent, with real estate prices forecast to drop 31% before hitting bottom in 2011.

There is another region where the worst may be to come: New York City-area metros. Housing values in Newark, N.J., could fall 26%.

Likewise, Edison, N.J., is also among the mid-sized metro areas expected to see the steepest drops this year. But the worst could be over by the end of 2009 for New York's satellite cities.

Manhattan, now at the epicenter of the financial crisis, is noticeably absent from the top 25 weakest markets list. So far, the city has been isolated from the popping bubbles in the rest of the country.

Property prices were rising in Manhattan until early last year. Zandi believes Manhattan could be spared a steep drop. He expects a fall of around 20%. Even if big bankers lose their bonuses, "Manhattan is still supported by international demand," he says.

That prediction may prove conservative. The value of new contracts signed have already dipped 15% to 20% in the fourth quarter, according to a Beige Book report from the U.S. Federal Reserve last month.

The report said much of the activity came from "desperate sellers," so it may not be a fair gauge of where prices will go from here.

Of course, that depends on how many more sellers become desperate.

Kennedy Center honors Streisand, Freeman, Daltrey

2008-12-07T21:11:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON – Barbra Streisand is visiting the White House but says she'll play nice. Streisand, a vocal critic of President George W. Bush, was a guest Sunday at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue during one of Washington's few A-list events.

"Art," she said, "transcends politics this weekend."

The singer and actress this year is a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors, along with Morgan Freeman, country singer George Jones, dancer and choreographer Twyla Tharp and musicians Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey of The Who.

The honors recognize individuals who have had an impact on American culture through the performing arts, part of the living memorial to President John F. Kennedy.

"I'm really excited and I'm touched" about being selected as an honoree, Townshend said.

Musician B.B. King wore his Kennedy Center honoree medal from 1995 to the event.

"I'm here because of one of my idols called Morgan Freeman," he said.

Jones said there were no strained moments between Streisand and Bush during the reception.

"Everything went so smooth," he said.

After the reception, the group traveled with the president and first lady Laura Bush to the performing arts center for a gala in their honor.

The gala will include the young singer-songwriter Ne-Yo singing Streisand's 1965 hit "Lover, Come Back to Me."

"Barbra Streisand is the epitome of emotion in music. You feel every word, that's something that artists in my day and age don't really pay attention to," he said.

Musician Rob Thomas said he would sing The Who's song "Baba O'Riley" during the tribute for Townshend and Daltrey.

"These are people who have influenced everyone," he said. "It's not just their music, it's their attitude."

The Kennedy Center Honors come just a month after the presidential election. Streisand, 66, was one of the most outspoken honorees on politics during the campaign season, saying the past two elections had been "stolen." On the day after the Obama's win, she was riding high.

"November 5th ... what a day ... a new day ... finally (Martin Luther King's) words ring true," Streisand, a longtime Democrat, wrote on her Web site. "I am so proud of our country."

At a State Department dinner for the honorees Saturday night, Streisand said, "It's just great to be honored by one's own country."

Jones, who earned the nickname "No Show Jones" for performances he missed during his wild days, promised to show up this time. As he entered the reception, the 77-year-old said, "I'm in a daze" about being an honoree.

Performers from New York, Nashville and Hollywood will salute the honorees with surprise tribute performances Sunday evening. The show will air Dec. 30 on CBS.

Tickets to the gala sell for as much as $4,000. Last year, the event raised $5 million to support Kennedy Center programs.

The awards were presented Saturday night at a State Department dinner hosted by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. She addressed each honoree, beginning with Freeman, who once played the president in the movie "Deep Impact."

"I know that when you played the African-American president of the United States, most people thought that would happen when a comet hit," Rice said, drawing laughs and cheers. "But wonder of wonders, fiction has become true."

Freeman, 71, who starred this year in "The Dark Knight," also made headlines after suffering broken bones in a Mississippi car crash in August. On Saturday, the Oscar-winning actor said he was still recovering from nerve damage in his left hand and wore a glove to control the swelling.

Kennedy Center Chairman Stephen Schwarzman hailed the "extraordinary genius and tenacity" of the 2008 lifetime achievement award recipients.

Dancer Damian Woetzel hailed Tharp, 67, for "taking a dance and treating it like music." Her work has helped define modern dance, contemporary ballet and Broadway musicals.

Past honorees, including Clint Eastwood, Elton John and Sidney Poitier, made nominations for the awards, along with members of the Kennedy Center's national artists committee, including Glenn Close and Reba McEntire.

Source: Yahoo Entertainment News

The 10 Top American Givers

2008-11-27T18:45:00.000-08:00

Many of America's ultra-rich continued to give big donations to charity in 2008, despite the worst financial crisis in decades. In the past year, seven philanthropists gave north of $200 million and nine gave more than $100 million to causes ranging from wilderness preservation to fighting malaria. Warren Buffett and Bill Gates remain far and away the biggest givers overall, but two of 12 newcomers to the list pledged to give more than $1 billion away: William Barron Hilton, co-chairman of the Hilton hotel chain who pledged late last year to give away 97% of his wealth -- some $1.7 billion -- to his family's humanitarian foundation and Peter G. Peterson, co-founder of the investment firm Blackstone Group, who gave $1 billion this year to establish a foundation that promotes fiscal responsibility. Read their stories -- and those of the 48 other philanthropists on BusinessWeek's list -- here.

1. Warren Buffett

Berkshire Hathaway CEO
2004-08 Giving* $40,655 million

Buffett's $31 billion commitment to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, announced in June 2006, resonated throughout the philanthropic community. The giving is aimed at funding education and global health initiatives. This year the commitment to the Gates Foundation still resonates, inspiring other donors with a new model of philanthropy. Buffett, the world's second-richest man, also earmarked billions for the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, and the NoVo Foundation -- independent family foundations that support causes ranging from reproductive health to worldwide conservation.

For more, visit the Warren Buffett Philanthropy

2. Bill & Melinda Gates

Microsoft co-founder
2004-08 Giving* $2,625 million

Bill and Melinda Gates give through their massive Seattle-based family foundation, which says it is "committed to ensuring all people have the opportunity to lead healthy, productive lives." With an endowment of nearly $36 billion, the foundation works with partners to give people a chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty in developing countries and, in the U.S., to ensure that all people have the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. Its endowment is eventually expected to double, thanks to a long-term $31 billion gift from investor Warren Buffett, which pays out in installments. Recent initiatives include $100 million in micro medical-research grants; a $164 million grant to the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa; and $125 million to fight global tobacco use as part of a $500 million partnership with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

For more, visit the Gates Foundation.

3. George Kaiser

Oil and gas, banking, investments
2004-08 Giving* $2,377 million

Kaiser's focus remains on early intervention in the cycle of poverty. Giving through his Tulsa-based foundation provides services that include early childhood education, pre-natal health care, public health, in-home parenting, and secondary education, as well as more generalized safety net services that deal with the symptoms of poverty. More recent initiatives have focused on women's incarceration, secondary schools, and reserving land to create an arts and entertainment district in Tulsa. The biggest payout may be yet to come: Kaiser has said he plans to increase his gifts "until I die with one dollar left, assuming I can get the timing just right."

For more, visit the George Kaiser Family Foundation.

4. George Soros

Investor
2004-08 Giving* $2,214 million

Soros distributes $400 million or more each year through his charitable network, which aims to foster open and democratic societies around the world. This year Soros gave some $535 million to dozens of initiatives, including education in Liberia, microfinance in India, and mental health in Moldova. In 2005 he gave an extra $200 million for his Central European University, a graduate school he helped found in Budapest in 1991. An immigrant from Hungary who made his first billion dollars in England, Soros has given nearly $7 billion to support his network of foundations in more than 60 countries.

For more, visit the Open Society Institute.

5. William Barron Hilton

Heir and former CEO of Hilton Hotels
2004-08 Giving* $1,700 million

New to list Following in his father's footsteps, Hilton late last year announced his intention to leave 97% of his wealth to charity after his stakes in Hilton Hotels and Harrah's Entertainment were bought out by private equity groups for billions. Hilton's fortune will go to his family's foundation, the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, which works to alleviate the suffering of the world's most disadvantaged, with an emphasis on children and support for the work of Roman Catholic nuns. Grants go to causes such as stopping trachoma, the world's leading cause of preventable blindness in Africa; helping homeless families in the U.S.; and providing clean water in Mexico.

For more, visit the Hilton Foundation.

6. Walton Family

Family of Wal-Mart founder

2004-08 Giving* $1,380 million

The world's richest family is also one of the most united when it comes to philanthropy. The secretive Waltons commit the bulk of their gifts through the Walton Family Foundation, which supports a variety of charitable causes. Their areas of focus: K-12 education reform, quality-of-life initiatives in northwest Arkansas (home to Wal-Mart), economic development initiatives in the Mississippi Delta region of the U.S., and most recently, marine and fresh water fishing sustainability initiatives.

For more, visit the Walton Family Foundation.

7. Herbert & Marion Sandler

Golden West Financial co-founders
2004-08 Giving* $1,329 million

The Sandlers have given away more than $1 billion to the Sandler Foundation, which works to strengthen progressive causes, such as: exposing corruption and abuse of power; advocating for vulnerable and exploited people and environments; and advancing scientific research. Last year, for example, the foundation committed $10 million a year to launch and sustain ProPublica, an independent non-profit newsroom, under the leadership of former Wall Street Journal Managing Editor Paul Steiger, that produces investigative journalism in the public interest. The foundation also helped establish the liberal think-tank Center for American Progress with a $50 million gift in 2004.

For more, visit the Sandler Foundation.

8. Peter Peterson

Blackstone Group co-founder
2004-08 Giving* $1,168 million

New to list Using his proceeds from Blackstone Group's IPO, Peterson donated $1 billion to establish the Peter G. Peterson Foundation this year. The focus: to encourage greater fiscal responsibility in the U.S. The foundation has already purchased, promoted, and distributed the documentary I.O.U.S.A. to educate Americans about swelling national and personal debt. (The film is likened by many to Al Gore's documentary on global warming, An Inconvenient Truth.) The former Commerce Secretary's timing was uncanny as the financial crisis underscored his urgent message about excessive spending.

For more, visit the Peter G. Peterson Foundation.

9. Donald Bren

Real estate developer
2004-08 Giving* $908 million

Using property and wealth from his real estate business, Bren has given more than $1 billion, much of it to support education. Bren's commitment to schooling runs the gamut from students to principals to school districts to university scholars on his Irvine Ranch. This year Bren gave $8.5 million to THINK Together after-school programs, one of the largest private donations to after-school programs in California history. In 2007 gifts included $20 million for a new law school at University of California at Irvine and $3 million in annual grants, teacher recognition, and student scholarships. In 2006 he gave a $20 million gift to fund elementary fine arts, music, and science programs at schools in Irvine, Calif.

For more, visit the Donald Bren Foundation.

10. Michael Bloomberg

Bloomberg founder, NYC Mayor
2004-08 Giving* $903 million

This year, Bloomberg added a $250 million, four-year commitment to his Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use, which was established in 2005 and has received more than $375 million from the New York City mayor. The new money is in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Late last year, Bloomberg's Family Foundation gave $9 million to promote global road safety, among others on the mayor's long list of charitable causes each year. Dedicated to making strides in education, he has also committed $100 million to alma mater Johns Hopkins University and purchased a townhouse on the Upper East Side for his future foundation. Bloomberg gave $10 million to the World Trade Center Foundation. Since 1997, Bloomberg has pledged more than $1.5 billion to charities and initiatives.

For more, visit the Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Microsoft Corp Over Yahoo Inc.

2008-11-19T18:15:00.000-08:00

Microsoft Corp. is no longer interested in buying all of Yahoo Inc.

Microsoft Corp. is no longer interested in buying all of Yahoo Inc., CEO Steve Ballmer said Wednesday, though he told shareholders that the company would still be "very open" to a collaboration on Internet search. His comments sent Yahoo shares diving more than 20 percent.

Let me be clear," Ballmer said at Microsoft's annual shareholder meeting. "We are done with all acquisition discussions with Yahoo."

Yahoo spurned a $47.5 billion takeover offer from Microsoft in May, and later rejected Microsoft's bid to buy only its search engine. Ballmer has said repeatedly of late that the buyout remains off the table, though a search-related deal is possible.

But Wednesday marked the first time he had renewed that stance since the resignation announced this week by Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang, who had resisted Microsoft's overtures. Yahoo shares rose when Yang said he would step aside, because investors hoped it meant a deal with Microsoft would now be more likely.

Ballmer said the companies are not currently talking about a search deal.

Yahoo shares plummeted $2.41, or 20.9 percent, to close at $9.14, its lowest level since early 2003, on a split-adjusted basis, and well below the $33 per share Microsoft offered in May. Microsoft shares tumbled $1.33 cents, 6.8 percent, to end the session at $18.29, a 10-year low.

Michael McDonald, a shareholder who flew from Atlanta to attend the meeting, blames Microsoft's run at Yahoo for depressing its share price and hopes the software maker doesn't try again.

McDonald, a retired advertising executive, called the race to win in Web search and advertising "the dot-com bubble all over again. The economic period we're in now is going to prove the questionable value of search."

Instead, he'd rather see Microsoft cut employees and expenses, or spend cash to buy business software companies.

"We don't need three Googles," he said.

Some analysts have interpreted Ballmer's public comments about a Yahoo buyout as negotiating posturing, and suspect Microsoft might still want to grab Yahoo at a low price, in hopes of improving their joint position in online search and advertising. However, analysts have also said Microsoft is likely to wait until next year before deciding, giving it time to watch Yahoo's performance and study the antitrust regulatory climate in a new administration in Washington.

In his remarks, Ballmer attempted to reassure shareholders that Microsoft can thrive despite the economic downturn, citing the software maker's long-term research and development spending and new products that mix desktop software and over-the-Internet computing.

When a shareholder, alluding to Microsoft's languishing stock price, asked Ballmer when Microsoft's best years would arrive, the CEO countered that every year is Microsoft's best year.

Then he jokingly added, "If we could get this economic thing headed in the right direction ... I'm not going to pretend we have control over that. You'd better call D.C."

Yahoo Inc. Founder Jerry Yang

2008-11-17T21:44:00.000-08:00

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Yahoo Inc. founder Jerry Yang has never concealed how much he cares about his Internet company.

His emotional attachment is one of the reasons he balked at a $47.5 billion takeover offer from Microsoft Corp. six months ago. The same devotion finally led Yang to conclude he should step aside as chief executive, as the company seeks to bolster its depressed stock price and sagging earnings in an economic downturn that might prove even more wrenching than the dot-com bust of eight years ago.

Yang's surrendering of the CEO reins, announced Monday, won't occur until Yahoo finds a suitable replacement. The Sunnyvale-based company said it is interviewing candidates inside and outside Yahoo in a search led by its chairman, Roy Bostock, and the executive recruitment firm Heidrick & Struggles.

It didn't take long for analysts to conclude Yang's departure will clear the way for a major overhaul that could culminate in Yahoo's sale to Microsoft -- something Yang refused to do in May, to the great irritation of shareholders.

"We still believe Microsoft will eventually own Yahoo," UBS analyst Benjamin Schachter wrote in a research note late Monday. "Jerry moving out of the CEO role may accelerate this."

Microsoft declined to comment Monday.

Although Yang had publicly expressed his desire to remain at the helm, Yahoo's board faced intensifying pressure to cast him aside as the company's shares plunged to their lowest levels since early 2003. The stock fell 19 cents Monday to close at $10.63 -- a fraction of Microsoft's last bid of $33 per share in early May.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer huffily withdrew the offer after Yang sought $37 per share. The negotiating breakdown triggered a shareholder revolt led by billionaire investor Carl Icahn, who called for Yang's ouster in July.

Icahn reached a truce that put him and two allies on Yahoo's 11-member board, but he still has been lobbying for Yahoo to pursue a deal with Microsoft that would either involve selling the company in its entirety or just its search engine, which ranks a distant second to Google Inc. An Icahn spokeswoman said the financier had no comment Monday.

Monday's shake-up comes as no surprise, given the challenges facing Yahoo.

"The shareholders were ready to pick up pitchforks and torches," said technology analyst Rob Enderle. "If Jerry wasn't a founder, he already would have been gone" months ago.

Bostock made it sound as if the change in command had been in the works for some time. "Jerry and the board have had an ongoing dialogue about succession timing, and we all agree that now is the right time to make the transition to a new CEO who can take the company to the next level," he said.

Yang, who started working on Yahoo with Stanford University classmate David Filo in 1994, will revert to "Chief Yahoo," a titular role he filled before replacing former movie studio boss Terry Semel as CEO in June 2007. He will also remain on Yahoo's board of directors.

"All of you know that I have always, and will always bleed purple," Yang wrote Monday memo to employees, referring to the company's official color.

Sue Decker, Yahoo's president, is expected to be among the candidates to succeed Yang, although she has been an integral part of the management team that has exasperated the company's shareholders.

Dan Rosensweig, who resigned as Yahoo's chief operating officer, also could be lured back as CEO, or the board could turn to one of its own directors, such as former Viacom Inc. CEO Frank Biondi or former Nextel CEO John Chapple.

Investors appeared to be pleased with the decision to replace Yang, as Yahoo shares climbed more than 4 percent in Monday's extended trading.

Yang, 40, had been pursuing a strategy that he thought would prove Yahoo was worth more than Microsoft was willing to pay, but the rapidly deteriorating economy made a comeback seem increasingly unlikely.

After squandering the opportunity to sell to Microsoft, Yang tried to boost Yahoo's profit by forging an advertising partnership with Google.

But that backup plan fell through two weeks ago when Google walked away from the deal to avoid a court battle with the U.S. Justice Department, which had concluded the partnership would have throttled competition in the online advertising market.

Just a few hours after the Google partnership collapsed, Yang publicly said he thought Microsoft should hook up with Yahoo. But Ballmer threw cold water on the idea the next day by declaring he doubted a deal could be worked out.

Yang had also been exploring a possible acquisition of another fading Internet star, AOL, but most analysts panned the idea as a desperation move that threatened to hurt Yahoo more than it would help.

Although Yang's tenure as CEO is unlikely to be remembered fondly by shareholders, his legacy as an Internet visionary remains secure.

Yahoo's remarkable rise began in 1994 when Yang and Filo began compiling a directory of their favorite Web links while working on their engineering doctorates in a trailer at Stanford University. They initially called their site "Jerry and David's Guide to the World Wide Web," only to later decide to switch to an acronym for "Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle."

Yang and Filo became two of the Internet's first billionaires not long after Yahoo went public in 1996 with fewer than 50 employees on the payroll. At the height of the dot-com boom, Yahoo's market value stood at $130 billion. It was less than $15 billion Monday.

Citigroup to Cut Another 53,000 Jobs

2008-11-17T07:18:00.000-08:00

NEW YORK – Citigroup Inc. is cutting approximately 53,000 more jobs in the coming quarters as the banking giant struggles to steady itself after suffering massive losses from deteriorating debt.

The plans, posted on the company's Web site, are being discussed by CEO Vikram Pandit at the company's town hall meeting in New York Monday with employees.

The company said total headcount is being reduced by 20 percent from its peak of 375,000 at the end of 2007; the company had already announced in October that it was eliminating about 22,000 jobs from those levels. The total workforce reductions include thousands of jobs that will be lost when Citigroup completes the sale of Citi Global Services and its German retail banking business.

The New York-based bank has posted four straight quarterly losses, including a loss of $2.8 billion during the third quarter. The company said that in addition to job cuts, it plans to lower expenses by about 20 percent, and that is has reduced its assets by more than 20 percent since the first quarter of the year.

Citi shares fell 42 cents, or 4.4 percent, to $9.10 in morning trading. The company's shares have been trading at 13-year lows.

Shortly before the town hall meeting in New York, Citigroup Chairman Win Bischoff said at a business forum in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, that it would be irresponsible for Citi and other companies not to look at staffing in the event of a prolonged economic downturn.

"What all of us have done — and perhaps injudiciously — we've added a lot of people over ... this very benign period," Bischoff said.

"If there is a reversion to the mean ... those job losses will obviously fall particularly heavily on the financial sector," he added. "Certainly they will fall particularly heavily on London and New York."

A Citigroup spokesman said that while certain regions and businesses might have higher concentrations of job cuts, they would generally be across the entire company and around the world.

In his comments to the Associated Press, Bischoff did not rule out the likelihood that Citi's leaders would go without bonuses this year — a move that would effectively amount to a substantial pay cut for the company's executives.

"Watch this space," he said when asked about lost bonuses.

On Sunday, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said seven top executives, including Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein, opted out of receiving cash or stock bonuses for 2008 amid the ongoing credit crisis.

Sources: Yahoo News

Say Godbye To BlackBerry? If Obama Has To. Yes He Can

2008-11-16T17:21:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON — Sorry, Mr. President. Please surrender your BlackBerry.

Those are seven words President-elect Barack Obama is dreading but expecting to hear, friends and advisers say, when he takes office in 65 days.

For years, like legions of other professionals, Mr. Obama has been all but addicted to his BlackBerry. The device has rarely been far from his side — on most days, it was fastened to his belt — to provide a singular conduit to the outside world as the bubble around him grew tighter and tighter throughout his campaign.

“How about that?” Mr. Obama replied to a friend’s congratulatory e-mail message on the night of his victory.

But before he arrives at the White House, he will probably be forced to sign off. In addition to concerns about e-mail security, he faces the Presidential Records Act, which puts his correspondence in the official record and ultimately up for public review, and the threat of subpoenas. A decision has not been made on whether he could become the first e-mailing president, but aides said that seemed doubtful.

For all the perquisites and power afforded the president, the chief executive of the United States is essentially deprived by law and by culture of some of the very tools that other chief executives depend on to survive and to thrive. Mr. Obama, however, seems intent on pulling the office at least partly into the 21st century on that score; aides said he hopes to have a laptop computer on his desk in the Oval Office, making him the first American president to do so.

Mr. Obama has not sent a farewell dispatch from the personal e-mail account he uses — he has not changed his address in years — but friends say the frequency of correspondence has diminished. In recent days, though, he has been seen typing his thoughts on transition matters and other items on his BlackBerry, bypassing, at least temporarily, the bureaucracy that is quickly encircling him.

A year ago, when many Democratic contributors and other observers were worried about his prospects against Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, they reached out to him directly. Mr. Obama had changed his cellphone number, so e-mail remained the most reliable way of communicating directly with him.

“His BlackBerry was constantly crackling with e-mails,” said David Axelrod, the campaign’s chief strategist. “People were generous with their advice — much of it conflicting.”

Mr. Obama is the second president to grapple with the idea of this self-imposed isolation. Three days before his first inauguration, George W. Bush sent a message to 42 friends and relatives that explained his predicament.

“Since I do not want my private conversations looked at by those out to embarrass, the only course of action is not to correspond in cyberspace,” Mr. Bush wrote from his old address, G94B@aol.com. “This saddens me. I have enjoyed conversing with each of you.”

But in the interceding eight years, as BlackBerrys have become ubiquitous — and often less intrusive than a telephone, the volume of e-mail has multiplied and the role of technology has matured. Mr. Obama used e-mail to stay in constant touch with friends from the lonely confines of the road, often sending messages like “Sox!” when the Chicago White Sox won a game. He also relied on e-mail to keep abreast of the rapid whirl of events on a given campaign day.

Mr. Obama’s memorandums and briefing books were seldom printed out and delivered to his house or hotel room, aides said. They were simply sent to his BlackBerry for his review. If a document was too long, he would read and respond from his laptop computer, often putting his editing changes in red type.

His messages to advisers and friends, they say, are generally crisp, properly spelled and free of symbols or emoticons. The time stamps provided a window into how much he was sleeping on a given night, with messages often being sent to staff members at 1 a.m. or as late as 3 a.m. if he was working on an important speech.

He received a scaled-down list of news clippings, with his advisers wanting to keep him from reading blogs and news updates all day long, yet aides said he still seemed to hear about nearly everything in real time. A network of friends — some from college, others from Chicago and various chapters in his life — promised to keep him plugged in.

Not having such a ready line to that network, staff members who spent countless hours with him say, is likely to be a challenge.

“Given how important it is for him to get unfiltered information from as many sources as possible, I can imagine he will miss that freedom,” said Linda Douglass, a senior adviser who traveled with the campaign.

Mr. Obama has, for at least brief moments, been forced offline. As he sat down with a small circle of advisers to prepare for debates with Senator John McCain, one rule was quickly established: No BlackBerrys. Mr. Axelrod ordered everyone to put their devices in the center of a table during work sessions. Mr. Obama, who was known to sneak a peek at his, was no exception.

In the closing stages of the campaign, as exhaustion set in and the workload increased, aides said Mr. Obama spent more time reading than responding to messages. As his team prepares a final judgment on whether he can keep using e-mail, perhaps even in a read-only fashion, several authorities in presidential communication said they believed it was highly unlikely that he would be able to do so.

Diana Owen, who leads the American Studies program at Georgetown University, said presidents were not advised to use e-mail because of security risks and fear that messages could be intercepted.

“They could come up with some bulletproof way of protecting his e-mail and digital correspondence, but anything can be hacked,” said Ms. Owen, who has studied how presidents communicate in the Internet era. “The nature of the president’s job is that others can use e-mail for him.”

She added: “It’s a time burner. It might be easier for him to say, ‘I can’t be on e-mail.’ ”

Should Mr. Obama want to break ground and become the first president to fire off e-mail messages from the West Wing and wherever he travels, he could turn to Al Gore as a model. In the later years of his vice presidency, Democrats said, Mr. Gore used a government e-mail address and a campaign address in his race against Mr. Bush.

The president, though, faces far greater public scrutiny. And even if he does not wear a BlackBerry on his belt or carry a cellphone in his pocket, he almost certainly will not lack from a variety of new communication.

On Saturday, as Mr. Obama broadcast the weekly Democratic radio address, it came with a twist. For the first time, it was also videotaped and will be archived on YouTube.

Sources: NYTimes.com

IT Spending to Slow in 2009: IDC

2008-11-13T00:19:00.000-08:00

Worldwide spending on information technology (IT) is expected to slow significantly next year because of the financial crisis, according to a report published on Wednesday.

Market intelligence firm IDC said worldwide IT spending will grow just 2.6 percent in 2009 compared with the previous year, down from the IDC's pre-crisis forecast of 5.9 percent growth.

The Framingham, Massachusetts-based company said IT spending in the United States is expected to grow by just 0.9 percent in 2009, much lower than the 4.2 percent growth forecast in August.

It said IT spending growth in Japan and Western Europe was also expected to hover around one percent in 2009.

"The emerging economies of Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Latin America will continue to experience healthy growth, but at levels notably lower than the double-digit gains previously forecast," the IDC said.

"Although all the economic forecasts went from up slightly to down drastically in a matter of days, the good news is that IT is in a better position than ever to resist the downward pull of a slowing economy," John Gantz, chief research officer at IDC, said in a statement.

"Technology is already deeply embedded in many mission-critical operations and remains critical to achieving further efficiency and productivity gains," he said. "As a result, IDC expects worldwide IT spending will continue to grow in 2009, albeit at a slower pace."

The IDC said that on a sector basis, computer software and services were expected to enjoy solid growth next year while hardware spending, with the exception of storage, is expected to decline in 2009.

The IDC said it expects IT spending to return to growth rates approaching 6.0 percent in 2012 but estimates more than 300 billion dollars in industry revenues will have been lost due to slower spending over the next four years.

The firm said it had also developed a "downside scenario" in the event the impact of the financial crisis is more pronounced.

"In this scenario, IDC lowered the forecast for worldwide GDP growth in 2009 to 0.3 percent, which is 1.5 percent lower than the current forecast and worse than any year since World War II," it said.

"This produced a forecast of 0.1 percent growth in worldwide IT spending in 2009 with negative growth in the United States, Western Europe, and Japan."

Running Your Business While Traveling

2008-11-12T21:56:00.000-08:00

Anytime that you operate or own a business, you should take the time to become familiar with business networking, and just what it can do for your business. In it’s simplest form,business networking is used to spread the word about your business, if people don’t know that your business exists, how do you expect them to come to you for the goods or services that you are offering?

Another important part of business networking is meeting other people in the business world, people who would be willing to help you spread the word about your business,and maybe even give you valuable tips that might help you in your future business endeavors, particularly if this is your first solo venture. You want to make as many friends and business acquaintances as possible, and let them know about your business, your products and services that you provide, and do it in a way that will interest them, so that they will be more likely to mention your business to their friends and acquaintances as well; there is no better way to get free advertising for your business.

Many business owners find that they have to spend a lot of time traveling for their business, meeting new clients and obtaining new contracts, obtaining supplies and goods needed for their business, etc. They may also spend time traveling just because they can, just because you have a business to run doesn’t mean that you have to be tied down. While you are traveling, take the time to meet and talk to people. Talk to people in the airport while you are waiting in line, talk to people you meet on the plane, and make sure that you casually mention your business somewhere in the conversation. The more people you manage to meet and talk to, the better odds you have of gaining a potential contact or customer for your business.

Some people find it extremely difficult to just strike up a conversation with someone they don’t know, which is understandable. When you are talking to people that you don’t know, just remember, you have nothing to lose. They will either think that you are strange and move away, or they will be glad for the friendly conversation and be happy to join in to pass the time, you never know until you actually try. When talking to someone you don’t know, remember to be polite, greet them by saying hello, and ask them how they are doing. People will be more willing to talk to you if you ask them general questions and they can simply respond. Soon, they will open up and start asking you questions in return, and before you know it, you have a full-fledged conversation going. You want to ask open-ended questions, to get the other person involved in the conversation as much as possible. You might ask them where they are traveling to, and whether they are just traveling for fun or for business purposes, which will give you a good lead-in to throw in some chat about your own business, and go into more detail about what your company does.

The more people you take the time to talk to and meet, the more you expand your business network. Don’t limit yourself by not talking to new people, as you may truly be missing out on some great business contacts and customers. How you do know that the person standing in front of you in line doesn’t have a need that might be met by one of the products or services offered by your business?

You have to learn to talk to new people, and get over that shyness or embarrassment, if you want to truly build your business networking contacts. Make the most of your traveling time, and use it to potentially build and expand your business network. You should strive to strike up a conversation with at least one new person everyday, and as you become more comfortable, raise the goal to two or three new people. If you
consistently practice your people and conversational skills, you will find that your
business will be the better for it, and for the new contacts you meet along the way.

So, the next time you are traveling, don’t forget to take the time to meet and talk to new people, you never know where the relationship may go!

Wired.com Trims Editorial Staff by 10 percent

2008-11-12T17:34:00.000-08:00

Wired.com, the Internet arm of stalwart tech pub Wired magazine, has cut its staff by 10 percent and an unknown number of employees outside of editorial also were laid off, according to sources close to the company.

Out of 28 editorial positions, 3 employees were laid off, according to the sources. In an interview with CNET News, Evan Hansen, Wired.com's editor in chief, said the company downsized to prepare for the economic downturn.

"Revenues are expected to be up year over year but not as much as we expected," Hansen said. "We're concerned about 2009 because visibility is murky. We're taking steps to make sure we're in good position."

Hansen declined to discuss who was let go, but sources familiar with the situation said none of the publication's staff writers was cut. This is only the latest reduction of editorial staffing for Wired.com's publisher, Conde Nast.

Last month, The New York Times reported that Conde Nast was preparing to reduce company-wide budgets by 5 percent. The plan called for reducing the number of issues for magazines such as Portfolio and Men's Vogue and folding some of Portfolio's divisions into Wired magazine. The Times story said that most of the job cuts would come at Portfolio and Men's Vogue.

Sources: Greg Sandoval

The First Pup?

2008-11-11T17:16:00.000-08:00

Presidential Pooch Watch

Ever since president-elect Obama mentioned that his kids are getting a puppy, dog lovers around the world have been panting with anticipation to learn what kind of dog will become first pup.

Obama, who described the decision as a "major issue," is on the hunt for an allergy-free dog, since daughter Malia is allergic. Seeing that Obama is the first "global president," it's not surprising that the Fido frenzy has gone international.

Peru has suggested its native Peruvian hairless dog, a bald, toothless breed, which actually looks cuter than it sounds. The country even has a specific dog in mind. Nicknamed "Ears," the four-month-old has been offered formally to the future first family in a letter sent to the U.S. Embassy. If the Obama girls reject the Peruvian pup, we hope it won't create an international incident.

But if the Obamas want to go American, there are plenty of allergy-free dogs to choose from. In fact, Yahoo! searches on "list of hypoallergenic dogs" surged over 3,000% as the curious researched on their own. Lookups on "goldendoodle," another low-allergy breed, increased 200%, as well as searches on "obama goldendoodle" and "goldendoodle rescue." As Obama mentioned himself, the family's preference is to adopt a dog from a shelter. A shelter dog would likely be, as he joked, "a mutt, like me."

It may be the first difficult choice of his presidency. But at least this decision will come with unconditional love.

Obama Becomes First Black President in Landslide

2008-11-04T21:03:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON – Barack Obama swept to victory as the nation's first black president Tuesday night in an electoral college landslide that overcame racial barriers as old as America itself.

The son of a black father from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas, the Democratic senator from Illinois sealed his historic triumph by defeating Republican Sen. John McCain in a string of wins in hard-fought battleground states — Ohio, Florida, Virginia and Iowa.

A huge crowd in Grant Park in Obama's home town of Chicago erupted in jubilation at the news of his victory. Some wept.

McCain called his former rival to concede defeat — and the end of his own 10-year quest for the White House. "The American people have spoken, and spoken clearly," McCain told disappointed supporters in Arizona.

Obama and his running mate, Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware, will take their oaths of office as president and vice president on Jan. 20, 2009.

As the 44th president, Obama will move into the Oval Office as leader of a country that is almost certainly in recession, and fighting two long wars, one in Iraq, the other in Afghanistan.

The popular vote was close, but not the count in the Electoral College, where it mattered most.

There, Obama's audacious decision to contest McCain in states that hadn't gone Democratic in years paid rich dividends.

Obama has said his first order of presidential business will be to tackle the economy. He has also pledged to withdraw most U.S. combat troops from Iraq within 16 months.

Fellow Democrats rode his coattails to larger majorities in both houses of Congress. They defeated incumbent Republicans and won open seats by turn.

The 47-year-old Illinois senator was little known just four years ago. A widely praised speech at the Democratic National Convention, delivered when he was merely a candidate for the Senate, changed that.

Overnight he became a sought-after surrogate campaigner, and he had scarcely settled into his Senate seat when he began preparing for his run for the White House.

A survey of voters leaving polling places on Tuesday showed the economy was by far the top Election Day issue. Six in 10 voters said so, and none of the other top issues — energy, Iraq, terrorism and health care — was picked by more than one in 10.

"May God bless whoever wins tonight," President Bush told dinner guests at the White House, where his tenure runs out on Jan. 20.

The Democratic leaders of Congress celebrated in Washington.

"It is not a mandate for a party or ideology but a mandate for change," said Senate Majority leader Harry Reid of Nevada.

Said Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California: "Tonight the American people have called for a new direction. They have called for change in America."

Shortly after 11 p.m. in the East, The Associated Press count showed Obama with 338 electoral votes, well over the 270 needed for victory. McCain had 127 after winning states that comprised the normal Republican base.

The nationwide popular vote was remarkably close. Totals from 58 percent of the nation's precincts showed Obama with 51 percent and McCain with 47.9.

Interviews with voters suggested that almost six in 10 women were backing Obama nationwide, while men leaned his way by a narrow margin. Just over half of whites supported McCain, giving him a slim advantage in a group that Bush carried overwhelmingly in 2004.

The results of the AP survey were based on a preliminary partial sample of nearly 10,000 voters in Election Day polls and in telephone interviews over the past week for early voters.

Democrats also acclaimed Senate successes by former Gov. Mark Warner in Virginia, Rep. Tom Udall in New Mexico and Rep. Mark Udall in Colorado. All won seats left open by Republican retirements.

In New Hampshire, former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen defeated Republican Sen. John Sununu in a rematch of their 2002 race, and Sen. Elizabeth Dole fell to Democrat Kay Hagan in North Carolina.

Democrats also looked for gains in the House. They defeated Republican incumbents Rep. Tom Feeney and Ric Keller in Florida, 22-year veteran Chris Shays in Connecticut and Rep. Robin Hayes in North Carolina.

At least two Democrats lost their seats. Rep. Kevin Mahoney fell after admitting to two extramarital affairs while serving his first term in Florida. In Louisiana, Democratic Rep. Don Cazayoux lost the seat he had won in a special election six months ago.

The resurgent Democrats also elected a governor in one of the nation's traditional bellwether states when Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon won his race.

The White House was the main prize of the night on which 35 Senate seats and all 435 House seats were at stake. A dozen states elected governors, and ballots across the country were dotted with issues ranging from taxes to gay rights.

An estimated 187 million voters were registered, and in an indication of interest in the battle for the White House, 40 million or so had already voted as Election Day dawned.

Obama sought election as one of the youngest presidents, and one of the least experienced in national political affairs.

That wasn't what set the Illinois senator apart, though — neither from his rivals nor from the other men who had served as president since the nation's founding more than two centuries ago. A black man, he confronted a previously unbreakable barrier as he campaigned on twin themes of change and hope in uncertain times.

McCain, a prisoner of war during Vietnam, a generation older than his rival at 72, was making his second try for the White House, following his defeat in the battle for the GOP nomination in 2000.

A conservative, he stressed his maverick's streak. And although a Republican, he did what he could to separate himself from an unpopular president.

For the most part, the two presidential candidates and their running mates, Biden and Republican Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, spent weeks campaigning in states that went for Bush four years ago.

McCain and Obama each won contested nominations — the Democrat outdistancing former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton — and promptly set out to claim the mantle of change.

Obama won Colorado, Nevada, California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, Florida, Virginia, New Mexico, Iowa, Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, New York, Rhode Island, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland and New Jersey, as well as the District of Columbia.

McCain had Nebraska, Idaho, Mississippi, Texas, West Virginia, Utah, Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Wyoming, Alabama, South Carolina, Louisiana, South Dakota and North Dakota.

Key win for Obama

2008-11-04T19:03:00.000-08:00

The state's hard-hit economy has been the focus of both candidates during the campaign.

Obama wins the battleground state of Ohio and its 20 electoral votes (AP). Heading into the election, Obama led McCain by 7 points. Ohio was considered a must-win state for McCain. However, the Obama campaign flooded the state with volunteers in March, specifically rural and suburban regions. Obama had 82 offices in Ohio, more than double the number McCain had. Ohio has voted for the winning presidential candidate in every election since 1964. According to NBC, Obama has a considerable lead in electoral votes: 200 to McCain's 90.

McCain has won North Dakota and Louisiana, totaling 12 more electoral votes (AP). ABC and CBS project McCain will win the big state of Texas and its 34 electoral votes.

NBC and Fox are also projecting Obama will win New Mexico's 5 electoral votes. Historically, the state has had close races: In 2004, George Bush beat John Kerry by fewer than 6,000 votes. In 2000, Al Gore squeaked by George W. Bush with less than 400 votes. Gov. Bill Richardson was a rumored vice-presidential candidate earlier this year and is expected to be a front-runner for a Cabinet position, should Obama win the election.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_pl130

Asian Stock Markets Mixed ahead of US Election

2008-11-03T23:37:00.000-08:00

HONG KONG (AP) -- Asian stock markets were mixed in cautious trade Tuesday after Wall Street's relatively flat finish ahead of the U.S. presidential election. Japan's market jumped after being closed for a holiday.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was down 0.2 percent after fluctuating through the day and South Korea's Kospi rose 2.2 percent, while benchmarks in Singapore and Shanghai gave up early gains to be down more than 0.5 percent.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index pared earlier losses to close slightly down after the country's central bank surprised the market by slashing interest rates by 0.75 of a percentage point -- a quarter point more than most analysts expected -- amid growing signs of a slowdown there.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 stock average was up 537.62 points, or 6.3 percent, at 9,114.60 as major auto companies like Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. gained despite bleak U.S. sales data released overnight. The market was playing catch up after being closed Monday, when most Asian bourses gained.

Weekend reports Panasonic Corp. may acquire rival Sanyo Electric Co. sent share prices of the Japanese electronics makers soaring. Sanyo's stock was untraded because of a rush of buy orders, and was at a bid-only 195 yen ($1.96) in morning trading, up more than 34 percent from 145 yen ($1.46) Friday. Panasonic shares jumped 6.8 percent to 1,614 yen (about $16).

The deal, if realized, would provide cash for Goldman Sachs Group Inc. of the U.S., which along with Japanese banks Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. and Daiwa Securities SMBC invested 300 billion yen ($3 billion) in Sanyo in 2006.

Elsewhere, trade was tepid as many investors showed a reluctance to place large bets before U.S. election results come out Wednesday morning in Asia.

Wall Street's mixed session, along with a weak reading on America's manufacturing sector overnight, prompted others to take some money off the able after Asian bourses posted strong gains in the past week.

"There isn't any major driver that should lift demand right now, and there's some precautionary profit taking," said Thomas Lam, the senior treasury economist at the United Overseas Bank in Singapore.

In New York overnight, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 5.18, or 0.06 percent, to 9,319.83 in its calmest session in some time, after rising as much as 86 and falling 70. The day's trading range was its lowest since Sept. 3.

Broader stock indicators were mixed. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 2.45, or 0.25 percent, to 966.30, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 5.38, or 0.31 percent, to 1,726.33.

U.S. stock index futures were down a touch. Dow futures were down 5 points at 9,327, while S& futures were down 2.2 peoints at 967.3.

In Australia, financial issues improved after the Reserve Bank of Australia slashed rates for the third time in as many months, taking the cash rate to 5.25 percent.

"International economic data have continued to point to significant weakness in the major industrial economies, and there have been further signs that China and other parts of the developing world are slowing as well," bank Gov. Glenn Stevens said in a statement.

Bank shares also rose in Hong Kong as lending conditions eased further. Hong Kong's interbank lending rate, known as Hibor, for three-month loans fell to 2.79 from 3.08, and the territory's central bank injected $853 million Hong Kong dollars into the market Monday night.

In mainland China, the key Shanghai Composite Index fell through the psychologically important 1,700 level before rising again.

Oil prices were slightly lower, with light, sweet crude for December delivery down 8 cents to $63.83 in Asian trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract dropped $3.87 to settle at $63.91 overnight.

In currencies, the greenback weakened to 98.91 yen from 99.03 late the previous day in New York. The euro was at $1.2610 from $1.2603.

Murdoch: Emerging China and India Will Help Reshape the World in the Next Few Decades

2008-11-02T18:15:00.000-08:00

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch says the ongoing metamorphosis of China and India from historic backwaters into economic powers will help reshape the world in the next few decades.

The News Corp. chief gave an upbeat assessment of the future and made a vigorous case for free markets despite troubled economic times and what he called "naked, heartless aggression" in the world.

In the first of a series of speeches in his birth country of Australia, Murdoch spoke Sunday of "the great transformation we've seen in the past few decades, the unleashing of human talent and ability across our world, and the golden age for humankind that I see just around the corner."

He said China and India are great countries whose people are only recently emerging from long histories of being "incarcerated by communism or caste." The rise of their economies is creating a new middle class that would be three billion strong within 30 years and that is setting a new benchmark for global competitiveness.

"The world has never seen this kind of advance before," Murdoch said. "These are people who have known deprivation. These are people who are intent on developing their skills, improving their lives and showing the world what they can do."

Murdoch, whose New York-based conglomerate includes Twentieth Century Fox, Fox News Channel, Dow Jones & Co. as well as newspaper stables in Australia and Britain and the online networking site MySpace, described the global financial crisis as one of many challenges facing Australia.

He urged Australia to embrace internationalism and touched on a range of global issues, from international security to the commercial opportunities offered by the world's need for cleaner energy.

Murdoch's remarks came in the first of six lectures to be sent out on radio nationally by the Australian Broadcasting Corp. -- this year's edition of an annual series of talks by prominent Australians.

Murdoch said that in another speech he would give his opinions on the future of newspapers, which are suffering a severe downturn, especially in the United States, as advertising revenue is lost to the Internet.

He made a strong pitch for freer trade between countries, taking agriculture as an example and saying that reducing artificial barriers is a moral and strategic issue.

"So we must continue to leverage our connections and continue to push when others have left the conference table," he said. "The global trade dialogue should echo with Australian accents."

Touching on security, he chided Europe for appearing to have "lost the will to confront aggression" and said NATO should be reformed into a group based on common values, not geography, and include countries like Australia as members.

"In this promising new century, we are still seeing naked, heartless aggression -- whether it comes from a terrorist bombing in Islamabad or a Russian invasion of Georgia," Murdoch said.

"We can lament these developments, but we cannot hide from them," he said, noting Australia's contribution of troops to Afghanistan and Iraq.

In an interview published in The Weekend Australian on Saturday, Murdoch said governments have only limited power to fix the financial crisis, though they could make it worse.

Murdoch warned that a rise in protectionism in the United States "could add to all sorts of tensions in the world financial system and the world trading system and eventually all the way down to employment."

Read also in http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/081102/as_australia_murdoch.html

American Express to Cut 7,000 Jobs

2008-10-30T17:51:00.000-07:00

NEW YORK – In a stark acknowledgment of the tough times ahead in the credit card industry, American Express Co. said Thursday that it plans to cut 7,000 jobs, or about 10 percent of its worldwide work force, in an effort to slash costs by $1.8 billion in 2009.

The New York-based credit card issuer — which has reported four straight quarters of profit declines as an increasing number of consumers struggle to pay off debt — said it is also suspending management-level salary increases next year and instituting a hiring freeze.

The job cuts will be across various business units, but will primarily focus on management positions, the company said.

Additionally, American Express said it plans to scale back investments in technology and marketing and business development, and streamline costs associated with some rewards programs. The company also expects to cut expenses for consulting and other professional services, travel and entertainment and general overhead.

As a result, American Express plans to take a restructuring charge of between $240 million and $290 million in the fourth quarter.

The company has been gearing up for a big restructuring for some time, first announcing in July that it planned to reduce overall costs and staffing levels, and take a related charge during the second half of the year.

"We've been engaged for the past few months in an intensive, companywide review of priorities and staffing levels," said Kenneth I. Chenault, chairman and chief executive, in a statement. "The re-engineering program we announced today will help us to manage through one of the most challenging economic environments we've seen in many decades. It will also put us in position to ramp up investment spending as economic conditions improve so that we can take advantage of the substantial opportunities that will be available to us over the medium to long term."

Last week, American Express reported a 24 percent decline in third-quarter profit. The report echoed recent results from JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc. and Capital One Financial Corp. showing that the credit card environment is worsening as cardholders have trouble paying off debt and pull back their spending.

Even a company like American Express, which prides itself on catering to a more well-heeled clientele, is not immune.

The company's customers tend to be more affluent than those of other card companies, but they are more heavily concentrated in California and Florida, where the slumping housing market is taking a toll. American Express also has a higher percentage of small-business customers, and small businesses tend to miss payments more than individuals, executives have said.

"Cardmember spending is likely to remain soft," Chenault said in a statement last week. "Loan growth will be restrained, in part because of the steps we are taking to reduce credit risks, and credit indicators are likely to reflect the continued downturn in the economy and throughout the housing sector."

American Express has been able to finance its operations amid the tight credit markets, but the efforts have been tougher and more costly.

Shares rose 85 cents, or 3.4 percent, to close at $26.06. Shares have traded between $20.50 and $61.55 in the past 12 months.

http://news.yahoo.com/i/749;_ylt=AtFsdMqb8SDkvj9XVIl6DBas0NUE

Internet Advertising Methods: Expensive vs Cheap

2008-10-29T18:53:00.000-07:00

All About Internet Advertising Methods

People opt for internet advertising methods because practically half of the world's population knows HTML. If you have your own business, you have to decide on what internet advertising method works for you. Ask yourself what are you going to avail of: the expensive internet advertising methods or the cheap ones? Others will pipe in "expensive!" immediately, but they don't know cheap internet advertising method attracts great benefits as well.

Here's the lowdown and a comparative look on the cheap and expensive internet advertising methods:

The Expensive:

1. Pop-ups.

Not only is this expensive, but also outright annoying that visitors close pop-up windows without even bothering to know what they're all about. This is an internet advertising method that you can do without.

Fly ads are derivatives of pop-ups which are also equally irking to the visitors.

2. Pod casts.

Broadcast is to TV as pod cast is to internet. It's one sophisticated internet advertising method that can somehow hamper your budget. But if you're thinking results, pod casting is worth the money.

3. Paying the search engines.

How does this one work? When someone types in a keyword related to your site, your URL is automatically included in the first page of the top results. Fixed payment for the search engine allows just that. Expensive, yes, but if we're talking about Google and Yahoo search engines here, then don't give it a second thought.

This is associated with another internet advertising method: the pay-per-click system.

The Cheap:

1. Blogging.

Go along the bandwagon and blog about your website. This is an internet advertising method that is popular as of the moment, so you never have to worry that this will never spur outcome. All you have to do is sign up for a blogging account, post and voila! You don't even need to pay!

2. Submit to not-so-big search engines.

This is cheap and dependable. If you submit your site to smaller search engines, you have bigger chances to get bigger results. Remember that the search engine giants can dwarf and overlook your site easily, so this internet advertising method might just be the right one for you.

3. Text links.

This is not just cheap...this is virtually free! Let someone text link your site and return the favor.

Cheap versus expensive, that's always the question that hounds on whenever we're trying to get something. In the field of internet advertising, just be wise enough to figure out what will suit your needs. Go for what you want as long as there are visible results.

http://advertising-and-promotion.bestmanagementarticles.com

Obama's Final TV Blitz To Focus on Economy

2008-10-29T01:25:00.000-07:00

NORFOLK, Virginia (Reuters) – Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama launches an unprecedented television blitz on Wednesday to push his economic message on U.S. networks ranging from CBS and NBC to Comedy Central.

Obama's television broadside may also force a 15-minute delay in the Fox network's broadcast of the fifth game of the World Series -- the fiercely-followed championship of Major League Baseball -- coincidentally between teams from Pennsylvania and Florida, both major battlegrounds in the November 4 election.

His Republican rival John McCain plans to appear on CNN's "Larry King Live," hoping to woo viewers with his own vision of the country's future.

Campaign officials said Obama would use the 30 minutes of prime-time air time his campaign has purchased on several networks to focus on his message on the economy, which has taken center stage in his campaign.

"We want to make sure every voter heading into the voting booth knows exactly what Barack Obama would do to bring about fundamental change as president," campaign spokesman Bill Burton said.

A campaign official said the ad would include a video montage, footage of ordinary Americans telling their stories and some live portions of Obama, who is scheduled to be at a rally in Florida that evening.

Obama, already blanketing the airwaves with political advertisements in many battleground states, has purchased the 1/2-hour slot on CBS, NBC and Fox.

The ad, which airs at 8 p.m. EDT, coincides with the anniversary of the October 29, 1929, "Black Tuesday" stock market crash that ushered in the Great Depression.

The cost has been estimated at close to $1 million for each major network slot and reflects the huge cash advantage the Democratic candidate has over McCain.

FIRST SINCE PEROT

The "infomercial" is a throwback to a political advertising strategy common in the 1950s and 1960s. And it marks the first such paid national political telecast since Ross Perot ran a series during his independent bid for president in 1992.

Perot's paid programs, remembered for his use of charts and graphs, drew an average audience of 11.6 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Obama, who has shattered all fundraising records, hauled in $150 million for his campaign in September alone. Unlike McCain, Obama chose not to accept public funding for his White House race, freeing him to raise millions privately.

In addition to the major broadcast networks, Wednesday's ad will also air on Spanish-language network Univision, and cable channels including Black Entertainment Television and TV One.

Obama will also appear on the Comedy Central network's popular "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" on Wednesday, reaching out to younger voters for whom the topical humor show has become a major source of news and ironic commentary.

Rounding out his media campaign, the Democratic candidate is also likely to get coverage for an evening rally in Orlando, Florida, with former President Bill Clinton, the first time the two will campaign together.

The appearances are due to continue. Both NBC and ABC news announced plans to interview the Democratic candidate in coming days.

Obama leads McCain in national polls and in many of the battleground states -- those not considered safely Democratic or Republican -- that will determine the election.

Voters have given Obama higher marks than McCain for his handling of the economy, although the Arizona Republican senator lately has been hammering the Illinois senator over taxes, saying his plan to boost taxes on higher-income Americans would hurt small businesses.

Read on: http://news.yahoo.com/elections

How To Monetize Your Traffic So You Get The Most Out Of It

2008-10-29T00:36:00.000-07:00

Establishing your own E-commerce site is not like what it used to be. There are thousands of competition that is all too willing to get a bigger share of the pie. Every scheme and method you can find to augment your sales would be very beneficial.

We have got to admit to ourselves. Most of us are into it for the money. We are not going to waste our time and effort just for the fun of it. Many sites would not wait until hell freezes over just to see their profits. While there are some who takes things lightly there are always those who would rather see profit any given day.

It is common knowledge that without traffic we have no business. Like any business, without any customers you don’t get sales. Traffic represents all the people that gets a chance to see what you have to offer. The more people who see your products the more people there would be to buy them.

Nobody puts up an E-commerce site that doesn’t expect profit. We have a startup capital that needs to be regained. With a consistent traffic, we at least have a fighting chance to achieve that probability. Monetizing your traffic would optimize your chances of making the best out of it.

Making Money out of your Traffic

The best and most proven method of making a profit out of your traffic is using advertising. The internet generates hundreds of thousands upon hundred of thousands of traffic everyday. Most of them are searching for something. While some are just looking for information there is also a good percentage that is looking for something that they need.

The internet has proven to be a very reliable source in finding what was deemed to be a very unsearchable product. The internet has made the world a smaller place; you can advertise a product from the depths of Istanbul and still find a buyer from the center of Philadelphia.

Generating traffic is not an easy task. You have to contend with a great number of sites to generate a good number of traffic flow. But if done successfully this could open up a Pandora’s Box of possibilities. One of the benefits is monetizing your traffic flow.

So, to get to the core of it the more traffic you generate the more likely you are considered as a desirable, desirable, in a sense that a good traffic flowing site is easily convertible to profit. Basically traffic equals profit. Advertising is the name of the game; with the good advertising scheme you can use your traffic flow to your advantage.

When you have good traffic you have a good number of potential customers, customers that are willing to pour money into your coffers. Other than that these are also traffic that can be redirected to sponsored links that are willing to pay you for a sizeable portion of the traffic that you have generated.

This scheme is called “pay-per-click”. With every click a visitor of your site makes on an advertised link you will be paid. The more traffic you generate and the more clicks that happens would spell to more profits.

Affiliate Programs

Another method of monetizing your traffic are affiliate programs. You can link up with other tried and tested sites and online companies and monetize your traffic by having a percentage of sales generated by traffic coming from your site.

The basic idea is, traffic generated from your site will go to another site that can offer a product that you do not carry. Many programs can keep track and make records of transactions that was made possible because of site linkage.

When purchases are made by customers that was led by your site to their site you get a percentage of that sale. Affiliate programs would give you the benefit of monetizing your traffic without the actual need of carrying or promoting a certain product.

There are so many ways and methods to monetize your traffic. All it takes is a bit of hard work and the desire to successfully launch a profit-earning site. The internet is a veritable source of information, many tips and guides are offered everywhere in how to monetize your traffic and make your site a good profit earner.