The websites can be described as the online representations of the companies. They offer a means for the online audience to interact with the business. The process of web design and development is given great importance. Many firms offer quality web development services that are in high demand withthe online businesses. The firms are proficient in planning and constructing websites for small companies to large corporate clients. They also have the essential technical knowledge to design and develop reliable websites for various ecommerce sites. The web development firms keep themselves updated about current web development technologies and software platforms so that they can offer efficient services to their clients.
The process of web development is quite extensive and includes several related aspects like coding, server side and client side scripting, web design, networking, security configuration, and testing to mention a few. When choosing a web development firm, it is important to consider the field experience of the firm. A firm with considerable experience in web development is familiar with a wide range of business and industries and so can develop suitable web solutions that can benefit the nature of business of the client. Such a custom designed website can help the business draw the attention of the target audience, and thus stay ahead of the competition.
Ireland is reputed among online businesses worldwide for their quality web design and development solutions. The web design Ireland firms lay emphasis on the visual details of the web applications. They employ qualified and experienced web designers who can handle different types of web designing projects. The designers also give attention to the proper layout and organization of the web pages so that the users can easily navigate through the website. They also make sure that the themes, background colors and designs are relevant to the nature of business. The fonts are also carefully selected so that the users can easily read the content.
The logo of a company is very important for the identification of the business and enables it to stand apart from the competition. The professional company logo design services provided by the firms are very useful in creating a unique and innovative identity for the company. These companies make use of the suitable font, text style, and format, and colors to create and plan impressive company logos that reflect the business in an improved manner. Well-designed company logos are memorable and thus, the company logos serve as an effective marketing strategy.
The author is an experienced Content writer and publisher for Business Development. Visit at http://www.themarketingpod.ie/ to know more about Web Design Ireland, Web Development Services and Company Logo Design.
Marketing campaigns are created to target specific demographics ? people who want to ?snap into a Slim Jim? aren?t always the same people looking for the newest Louis Vuitton bag. Sometimes, however, they are.
To make messages universal, companies used to conduct expensive studies to adapt them for different countries. The great thing about the Information Age is that adjusting your marketing messages for a global audience has been made easier, quicker, and more effective.
Digitizing Your Message
My company started in the information publishing business, distributing information products, like eBooks and software packages. Because it?s a business that inherently operates online, we were able to sell to a global market from the very beginning. Our customers were all over Europe, Asia, and North America, and because the Internet was our platform and what they were buying was downloadable, anyone from any country could become a customer at any time.
Those whose businesses, products, and services are tangible in nature don?t have the obvious digital advantage. I recommend that traditional businesses consider adding aninformationcomponent to their companies. This is a way to generate leads from different geographic regions; from there, you can convert some of these leads into customers and sell them products connected to your company?s area of expertise. You?ve established industry expertise while also conversing directly with your audience.
For example, you can expand your reach with social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter. Once you have an online presence, create a small eBook related to your business and offer it for free in exchange for some basic contact information. This builds a list of leads and prospects you can continue to engage with via newsletters, recipes, and tips. These are the people who will become your customers, ordering products online and purchasing full-length eBooks.
It?s possible to incorporate aspects of informationinto any business. Create a plan to make it work for your company, and use it as a strategy to widen your marketing to include demographics you wouldn?t normally reach. People from every area are looking for more knowledge, and that?s something you can provide from any location.
Targeting Multiple Demographics
The science and art of demographic targeting using online communication tools shifts away from the idea that people are defined strictly along geographic and traditional lines ? and toward the idea that online communities contain groups bonded by common interests and subject matter. They have their own unique values, concerns, norms, and ways of communicating. The better you understand that as a marketer, the better your targeting will be in this new dynamic.
The organization of groups along interest lines makes it much easier to target a single group comprised of people from all over the world. It?s crucial to immerse yourself in the culture of the group itself and learn its nuances. This will be your strongest asset. It will dictate how you craft your marketing messages, as well as how you gauge feedback from your niche group.
Bridging Markets
In both our information publishing and our music promotions businesses, we?ve operated in international markets. Our digital products allowed us to operate in several countries simultaneously. We connected with other publishers online and were able to create a group of publishers from countries all over the world to coordinate projects across the Internet. This enabled us to form international connections with joint venture partners that would never have been possible even a decade ago. Reaching out to partners and investors overseas has never been easier.
In music promotions, we have been involved in connecting independent artists to collaborate and create music across the United Kingdom, the United States, and Africa. Our upcoming music platforms will allow artists to create remixes of their songs with artists from other countries and genres, sharing the results with fans from all over the world. This will further facilitate the international connection of music artists and their fans from every country in the world. These kinds of ideas enable businesses to take a very specific group?s interests and build a new collaborative product or service from them.
Any other industry can create the same level of excitement among its fans ? a company simply needs to facilitate the conversation. After spending some time with niche groups, your business should be able to gather a good sense of the problems these people want addressed ? or added services they wish they had access to. This is your bread and butter.
Keep Evolving
Working with individuals from multiple countries requires taking into account the adjustments needed for each. It?s an evolutionary process. As your business grows, you?ll be presented with challenges, such as effectively conveying complex tasks to international freelancers, dealing with time zones, and communicating your message to customers.
Nonetheless, the Internet brings people together through shared interests; by focusing your message on these groups, rather than along national boundaries, you will ensure your marketing is reaching a diverse community. And who knows? They may be big fans of Slim Jims and Louis Vuitton.
Petronet?s Dahej LNG terminal on India?s west coast is due to get a cargo of LNG onboard the 138.700 cbm Raahi from Qatar today, according to shipping data.
The Dahej terminal in Gujarat is India?s first LNG import terminal and has a nominal capacity of 10 MMTPA.
The terminal is meeting around 20% of the total gas demand of the country.
LNG World News Staff, October 25, 2012; Image: Petronet LNG
A feud has split the trust responsible for the protection of the Moriori culture, after its general manager refused to leave his position despite being suspended.
Moriori expert Maui Solomon was suspended at the end of August by Hokotehi Moriori Trust executive chairwoman Shirley King.
But he refused to acknowledge the suspension, arguing that Ms King was no longer a valid trustee after an election process and had no right to instigate disciplinary proceedings against him.
He continued to act as general manager despite his pay being cut off.
He took his case to the Employment Relations Authority, which ordered his immediate reinstatement.
The trust owns and manages Chatham Island assets including fishing quotas, farms and a tourist lodge.
In her decision, authority member Trish MacKinnon said Mr Solomon had been in charge of managing elections for two trustee positions in the South Island and one on Rekohu, or Chatham Island, the main island. On August 18, Mr Solomon emailed trustees informing them of the Rekohu election result, in which Ms King lost her place on the board.
But three days later Ms King emailed all trustees minutes before the overall elections closed, stating new elections would be held as the initial process was flawed. Furious, Mr Solomon told trustees elections could not be cancelled because "they did not like the results".
Trust members who supported Ms King then held a meeting and wrote to Mr Solomon saying he had been working to undermine the trust, and suspending him on pay while an investigation into electioneering was undertaken.
Mr Solomon was given four hours to respond to the letter, which was later extended to 24 hours. The suspension was then confirmed.
Ms MacKinnon said the trust board had split into two factions, one side favouring Ms King - which included her sister, daughter and two cousins - the other siding with Mr Solomon.
She said that though the trust as an employer was entitled to investigate issues, it was clear the decision to get rid of Mr Solomon was predetermined. Giving him only four hours to respond to such a serious matter was "puzzling", she said.
Ms King admitted she held strong feelings of anger towards Mr Solomon, who raised issues about her performance last year. She said Mr Solomon had "trampled on my mana" after telling people she was no longer a trustee or executive chairwoman.
Ms MacKinnon ordered Mr Solomon's immediate reinstatement and awarded him $8000 in compensation.
Mr Solomon told The Dominion Post he was happy with the decision. The rift within the trust had affected its smooth operation but he was reluctant to comment further till an annual meeting next month that would address the problems.
"[The trust] is a pretty important organisation for the Chathams, so it's important it's business as usual, though this situation's like an elephant sitting in the corridor."
With the globe still struggling to recover from the worst recession since World War II and elections occurring in Europe and the USA, taxes have once again become a hot topic of conversation as many countries propose further rises. But which countries currently have the highest income tax rates?
5. Japan, Belgium, Austria, UK (tied) The top income tax rate for Japan, Belgium, Austria and the UK is 50%. As the only Asian country in the top 5 highest income tax rates in the world, Japan?s top tier rate of 50% is more than double Asia?s average of 23%. Despite this, its tax revenue is the fifth lowest amongst OECD member countries due to a rocketing national debt crisis. Western Europe may have the highest income tax rates of any region in the world but Belgium?s highest tax rate is still 5% higher than the average. Belgians are lumped with the highest tax and social security burden, regardless of income, of any OECD member. Austria may frequently be ranked as one of the best places to live in the world but they are certainly taxed for the privilege! When the UK raised its top income tax rate to 50% in 2010 it leapt from the 13th to the 4th highest income tax rate in the European Union and was the biggest top-rate income tax hike in the world that year.
4. The Netherlands At 52%, well above Western Europe?s average of 45.7%, The Netherlands? top income tax bracket is undoubtedly high but it does help to pay for a wealth of benefits. The Dutch enjoy reimbursements of up to 70% on childcare, subsidies on children?s books, money towards holidays which amounts to 8% of an individual?s salary, and free medical care.
3. Denmark Denmark?s income tax rate for its top band of wage earners may have come down from 62.3% in an economy-boosting drive in 2008 but it is still 55.4%, making it the third highest rate in Western Europe. However, these tax cuts have also decreased the tax and social security burden on single taxpayers.
2. Sweden At 55.6%, Sweden?s top income tax rate is higher than any other Scandinavian country and the second highest in the world. However, its taxes fund an incredibly generous social security system - Sweden spends more of its GDP on social services than any other country in the world - which allows Swedes to enjoy free education, subsidised healthcare and public transport, and a government-guaranteed pension.
1. Aruba Not many would guess that the country with the highest income tax in the world is Aruba. The tiny Dutch territory in the Caribbean has a top tier income tax rate of 59%, far higher than the Caribbean average of 26.7% and astronomically higher than the Bahamas, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands which have no income tax at all. However, the island also boasts one of the highest standards of living in the Caribbean.
Aruba may not stay at the top spot for much longer if the newly elected French president Francois Holland has his way. To help pay off the country?s crippling debt, Holland is proposing to raise the income tax rate on the wealthiest (those who earn over ?1 million) from the current 48% to a whopping 75%!
This articles is provided by My Refund, the New Zealand registered tax agent www.myrefund.co.nz
A decade ago, researchers shocked women around the world when they abruptly halted a landmark clinical trial on hormone therapy, a drug regimen widely used to relieve hot flashes, night sweats, and other unpleasant symptoms of menopause. Just five years in, the study results suggested that hormone therapy increased the risk of several serious health conditions, including breast cancer, heart disease, and stroke. A follow-up study soon added Alzheimer's disease to the list, after finding that women taking hormones had higher rates of dementia than women taking placebo. Since then, however, doctors have begun to reexamine hormone therapy and the conclusions of the trial, known as the Women's Health Initiative. In the latest such study, published today in the journal Neurology, researchers report that taking hormones may actually lower, not raise, the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. But there's a catch: The timing of therapy appears to be key. The study participants who initiated therapy within five years of starting menopause were 30% less likely than women who never took hormones to develop Alzheimer's later in life. Outside that timeframe, by contrast, hormone therapy increased Alzheimer's risk by a statistically insignificant 3%. Health.com: 25 signs and symptoms of Alzheimer's disease "Among women who started to take hormone therapy around this critical window around menopause, we observed a subsequent reduction in Alzheimer's disease 20 to 30 years later," says senior author Peter P. Zandi, Ph.D., an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, in Baltimore. "But among women who initiated hormone therapy for the first time later in life, we started to see a trend towards increased risk." The new evidence shouldn't be seen as an endorsement of hormone therapy, as the risks associated with the drugs continue to outweigh the benefits for many women. On Monday, in fact, the United States Preventive Services Task Force, an independent panel of experts that advises the federal government on preventive care, restated its recommendation that hormone therapy not be used to prevent chronic conditions, most notably osteoporosis. The panel was silent on the use of hormones for hot flashes and other so-called vasomotor symptoms. Health.com: Can supplements ease menopause symptoms? The new study isn't "a green light to use hormone therapy for Alzheimer's or dementia prevention," says Dr. Victor W. Henderson, M.D., an epidemiologist and professor of neurology at the Stanford University School of Medicine, in Stanford, California. "It does provide some reassurance that if a woman is considering hormone therapy for moderate to severe vasomotor symptoms, concerns about Alzheimer's disease should not impact [her] decision." The study followed 1,768 women in Utah for 11 years, during which time they were screened for dementia on three separate occasions. All of the participants, who were at least 65 years old when the study began, had already passed through menopause but provided detailed information about their hormone use and age at menopause. The idea of a critical timeframe in which hormone therapy may help, rather than hurt, is emerging as a leading hypothesis to explain the seemingly contradictory results of past studies on hormone use. Health.com: Mistakes women make in middle age If the sudden depletion of estrogen associated with menopause weakens the aging brain, potentially paving the way for dementia,taking hormone drugs "may have some softening effect on that transition and?the pathologic chain of events leading to Alzheimer's," Zandi says. But later in life, as Alzheimer's starts to set in, the brain may be a vastly different landscape that responds negatively to hormone therapy, Zandi adds. The timing hypothesis has also been used to explain a similar pattern in the study results on hormone use and heart disease, a condition that appears to share some risk factors and mechanisms with Alzheimer's. Evidence suggests that the effect of estrogen on the cardiovascular system may depend on the system's underlying health, says Henderson, who coauthored an editorial accompanying the new study. Health.com: 7 ways to defy your age, inside and out Timing probably isn't the only factor involved, however. The duration of therapy and the type of hormones used also may play an important role. In this study, the risk of developing Alzheimer's was lowest in women who started hormone therapy early and also continued it for a decade or more. On the other end of the spectrum, the Alzheimer's risk associated with starting therapy later in life seemed to be highest among women who took estrogen plus progestin (common practice for women who still have a uterus), rather than estrogen alone. Finally, hormone therapy in any form may reflect a healthier overall lifestyle, which could have shaped the study results. Although the authors controlled for an array of health measures and behaviors, this type of study, known as an observational study, can't entirely rule out extenuating factors unrelated to hormone therapy. "Women taking hormone therapy were more health conscious in ways we didn't measure and account for," Zandi posits. "That could be a very reasonable explanation." Filed under: Alzheimer?s , Health.com Tagged: Amanda Gardner ? Health.com
Continued here: Can hormone therapy help protect the brain?
Okay, skip to the 16:16-mark, and try to spot the cheating in Game 7 of the 1993 Western Conference semifinals.
Insane, right? Or did you miss it?
This is a great example of something that would break the internet in 2012, but in 1993, nobody even batted an eyelash. Ethan Strauss has the inside story at ESPN, and it's completely surreal. Check it out.
Turbulent flows in 2D can be calculated in new model Public release date: 23-Oct-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Gertie Skaarup skaarup@nbi.dk 45-35-32-53-20 University of Copenhagen
Turbulent flows have challenged researchers for centuries. It is impossible to predict chaotic weather more than a week in advance. Wind resistance on a plane or a car cannot be calculated precisely, since it is determined by atmospheric turbulence. Now, however, researchers from the Niels Bohr Institute have succeeded in developing a statistical model that can replicate the chaotic flows and thereby provide a better understanding of the process. The research results are published in the scientific journal, Physics of Fluids.
"Without knowing the movements in detail, we know that they happen in such a way that the kinetic energy is conserved," explains Peter Ditlevsen, a research associate professor at the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen. He explains that when a liquid or air is set in motion, for example, if you create large eddies in a bathtub by stirring the water, it will transpire, that when you stop stirring, smaller and smaller eddies will continue to be created, while the large ones slowly die out. Finally, the movement in the smallest eddies are converted into heat. The entire process is called an energy cascade from large scales to small scales and is absolutely fundamental for understanding chaotic turbulent flow.
If the motion is limited to only being able to take place on a single plane, that is, two dimensions (2D), instead of in a volume, that is, three dimensions (3D), it will happen quite differently. The reason is that the flow cannot release its energy as small eddies cannot easily be formed in two dimensions. In two dimensions, both the energy and eddy density (which is called enstrophy) is retained in the flow, unlike in three dimensions, where only the energy is preserved.
Complicated calculations in 3D
A complex motion equation that has been known for almost 200 years, the so-called Navier-Stokes equation, is used to calculate the air's turbulent 3D movements. But even the world's most powerful computers, which have been dedicated to just this purpose, can only provide an approximate solution to the equation.
In order to describe the turbulent cascade processes, the researchers have therefore developed simplified mathematical models that are much easier to fully investigate in with computer calculations. The models have the same behaviour as the Navier-Stokes equation, but the models have not been able to reproduce the so-called inverse cascade in 2D.
Until now, the models have been too limited to show both the eddy density cascades down to small scales and the energy cascades up to large scales. They have been able to simulate the one cascade or the other, but not both simultaneously.
Simpler calculations in 2D
However, Peter Ditlevsen has now succeeded in developing such a cascade model that can reproduce the double cascade process in 2D turbulence.
"Turbulence can occur as a somewhat exotic phenomena. Though not in this case: Motion in the atmosphere, the wind and the weather is largely two-dimensional. The movements on the vertical axis are 100 to 1000 times less than those on the horizontal axis. The air has a much more difficult time moving vertically, so the movement of the weather systems movement is two-dimensional turbulence. This means that it is possible to predict the weather a ways ahead of time. If the movement had been three-dimensional, it would be dominated by small eddies, which are completely unpredictable, like when you see autumn leaves randomly floating around in a courtyard," explains Peter Ditlevsen.
The turbulent flows occur over a vast span of scales, so when researchers want to understand the processes, they have to study simplified models.
"With the new model of the two-dimensional turbulence we are one step closer to understanding which factors in the motion equations govern how energy is distributed in the flow," explains Peter Ditlevsen.
###
Article in Physics of Fluids:
http://pof.aip.org/resource/1/phfle6/v24/i10/p105109_s1?bypassSSO=1
For more information contact:
Peter Ditlevsen, Associate professor in geophysics and climate modelling, Centre for Ice and Climate, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, +45 3532-0603, +45 2875-0603, pditlev@nbi.ku.dk
http://www.nbi.ku.dk/english/
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Turbulent flows in 2D can be calculated in new model Public release date: 23-Oct-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Gertie Skaarup skaarup@nbi.dk 45-35-32-53-20 University of Copenhagen
Turbulent flows have challenged researchers for centuries. It is impossible to predict chaotic weather more than a week in advance. Wind resistance on a plane or a car cannot be calculated precisely, since it is determined by atmospheric turbulence. Now, however, researchers from the Niels Bohr Institute have succeeded in developing a statistical model that can replicate the chaotic flows and thereby provide a better understanding of the process. The research results are published in the scientific journal, Physics of Fluids.
"Without knowing the movements in detail, we know that they happen in such a way that the kinetic energy is conserved," explains Peter Ditlevsen, a research associate professor at the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen. He explains that when a liquid or air is set in motion, for example, if you create large eddies in a bathtub by stirring the water, it will transpire, that when you stop stirring, smaller and smaller eddies will continue to be created, while the large ones slowly die out. Finally, the movement in the smallest eddies are converted into heat. The entire process is called an energy cascade from large scales to small scales and is absolutely fundamental for understanding chaotic turbulent flow.
If the motion is limited to only being able to take place on a single plane, that is, two dimensions (2D), instead of in a volume, that is, three dimensions (3D), it will happen quite differently. The reason is that the flow cannot release its energy as small eddies cannot easily be formed in two dimensions. In two dimensions, both the energy and eddy density (which is called enstrophy) is retained in the flow, unlike in three dimensions, where only the energy is preserved.
Complicated calculations in 3D
A complex motion equation that has been known for almost 200 years, the so-called Navier-Stokes equation, is used to calculate the air's turbulent 3D movements. But even the world's most powerful computers, which have been dedicated to just this purpose, can only provide an approximate solution to the equation.
In order to describe the turbulent cascade processes, the researchers have therefore developed simplified mathematical models that are much easier to fully investigate in with computer calculations. The models have the same behaviour as the Navier-Stokes equation, but the models have not been able to reproduce the so-called inverse cascade in 2D.
Until now, the models have been too limited to show both the eddy density cascades down to small scales and the energy cascades up to large scales. They have been able to simulate the one cascade or the other, but not both simultaneously.
Simpler calculations in 2D
However, Peter Ditlevsen has now succeeded in developing such a cascade model that can reproduce the double cascade process in 2D turbulence.
"Turbulence can occur as a somewhat exotic phenomena. Though not in this case: Motion in the atmosphere, the wind and the weather is largely two-dimensional. The movements on the vertical axis are 100 to 1000 times less than those on the horizontal axis. The air has a much more difficult time moving vertically, so the movement of the weather systems movement is two-dimensional turbulence. This means that it is possible to predict the weather a ways ahead of time. If the movement had been three-dimensional, it would be dominated by small eddies, which are completely unpredictable, like when you see autumn leaves randomly floating around in a courtyard," explains Peter Ditlevsen.
The turbulent flows occur over a vast span of scales, so when researchers want to understand the processes, they have to study simplified models.
"With the new model of the two-dimensional turbulence we are one step closer to understanding which factors in the motion equations govern how energy is distributed in the flow," explains Peter Ditlevsen.
###
Article in Physics of Fluids:
http://pof.aip.org/resource/1/phfle6/v24/i10/p105109_s1?bypassSSO=1
For more information contact:
Peter Ditlevsen, Associate professor in geophysics and climate modelling, Centre for Ice and Climate, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, +45 3532-0603, +45 2875-0603, pditlev@nbi.ku.dk
http://www.nbi.ku.dk/english/
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
ResCap is a unit of what was formerly known as GMAC
FORTUNE -- Waterloo, Iowa's sixth-largest city, is a blue collar community located off I-380, the "Avenue of the Saints" that runs from St. Louis to St. Paul. Go a few blocks from the Crossroads mall in west Waterloo, and you find something atypical: a big white collar employer, Residential Capital LLC. ResCap, as it's known, is a mortgage company located on a nicely landscaped 17-acre campus. Its 950 Iowa employees get wages averaging about $35,000 a year -- pretty good money for Waterloo -- along with health insurance, tuition assistance, and other benefits.
Inside the complex, you run into people like Tracy Zobel, who radiate a Midwestern work ethic and aw-shucks charm.?Zobel, 44, a mother of four married to a dairy farmer, has spent 18 years working her way up from part-time call center rep to vice president in charge of loss mitigation. She loves ResCap, loves her job, and loves the fact that she's the source of health insurance for her family.
"Our culture is one of my most favorite aspects -- the friendships and just the way we work together," she says. "We work very hard and we enjoy what we do and each other. It's just a unique culture where you're doing the right thing for the right reasons."
MORE:?What happened when I tried to buy a union-made Ford
If this all sounds almost too bucolic and wholesome to be true -- well, it may not be true much longer. Waterloo's future could be determined by an auction being held 1,059 miles away, at the Sheraton New York Hotel in midtown Manhattan, on Tuesday.
At the auction, ResCap, a former high-flying General Motors (GM) subsidiary that tumbled into bankruptcy in May, will find out how much bidders are willing to pay for the rights to service the $365 billion of mortgages that it currently handles. (We'll explain "servicing" in a bit.)
The auction's outcome will likely determine whether most of ResCap servicing employees will keep their jobs -- and whether the troubled mortgage borrowers that they work with will continue to deal primarily with American loan servicers, as they do now, or with servicers in the Indian cities of Bangalore and Mumbai.
This auction reflects two of the biggest issues in the current political debate and presidential campaign: good U.S. jobs, and corporate America practicing extreme tax avoidance at a time of huge revenue shortfalls.
Whatever happens at ResCap may also become a template for the mortgage servicing industry, which employs tens of thousands of U.S. workers, many of whose jobs are vulnerable to being outsourced unless Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- the "government sponsored enterprises" that are the biggest players in the mortgage biz -- adopt regulations forbidding or limiting it.
MORE:?Obama has a jobs plan. Why isn't he talking about it?
But none of the social questions -- outsourcing of jobs, treatment of troubled customers, moving profits (totally legally) into tax havens -- will play a role in Tuesday's auction. It's all about bankruptcy law, which is concerned with creditors' rights and debtors' obligations, not with social issues. Wall Street concerns -- ResCap's debt is owned primarily by professional investors -- trump the Main Street concerns of employees, vendors, and borrowers.
"What we call the 'highest and best' bid is what prevails in bankruptcy court," explains Stephen Lubben, a respected bankruptcy expert who teaches at Seton Hall University, "and 'highest and best' means what's best financially for creditors, not for any other party."
So what's "servicing"-- and why are such jobs so vulnerable to outsourcing? Here's how it works: Servicers collect mortgage payments from borrowers, send checks to mortgage owners for the interest and principal repayments due them, and pay borrowers' real estate taxes and homeowner insurance. These days, servicers also spend lots of time and effort working with people unable (or unwilling) to make their mortgage payments.
In return, they typically get an annual fee of about 3/8ths of 1% of the loan's unpaid balance -- $375 a year on a mortgage with a $100,000 balance -- and have the interest-free use of homeowners' monthly tax and insurance payments until it's time to pay those bills. It's a lucrative business if you're big and efficient enough -- and you can do it from anywhere in the world.
Because of regulatory changes, banks -- traditionally the biggest players in the servicing biz -- are paring back their portfolios. This is leading to the rise of non-bank servicers, like the ones we're about to meet, who hold the fate of our friends in Iowa in their hands.
The first two -- polar opposites -- are the known bidders for ResCap's servicing portfolio. The first is Ocwen Financial, which has bought servicing portfolios from the likes of Barclays (BCS), Goldman Sachs (GS), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Morgan Stanley (MS), Lehman Brothers, and Bank of America (BAC).
As best we can tell, Ocwen has moved virtually every American job in the portfolios it's bought to Bangalore and Mumbai. It would presumably do the same to the ResCap portfolio, absent any restrictions on moving the jobs. This is perfectly legal?and employing folks in India is much cheaper than hiring Americans in places like Waterloo.
In addition to having cheap labor, Ocwen also has low taxes. It recently moved its servicing subsidiary's headquarters to a special Virgin Islands tax zone. Thus, it remained a U.S. company eligible to participate in federal programs -- but it gets 90% of its U.S. corporate taxes forgiven.
We can't give you Ocwen's version of any of this -- even though we asked several times, Ocwen declined to speak to us about anything, or even to help us check our facts.
The other known bidder for the ResCap rights is Nationstar Mortgage, controlled by the Fortress Investment Group (FIG). As a publicly-traded private equity house, Fortress is taxophobic in its own business -- but Nationstar is sending ever-larger checks to the Treasury, despite having tax-loss carryforwards on its books. That's because it can use only about $11 million of its almost $200 million of carryforwards in any given year.
Nationstar proudly tells all and sundry that all its employees are in the U.S., and that it's a "high touch" servicer. ?"High touch" is marketingspeak for "trying to provide really good service." For example, Nationstar says it assigns an account officer to every troubled borrower, so that that the borrower is always dealing with the same person, rather than getting whoever happens to be free. The theory is that providing better and earlier service to borrowers, especially troubled borrowers, improves the performance of the loans being serviced.
Nationstar is the "stalking horse bidder" in Tuesday's rights auction, which may spill over into Wednesday. This means that it will win the auction unless someone tops its $2.45 billion by at least the $20 million breakup fee Nationstar gets if another buyers prevails. Nationstar would keep ResCap servicing in the U.S., though it would probably cut some of the existing jobs.
(A few months ago, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway made a pitch for the servicing business that forced Nationstar to improve its bid. However, Buffett doesn't seem likely to be a player Tuesday.)
Ocwen has a less-than-wonderful relationship with Fannie Mae, which is the biggest player in the mortgage biz and would have to approve any transfer of servicing rights on its mortgages, which are the majority of ResCap's servicing pool. Hence a third company, the Green Tree subsidiary of Walter Investment Management, is hovering around the auction.
Like Nationstar, Green Tree is a high touch servicer that hires people in the U.S., and has a good relationship with Fannie. Green Tree has apparently combined with Ocwen to bid jointly on the portfolio. If they have in fact combined, and prevail at the auction, it seems likely that a good number of ResCap servicing jobs -- but not all of them -- would be outsourced. (Green Tree and Fannie both declined comment.)
Even though Fannie has never made formal announcements, people in the industry say that Fannie has sometimes insisted on servicers keeping a U.S. presence before allowing them to take over the rights to service Fannie mortgages. Fannie is said to be considering issuing rules restricting transfer of servicing of Fannie mortgages out of the country -- but so far, it hasn't done so.
Meanwhile, folks in Waterloo wait and worry about the auction results. "When I started, I was 21, I was a kid," says Sharon Robinson, who in 28 years has risen from mail clerk to a top consumer-service post. "I wanted full time employment and benefits and I was just going to stay here until I found something better. And I haven't found something better; I've never even had a reason to look." After next week, however, that may no longer be the case.
There were times during this last debate when I almost thought I could hear the words of Mitt Romney?s advisers playing in his head:
?Look, big guy, you?re on track to win this thing. What they want to see tonight is a calm, confident leader, unthreatening, informed, unruffled. So don?t get up in Obama?s grill. Bring the conversation back to the economy when you can, and be the reasonable, credible Commander-in-Chief the voters want.?
That was clearly the strategy Romney executed Monday night. He was at pains to agree with President Barack Obama on matters ranging from the deployment of drones to standing with Israel in the face of an attack. He drew attention to Obama?s sharp criticisms by saying ?attacking me is not an agenda??a line he repeated later. He stepped back from a frontal assault on the administration?s confusion over Libya, speaking more broadly about the Middle East, observing, ?We can?t kill our way out of this mess,? and later talking about the need to promote ?gender equality.? (I wondered at this point whether the campaign had focused Romney?s attention on the baseball and football games competing for the audience, raising the likelihood that a greater percentage of the audience might be female).
Indeed, there were moments when Romney seemed to be channeling the presence of another ex-governor whose need as a presidential candidate was to reassure.
But unlike Ronald Reagan, Mitt Romney did not need to prove that he is something other than a threat to the peace.
Rather, his challenge was to stand?or sit?face to face with the incumbent president and demonstrate that he could credibly argue matters of state, in the face of a debate foe determined to thrust and spar at every opportunity. Without question, Obama came into this last debate knowing that his presidency is hanging by a thread, in large measure due to his remarkably weak performance in the first debate. There was no opportunity he let pass. At one point, he pivoted from the killing of Bin Laden to a conversation he had with a girl whose father had died on Sept. 11, 2001. (I could not help but wonder what the people who charged George W. Bush with politicizing Sept. 11 might have to say about that).
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What happened in this debate, then, was what often happens?in sports and in politics?when someone plays not to lose. Obama clearly dominated the debate, as the instant polls suggested. But now a different question arises. What if the premise of the Romney strategy was wrong?
Indeed, what if the premise of every pre-debate assessment?that this last debate was on a matter peripheral to voters? central concerns?is wrong? What if a significant sector of the electorate is still weighing the respective claims of the contenders to be in command when a threat to American security arises?
If that?s the case (and we will not know for several days), it may turn out that playing it safe may have been the least safe course of all.
BOSTON (AP) ? The Red Sox are preparing to announce that John Farrell will be their new manager, according to a baseball official with knowledge of the deal to bring the former Boston pitching coach back one year after the ballclub first tried to give him the top job.
The announcement was delayed by the unusual logistics of hiring a manager under contract with another team, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the final procedural steps had not been cleared. But the three-year deal to replace Bobby Valentine could be announced as soon as Sunday, the official said.
Red Sox spokeswoman Pam Kenn said the team had no announcement to make. Blue Jays spokesman Jay Stenhouse did not immediately respond to a voice mail seeking comment.
Comcast SportsNet New England was first to report the deal.
Farrell had one year remaining on his contract with Toronto, where he went 154-170 over the past two seasons. The Red Sox have agreed to send the Blue Jays compensation for letting Farrell leave for their AL East rivals.
Farrell was the Red Sox pitching coach for four seasons before Toronto hired him as manager two years ago. He was Boston's top target when Terry Francona was let go after the team's September collapse in 2011, but the Blue Jays would not allow him to leave.
But the Red Sox found themselves looking for a manager again just one season later, after Valentine led the team to a last-place finish and a 69-93 record that was the franchise's worst since 1965. And, after Toronto went 73-89 in 2012, the Blue Jays were willing to part with Farrell.
The Red Sox also interviewed San Diego Padres special assistant Brad Ausmus, New York Yankees bench coach Tony Pena, Los Angeles Dodgers third base coach Tim Wallach and Baltimore Orioles third base coach DeMarlo Hale.
Farrell is familiar with Red Sox management from his time in Boston and has worked with many of the club's pitchers, including starters Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz.
Even before the announcement, news of the deal trickled out over Twitter, where Blue Jays reliever Casey Janssen wrote: "Want to wish our skipper the best in Boston, good luck!"
The 50-year-old Farrell had a promising pitching career with the Cleveland Indians before an injury kept him out for the entire 1991 and '92 seasons. He returned to pitch sparingly in four more seasons, finishing his career with a 36-46 record and a 4.56 ERA.
He coached at Oklahoma State, where he pitched in college, from 1997-2001 and then spent five years in the Indians' front office before Francona, a former Cleveland teammate, brought him to Boston as pitching coach. Farrell had been Francona's heir apparent but took the Toronto job when it appeared Francona, a two-time World Series champion in Boston, would remain indefinitely.
However, the team parted ways with Francona after its unprecedented collapse in September 2011, when it went 7-20 over the final month to miss a playoff appearance by one game. In response to overtures from the Red Sox, Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos created a policy prohibiting employees from moving laterally to another organization.
But Farrell, who led Toronto to an 81-81 record and fourth-place finish in his first year, fell to 16 games below .500 in his second. Veteran infielder Omar Vizquel complained that Farrell didn't do enough to help younger players correct their mistakes.
Farrell called a closed-door meeting, and Vizquel apologized.
And very few are willing to put in the time it takes to build an online business around their craft.
It takes hard work, but the rewards are great.
Build an online business and you can work from anywhere in the world as long as you have an internet connection.
You have the freedom to do what you want. You control your time. You get to decide what your life looks like, not someone else.
Interested?
Here are seven steps to help you make it happen.
1. Intersection
First, you have to find the intersection between what you?re good at, what you love to do, and what others are willing to pay for.
This could be teaching small businesses how to use content to grow their business.
It could mean helping dentists leverage newsletters to get more clients.
The possibilities are endless.
Whatever you do, avoid getting stuck in the planning phase. You will make tremendous progress when you take action and make mistakes.
2. Platform
Once you?ve found a viable niche, it?s time to build your platform.
Your platform will often be a blog or website.
It?s where you attract an audience of people that are interested in what you have to offer.
If you?re the dentist newsletter person, then dentists are the people you want to attract.
When you build a platform, you don?t have to figure out what people want. Once you?ve got a few hundred people, you can just ask.
The downside is that building a platform takes time. But you don?t have to wait for it to grow to start making a living as a writer.
3. Freelance Work
You can get freelance work right away.
When I was starting out, I got freelance writing gigs. I still do freelance work because it adds variety to my day.
Again, if you help dentists, you have to go out and find them. You have to hustle to get clients and show them the benefits of having a web presence.
You could even work at a discounted rate, or free, in exchange for being able to use that first dentist as a case study.
Most small business owners know that utilizing blogs, content and newsletters is what they should do, but they don?t have time.
That?s where you come in.
And while you?re getting freelance clients, you?re building your tribe.
4. Tribe
And by tribe, I mean your email list.
Have you ever heard someone say that the money is in the list?
Well, it?s true.
Your email subscribers will often be the most interested in your content, products, and services. Make sure you start building a list from the start.
It is what makes this business model work. It will make it easier to figure out what problems your audience has, and then create products around them.
5. Information Products
This naturally leads us to information products, such as ebooks and online courses.
We?re writers, so creating online courses is a breeze. And because you?ve built a list, you know what topic to cover.
Then you can sell it to your audience directly.
The key with information products is to test your ideas as quickly as possible. You don?t need a 200-page ebook.
You need to listen to your audience. Figure out what their biggest problem is, and offer a simple solution.
A short ebook is a good start. If people like it, you can expand from there.
I?ve done this with several of my products. One of them started off as a $9.95 ebook, and I?m just in the process of upgrading it into an online course.
6. Affiliate Marketing
Let?s not forget about affiliate marketing.
You can easily recommend products and services to your audience that complement what you offer.
As long as you keep it ethical, you should be fine. I only recommend products I use or have experience with.
When you look at how you can help your readers move towards their goals, everything becomes so much easier.
Then it?s no longer about your products, affiliate products, or anything else. It?s about how you can help them move forward.
7. Rinse & Repeat
Once you?ve reached this stage, it comes down to constant improvement.
Look at what you?re doing right. And ask yourself questions like:
Where could I improve?
How could I get more clients?
How could I add more value and raise my rates?
What are my income goals (and how can I get there?)
You may even want to work with a business coach, like I do, to constantly keep you on your toes and pushing your boundaries.
Summary
From there it comes down to how willing you are to face your inner demons.
It?s not easy to learn how to sell, or get clients, but like any skill, you can learn it.
Most people aren?t willing to put in the work.
They aren?t willing to build a platform or get freelance clients.
You don?t have to do everything right this very moment. You can start small. You can get your first client this week.
But whatever you do, do something.
Start somewhere.
That?s how you?ll learn what works and what doesn?t.
About the author: Henri Junttila is a?freelance writer?and the founder of?Wake Up Cloud, where he helps people turn their passion into a thriving online business. If you?re interested in learning more,?grab his free special report.
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BY CONGRESSMAN RON PAUL, R-TEXAS - Until the late 1990s, individuals interested in Austrian economics, U.S. constitutional history, and libertarian philosophy had few sources of information.? They had to spend hours scouring used book stores or the back pages of obscure libertarian periodicals to find the great works of Mises, Rothbard, Hayek, and other giants of liberty.? Local library and university collections ignored libertarian politics and economics.
Today, however, the greatest classics of libertarian thought, libertarian philosophy, and libertarian economics are available instantly to anyone with internet access.? Thanks to the internet, it is easier than ever before for liberty activists to spread news and other information regarding the evils of government power and the benefits of freedom.? For the first time in human history, supporters of liberty around the world can share information across borders quickly and cheaply.? Without the filter of government censors, this information emboldens millions to question governments and promote liberty.
This is why liberty-minded Americans must do everything possible to oppose-- and stop-- government attempts to censor or limit the free flow of information online.
One such attempt is known as ?CISPA?, or the?Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act. ??This bill will create a monstrous coalition of big business and big government to rob Americans of their protections under the 4th?Amendment of the Constitution.
CISPA permits both the federal government and private companies to view your private online communications with?no judicial oversight,?provided they merely do so in the name of ?cybersecurity.?? But?America is a constitutional republic, not a surveillance state--?and the wildly overhyped need for security does not trump the Constitution.
?Cybersecurity? is the responsibility of companies that operate and make money in cyberspace, not taxpayers.? Those companies should develop market-based private solutions to secure their networks, servers, cloud data centers, and user/customer information.? The role of the US intelligence community is to protect the United States from military threats, not to provide corporate welfare to the private sector.? Much like the TSA at the airport, CISPA would socialize security costs and remove market incentives for private firms to protect their own investments.
Imagine security-cleared agents embedded at private companies to serve as conduits for intelligence information about their customers back to the US intelligence community-- while enjoying immunity from any existing civil or criminal laws. Imagine Google or Facebook reporting directly to the National Security Agency about the online activity of US citizens.? Imagine US government resources being wasted on a grand scale to ?assist? private companies in the global market.? All of this would become reality under CISPA.
As of this writing, it appears that the House and Senate will not agree on a final version of CISPA this year. However, the Obama administration seems ready to impose provisions of this bill by executive order if Congress does not act soon.
The past five years have seen an explosion in the liberty movement, fueled in large part by the internet. Preserving that freedom is crucial if the liberty movement is to continue its progress. Therefore, all activists in the liberty movement have a stake in the battle for internet freedom. We must be ready to come together to fight any attempt to increase government?s power over the internet, regardless of the supposed justifications. We must resist voices from both the political right and left which alternatively seek to legislate morality or enforce political correctness with force.? ?Copyright protection, pornography, cyberterrorism, gambling, and ?hate speech? are merely excuses for doing what all governments have done throughout human history: increase their size, scope, and power.
Once we understand this, we understand the critical link between internet freedom and human freedom.
?
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Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma has borrowed, sort of, the punch line to the old joke about a busload of lawyers at the bottom of the ocean when commenting on the decision of Commissioner Roger Goodell to hand the bounty appeal baton to former Commissioner Paul Tagliabue.
?It?s a good first step,? Vilma told Jeff Darlington of NFL Network, ?for Paul to be the neutral arbitrator.?
The key word is neutral.? If Vilma?s lawyer, Peter Ginsberg, and/or the NFLPA believe that Tagliabue won?t be neutral, then it will be a problem.
?We expect that [Tagliabue will] do things in a neutral capacity that will allow us to cross examine some of the witnesses,? Vilma said.? ?See some evidence.?
The reality is that Ginsberg and Jeffrey Kessler, the primary NFLPA outside counsel, will refrain from taking any position on Tagliabue until having a chance to hear from Tagliabue regarding his plan for the October 30 appeal hearing.? If they get the sense that Tagliabue won?t be neutral, objective, and/or impartial, they?ll likely fight the appointment.? If they like what they hear, they possibly will accept Tagliabue as the arbitrator.
It?s smart lawyering.? Why complain without getting a chance to take Tagliabue?s temperature?? If, for example, he says that key witnesses like former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams and former Saints assistant Mike Cerullo won?t be required to testify, then they?ll know to fight the appointment.? If, alternatively, they get the impression based on Tagliabue?s comments that he plans to require the league to prove its case, they may overlook factors that otherwise would cause them concern.
My iPad seems not to support the Adobe Flash Player, which is a nuisance. Is there a solution or any alternative short of buying a tablet that does support the player? David Buck, by email
Not only doesn?t iOS support Flash, the late Steve Jobs, Apple?s co-founder, was an ardent critic, citing problems with security, performance, battery life and reliability, and his faith in HTML5 and JavaScript standards. Whatever it?s shortcomings, and security really isn?t an issue on iOS, the fact is Flash animations are very widely used, and will continue to be so for the foreseeable future and many Apple users are justifiably irritated buy its absence. Fortunately there are workarounds and one of the simplest is to use a browser called Puffin, free from the App Store. This remotely processes Flash content on its servers before forwarding it to your i-device. It?s not a complete solution and some videos might be a little choppy but it?s definitely worth trying.
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BY CONGRESSMAN RON PAUL, R-TEXAS - Until the late 1990s, individuals interested in Austrian economics, U.S. constitutional history, and libertarian philosophy had few sources of information.? They had to spend hours scouring used book stores or the back pages of obscure libertarian periodicals to find the great works of Mises, Rothbard, Hayek, and other giants of liberty.? Local library and university collections ignored libertarian politics and economics.
