daily blog

From early childhood and throughout the schooling system, we learn the “3R’s”: Reading, wRiting and aRithmetic – the science of numbers. (Nowadays, you need to add a fourth “R”- gRaphing!).
Later, we reach a certain level in our education where were may feel rightly or wrongly (often complacently) that our levels of mastering reading and writing are satisfactory.

However… What about numbers? Generally, we do not fully realize the extent to which numbers control and regulate our lives. We are all identified by innumerable numbers from birth to the very last moments of our lives. Just reflect only on some of our important dates: birth, starting school, finishing primary school, finishing secondary school, the admission to university and then also with every stage of our education imprinted with our marks, marks and marks (percentages!). Then other numbers: the first love (the date, some of us remember!), dates of: marriage, birth of children, the first work, salaries, divorce, then blood pressure, cholesterol and sugar levels, the first operation, the passing away (not yet?) and so on. These numbers are unique to you and unique to me. They all identify you and identify me.

Some numbers quantify information. These are essential to understanding facts, events, processes, laws etc… The US novelist, Nathanel West, 1903-1940, stated aptly: “Numbers constitute the only universal language”.

Studies have shown that even rhesus monkeys can understand the relation between numbers 1 to 9 i.e., they are able to judge whether the specified number is smaller or bigger than the other number.

So, what is the present state of arithmetic? Unfortunately, most of the people satisfy themselves on a very low level of its cognizance. (As an anecdote, I may tell you that I was approached by a lawyer who asked me: “I have to assign a plaintiff 15% of the amount demanded by defendant; how much is it?”). Most people fear numbers if they require any further calculations: making fractions, multiplying, using proportions or inverse proportions, converting to percentages or substituting to formulas. What are the implications of this fact? It often leads to impaired judgement of the average citizen regarding handling their home economics, investment and, as the case may be, the events in their own country and on our globe. As the citizens of a “global village”, we are all affected by events not only in our place or country but even in far-away-countries. Consider these numbers: people affected by HIV, bird flu, tsunami, price of a barrel of oil, tsunami in financial markets, increasing ozone hole, decreasing shoals of fish in oceans, decreasing number of polar bears, the increase in the average yearly temperature, increasing extinction of species of animals and plants. One can present endless number of examples.

The numbers can be puzzling, depressing, shocking, fascinating, mystifying or upsetting. Well, they can be… An educated, intelligent and honest person will perceive them this way. A Polish film director Jerzy Konwicki (renown for his “Ashes and Diamonds”) used to say: “only a cow does not care”.

True, a cow does not know, for example, about the “mad cow” disease and does not understand what it means that a certain percentage of cows are affected by foot-and-mouth disease and bluetongue virus. There are however, unfortunately, also some examples among educated as well as decision making persons, institutions and governments who do not care. They have dubious motives to ignore some numbers (and related facts) they do not like. What will be the consequences of their arrogance to human beings in the future? A Japanese proverb says that more intelligent are those who see further…

Below there are several examples of numbers compiled from the Internet, Time and Trumpet. They may not be exact; however you may find them interesting and worthy of your attention:

65 000 – estimated population of Africa’s black rhinos in 1970
3 600 – estimated population of Africa’s black rhino in 2007
2 000 000 000 000 USD – US cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, so far

3 500 000 – Jews murdered in Poland by German Nazis

32 000 000 – population of Poland before II WW; 24 000 000 after the war

1500 – new HIV infections a day in South Africa

1 000 000 – Americans killed yearly by heart attacks (cardiacnetwork.net)

7:2 – ratio of average number of TV sets to children in the USA

1500 – number of hours, the average USA teenager spends watching TV

67% – percentage of Australian and USA men are overweight

1 in 12- South Africans who had access to the Internet in 2007

15-30 000 000 – men suffering from erectile dysfunction (NIH, USA government statistics)

690 000 000 – number of Asians living on $1 or less per day (Asian Dev. Bank)

142.8 – number of women raped per 100 000 in South Africa; 150 per day

66 000 000 – number of people in the USA suffering with arthritis, the most common chronic health problem in the USA

3% – rate of the green gas increasing per year

7 600 000 – number of cancer death worldwide in 2007

5 200 000 – Americans suffer from full-blown diabetes and don’t know it…yet.

14 000 – dolphins killed annually in Japan

400 000 000 – number of people in the world suffering from depression and mental disorders (WHO).

Look again at the numbers. They alone are meaningless. However, together with the descriptive information, they carry powerful information, obviously to those who are intelligent enough to understand them. Unfortunately, it does not mean yet, that those who understand them and have authority to make decision/s to change some of the numbers/trends are willing to act…

Are you already feeling depressed? You should be… You are intelligent…
Till the next time… (2).

P.S.: While proofreading, my wife counsels me that I have omitted three other important R’s. During a whole life one should learn: Respect for self, Respect for others and Responsibility for your own actions. She is absolutely Right!

Wacek Kijewski is the author of stimulating and entertaining resource material on experimental science: “SI Units, Conversion and Measurement Skills” (the 2007 edition, IBN 0629340584, 186 pp, USD97. The book is recommended for students and lecturers science and engineering courses. Visit website: http://www.wacek.co.za and http://www.wacek.co.za/review.html Read seven reviews: UNESCO, UK, South Africa, Botswana, United States, Hungary. His other ezines:”The Travellers Temperature Tips”, “Is IQ a Metric Unit of Intelligence and…Stupidity”, “Al-Gebra and Illuminati Links Discovered”, “How to Measure Cultural Differences in Metric Units”, “The Traveller’s Temperature Predicaments (2). NB: The book is being sold by Amazon and other booksellers illegally.

Forex, the foreign exchange market, is the global market that trades currency and is largely influenced by the products and portfolios of a person or businesses country. Large financial institutions, businesses, and some individuals, earn millions each day by making careful decisions on what currency to buy or sell.

The foreign exchange market is similar to the stock markets that exist in many countries but instead involves one global market making it the largest market in the world. Forex speculation is necessary because the rate of currency never stays the same. The value of the United States dollar changes each minute in response to the current and foreign events. The same is true for currencies world wide making the entire market move quickly and requiring quick decisions that can make millions.

Many new foreign exchange traders have been attracted by the opportunity to make large amounts of money in a relatively short amount of time. What many do not realize, or chose to overlook, is that there is always the chance that an investor will lose a great deal of money because of bad investments. To avoid making bad choices in the foreign exchange market a great deal of Forex speculation is necessary. This speculation is used to help determine which currencies should be bought and which must be sold.

In the foreign exchange market the major currencies are the United States dollar, the British Pound, the Euro, the Japanese Yen, and the Swiss Franc. These are only a few of the currencies being traded on the global market but they are the ones most often traded. In the Forex market you decide which currency you wish to sell based on its current value and potential to make money while buying currency that you believe will later make you money. Since foreign currency trading is done 24 hours a day with time changes world wide causing overlaps that will eventually affect foreign currencies leading to Forex speculation.

While the Internet and home computer access has made it possible for anyone to enter the world of foreign exchange trading Forex speculation is not something that should be attempted by just anyone. Even with the many classes, courses, and seminars available through the Internet and in real life learning the art of Forex speculation takes time, practice, and experience. Well known foreign exchange brokers have been known to make a mistake from time to time and inexperienced individuals can find themselves in financial ruin if they are not careful.

If you are interested in Forex trading and have no experience in the foreign exchange market it is in your best interest to find an experienced Forex broker to handle your trades. Finding a broker that is experienced in Forex speculation can help make your venture a success. Keep in mind, the foreign exchange market is not a guaranteed way to make money. Research your potential broker and begin with cautious investments. Investing a great deal of money into the fast paced world of foreign currency exchange could lead to a great loss if one is not careful.

This article brought to you courtesy of http://www.privatefxclub.com. We publish the trade desk thoughts of a team of real institutional traders. Visit now for more on forex speculation. Link: Private FX Club online.

Envy is part of human nature. People envy other people’s success, looks, and even their creativity. Creative types often “get inked”, and with celebrities making the process more and more popular, people are getting body art done who are just trying to imitate a trend.

Unfortunately, people are fickle, and what was once a fun and cool tattoo will now become the subject of laser tattoo removal. The ways that people have obtained their tattoos are really interesting. Of course, getting a tattoo by a professional at a tattoo parlor is the most mainstream way. Even tattoo artists themselves sometimes have laser tattoo removal done.

In the United States, a person has to be at least eighteen before they can get a tattoo. However, that hasn’t stopped some minors from tattooing themselves with India ink. Those who are lucky enough to have not gotten ink poisoning end up with a tattoo that’s just asking for laser tattoo removal.

However, India ink is a particularly potent kind of ink, and once it is injected into the epidermal layers, its goal is to stay there. The laser tattoo removal process is known to be painful anyway – with each pulse of the laser being akin to suffering a quick burn. So, that pain is only magnified when a tattoo made of India ink needs to be removed. So, if you are a teenager who thinks it would be cool to get a tattoo, don’t get a homemade one – be responsible and wait until you’re maturely ready to get a tattoo.

More information on laser tattoo removal and a Blue Springs tattoo removal in Missouri is just a click away.

Forex trading may seem rather daunting at first. So much to learn, and possibly a big risk if you have not learned enough! Not anymore!

There are a few good ‘Forex Trading Systems’ out there, where you invest an initial amount of money, and the system does the rest for you. The most recent product to market makes things even easier. As long as you have an internet connection, and a computer you can leave on nearly 24/7, you can benefit from the software. It allows you to set the trading system on autopilot, making the decisions for you, and this latest system makes some good decisions. On average, 90% of attempted trades are won, that means for every 5 trades, 4.8 of them are profitable.

The trading system works by making its decisions based upon future forecasts, from data gathered within the last 4 years on the trading of USD/JPY (United States Dollars/Japanese Yen). During testing, a $50,000 account was upped to an incredible $430,000 in 4 years. That is $107,500 every year from doing basically nothing but installing the software.

The average recorded number of consecutive wins on this account was 19. So that is 19 trades in a row, all of which were won. And the highest number of consecutive trades reached an astonishing 53.

This particular Forex trading system offers a 60 day or 8 week money back guarantee on the product, meaning if your not happy with the system or find it too mind boggling, you can get a refund no questions asked! If you think logically, the product is worth $250, which you could easily make back in the first 2 weeks depending your initial investment!

You can read a review on the Forex Trading System. As well as other Forex products.

Happy Trading!

From early childhood and throughout the schooling system, we learn the “3R’s”: Reading, wRiting and aRithmetic – the science of numbers. (Nowadays, you need to add a fourth “R”- gRaphing!).
Later, we reach a certain level in our education where were may feel rightly or wrongly (often complacently) that our levels of mastering reading and writing are satisfactory.

However… What about numbers? Generally, we do not fully realize the extent to which numbers control and regulate our lives. We are all identified by innumerable numbers from birth to the very last moments of our lives. Just reflect only on some of our important dates: birth, starting school, finishing primary school, finishing secondary school, the admission to university and then also with every stage of our education imprinted with our marks, marks and marks (percentages!). Then other numbers: the first love (the date, some of us remember!), dates of: marriage, birth of children, the first work, salaries, divorce, then blood pressure, cholesterol and sugar levels, the first operation, the passing away (not yet?) and so on. These numbers are unique to you and unique to me. They all identify you and identify me.

Some numbers quantify information. These are essential to understanding facts, events, processes, laws etc… The US novelist, Nathanel West, 1903-1940, stated aptly: “Numbers constitute the only universal language”.

Studies have shown that even rhesus monkeys can understand the relation between numbers 1 to 9 i.e., they are able to judge whether the specified number is smaller or bigger than the other number.

So, what is the present state of arithmetic? Unfortunately, most of the people satisfy themselves on a very low level of its cognizance. (As an anecdote, I may tell you that I was approached by a lawyer who asked me: “I have to assign a plaintiff 15% of the amount demanded by defendant; how much is it?”). Most people fear numbers if they require any further calculations: making fractions, multiplying, using proportions or inverse proportions, converting to percentages or substituting to formulas. What are the implications of this fact? It often leads to impaired judgement of the average citizen regarding handling their home economics, investment and, as the case may be, the events in their own country and on our globe. As the citizens of a “global village”, we are all affected by events not only in our place or country but even in far-away-countries. Consider these numbers: people affected by HIV, bird flu, tsunami, price of a barrel of oil, tsunami in financial markets, increasing ozone hole, decreasing shoals of fish in oceans, decreasing number of polar bears, the increase in the average yearly temperature, increasing extinction of species of animals and plants. One can present endless number of examples.

The numbers can be puzzling, depressing, shocking, fascinating, mystifying or upsetting. Well, they can be… An educated, intelligent and honest person will perceive them this way. A Polish film director Jerzy Konwicki (renown for his “Ashes and Diamonds”) used to say: “only a cow does not care”.

True, a cow does not know, for example, about the “mad cow” disease and does not understand what it means that a certain percentage of cows are affected by foot-and-mouth disease and bluetongue virus. There are however, unfortunately, also some examples among educated as well as decision making persons, institutions and governments who do not care. They have dubious motives to ignore some numbers (and related facts) they do not like. What will be the consequences of their arrogance to human beings in the future? A Japanese proverb says that more intelligent are those who see further…

Below there are several examples of numbers compiled from the Internet, Time and Trumpet. They may not be exact; however you may find them interesting and worthy of your attention:

65 000 – estimated population of Africa’s black rhinos in 1970
3 600 – estimated population of Africa’s black rhino in 2007
2 000 000 000 000 USD – US cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, so far

3 500 000 – Jews murdered in Poland by German Nazis

32 000 000 – population of Poland before II WW; 24 000 000 after the war

1500 – new HIV infections a day in South Africa

1 000 000 – Americans killed yearly by heart attacks (cardiacnetwork.net)

7:2 – ratio of average number of TV sets to children in the USA

1500 – number of hours, the average USA teenager spends watching TV

67% – percentage of Australian and USA men are overweight

1 in 12- South Africans who had access to the Internet in 2007

15-30 000 000 – men suffering from erectile dysfunction (NIH, USA government statistics)

690 000 000 – number of Asians living on $1 or less per day (Asian Dev. Bank)

142.8 – number of women raped per 100 000 in South Africa; 150 per day

66 000 000 – number of people in the USA suffering with arthritis, the most common chronic health problem in the USA

3% – rate of the green gas increasing per year

7 600 000 – number of cancer death worldwide in 2007

5 200 000 – Americans suffer from full-blown diabetes and don’t know it…yet.

14 000 – dolphins killed annually in Japan

400 000 000 – number of people in the world suffering from depression and mental disorders (WHO).

Look again at the numbers. They alone are meaningless. However, together with the descriptive information, they carry powerful information, obviously to those who are intelligent enough to understand them. Unfortunately, it does not mean yet, that those who understand them and have authority to make decision/s to change some of the numbers/trends are willing to act…

Are you already feeling depressed? You should be… You are intelligent…
Till the next time… (2).

P.S.: While proofreading, my wife counsels me that I have omitted three other important R’s. During a whole life one should learn: Respect for self, Respect for others and Responsibility for your own actions. She is absolutely Right!

Wacek Kijewski is the author of stimulating and entertaining resource material on experimental science: “SI Units, Conversion and Measurement Skills” (the 2007 edition, IBN 0629340584, 186 pp, USD97. The book is recommended for students and lecturers science and engineering courses. Visit website: http://www.wacek.co.za and http://www.wacek.co.za/review.html Read seven reviews: UNESCO, UK, South Africa, Botswana, United States, Hungary. His other ezines:”The Travellers Temperature Tips”, “Is IQ a Metric Unit of Intelligence and…Stupidity”, “Al-Gebra and Illuminati Links Discovered”, “How to Measure Cultural Differences in Metric Units”, “The Traveller’s Temperature Predicaments (2). NB: The book is being sold by Amazon and other booksellers illegally.

Foreign Exchange Trading better known as FOREX trading is the buying and selling of currencies from different nations. With different factors involved in this trading and its fast paced nature, it is best that you find simple ways to give you a head start in the industry.

The main purpose of getting involve in FOREX trading, just like every form of trade, is the opportunity to buy one currency low, and to be able to sell another currency high. The simplest tip you can get is to always remember to buy low and sell high. There is no point in engaging a trade if you will not profit from it.

In FOREX trading, each currency is given a three letter code like the American (United States of America) dollar has the code USD, European Euro is assigned EUR, Australia Dollars is AUD, China, Yuan Renminbi is CNY, Chile, Pesos is CLP, Philippines, Peso is PHP, so on and so forth. Because many currencies like dollars and peso have the same names, it is important that you know the code of the country’s currency you are trading with. If a currency has the same code, it means that they have the same currency, just like the European Euro that is a standard across Europe, which is given the code EUR. Whether it is Réunion, Europe or Saint-Martin, Euro has the same code–EUR.

It is also important to pay attention to the trading hours on the market you intend to trade with. Since this is a global industry, many of the markets open and close at different hours. The market in Sydney, Australia opens at 4:00 pm. Tokyo, Japan opens at 7. :00 pm, Singapore and Hong Kong markets open at the same time at 9:00 pm. Frankfurt and London opens at 2:00 and 3:00 am, respectively for the European market. New York opens at 4:00 am. All these times are based on Eastern Standard Time.

Forex Trading provides detailed information on Forex Trading, Online Forex Trading, Forex Trading Tips, Forex Trading Hours and more. Forex Trading is affiliated with Forex Day Trading Systems.

The legendary Indian spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) once said: “The earth has enough for the needs of all but not the greed of a few.” His words have since proved to be quite prophetic!

The world today is in chaos and by that I’m not merely referring to the tumult taking place in the Middle East; what I’m talking about is the imminent extinction of hundreds of millions of people as a result of global warming. In both scenarios the United States plays a central role!

I have already pretty much detailed out how and why global warming is happening and which nations are most responsible for its acceleration, as well as who’s doing what and who is not to rectify the situation in my article entitled: Global Warming–How It Could Spark World War III.

That said, I’ve included a list of figures below to illustrate to what extent each nation/region is responsible for greenhouse gas pollution in the atmosphere (greenhouse gases are widely held to be the engine behind the accelerated global warming seen today):

USA: 30.3%

Europe: 27.7%

Russia: 13.7%

South East Asia: 12.2%

South/Central America: 3.8%

Japan: 3.7%

Middle East: 2.6%

Africa: 2.5%

Australia: 1.1%

The Truth Behind The Lie

To many in marketing circles the concept of manipulation of social evidence is nothing new. Basically what it entails is manipulating tools of evidence to further one’s goals.

Thus for example, until fairly recently in internet marketing circles, the practice of manufacturing bogus testimonials was fairly widespread. The objective being to convince visitors to one’s website to purchase products on the strength of those manufactured testimonials.

In the arena of global warming much the same has been happening. In the same manner that a defense counsel in a court case will produce its own expert witness to discredit that of the prosecution (or vice versa) so has the Bush II administration paraded a string of bogus experts to decry global warming as just a myth!

In 2007 a good number of environmental scientists and climatologists publicly stated that they’d been pressurized by various Bush II factions to manipulate data to downplay the seriousness of global warming!

Which simply begs the question: why is the Bush II administration going to such lengths to hide the truth about global warming?

Snatch ‘n’ Grab Operation Gone Awry

It is now widely accepted that the invasion of Iraq had little to do with terrorism, less to do with democracy but everything to do with oil! The question still remains however, why did the US go to such lengths (which included manufacturing evidence) to illegally invade a sovereign state under what at best can be described as a thinly disguised pretext for war?

Was it merely a question of the then single remaining superpower claiming its right to wield that might as it saw fit irrespective of international law, just as Nazi Germany once did?

Or was it a case of a few vain men hoping to claim their slice of immortality through a legacy festooned with the glory of having secured new oil reserves for a nation with a quenchless thirst for the stuff?

Or perhaps the U.S. oil reserves were so desperately low that Bush II and his New World Order buddies were prepared to force a snatch and grab operation that could easily have escalated into third world war, so as to shore up those dwindled oil reserves?

Or maybe, just maybe, the U.S. desperately needed to stockpile a vast amount of oil for something far, far more sinister.

To keep at bay a monster it helped so much to create!

Threads Weaving A Disturbing Tapestry Of Events

These days more often than not fact is stranger than fiction. When we look at the Bush II Administration’s policy on global warming it is beyond perplexing why they have gone to such lengths to deny its existence.

For sure, his Have-More buddies in oil and other environmental-damaging industries have plenty to gain by muddying the waters, but what if there’s really more to this repudiation of global warming than that!

What if this is a carefully concocted plot that has been kept under wraps for years?

Here’s what we know thus far about global warming. The data has been around for well over a decade and has been readily available to government officials. Since the turn of the 21st century scientists across the globe have been warning of the extent of global warming; warnings that apparently fell on deaf ears! (Well at least as far as the Bush II administration was concerned.)

But supposing this was not actually the case.

What if the Bush II administration did listen, but only to those scientists who’d concluded that the world had reached the point of no return? And that global warming could not be reversed anytime in the foreseeable future and thus by proxy neither could its ensuing effects!

Fuelling Up For A Global Catastrophe

In other words there was no point implementing measures to curb greenhouse gas emissions (thereby slowing down global warming) and that in fact the best policy was to forge powerfully ahead and ensure that America was readied for the ensuing catastrophe no matter the cost!

If it meant manufacturing a war, so be it! If it meant causing the deaths of hundreds of millions of people to achieve that aim, so be it! After all this wouldn’t be the first time in history that the few had been sacrificed for the many! Oh! Except in this case it is the many sacrificing for the few, or more specifically, The Have-Mores!

When looked at from this perspective, that the U.S. is fuelling up for a long term global catastrophe, it all begins to make some sense! Especially considering that Saudi Arabia still has the greatest oil reserves in the world and has never said no to U.S. oil demands!

Bottom line, it is quite conceivable that the U.S. under Bush II has been insuring against (or at least trying to) a global catastrophe predominantly of its own making! But alas even the best laid plans go badly awry. Iraq didn’t turn out to be the pushover they’d expected and the oil is not gushing the way they had envisioned.

Think that such a scenario is way over the top? Think again! Remember Iraq? Remember Hurricane Katrina?

The way the Bush II government handled Katrina was so shameful that Google for some reason best known to it was compelled to replace post-Hurricane Katrina satellite imagery with pre-hurricane images on its map portal (Damage control? Trying to hide America’s shame from the rest of the world? At whose behest one wonders?).

As you can well imagine, when it came to light, the whole sordid affair was an extreme embarrassment to Google (And certainly not good for business! The search engine business thrives on the premise that results are accurate and impartial and not manipulated!).

But the point I wish to emphasize here is that if the Bush II government could shun its very own citizens (albeit mainly citizens of color) in such a cavalier fashion why would they give a damn if their actions resulted in the deaths of hundreds of millions of Africans or peoples from other parts of the globe who are going to be worst hit by global warming?

In World War II the Nazi’s genocide weapon-of-choice was hydrogen cyanide gas, what irony that in the upcoming global warming related genocide, gas too is the weapon of choice; carbon dioxide gas!

Stop Global Warming

Ba Kiwanuka is the webmaster of http://www.internetbusinessmart.com

You would probably have to have been living on a remote desert island for the better part of two years to not see any signs of the slowdown in the economy of the United States. Since August of 2007, the real estate market has been reeling from plummeting house prices, due primarily to increasing defaults on sub-prime mortgages. While these mortgages were issued to millions of borrowers with patchy or relatively poor credit ratings over the past several years, interest rates remained unusually low before the Federal Reserve began to increase rates over 2005-2006.

Up until late 2006, this process was self-reinforcing, mainly due to the delayed impacts of interest rate changes, not to mention encouraging profits for lenders, who would often repackage the loans into securities which could be sold to investors globally. Many analysts called it a new era in risk management, justifying the arcane nature of many of these new investment entities with ever-larger profits.

But just as higher interest rates began to take their deflationary effects on the larger economy, millions of sub-prime mortgages began to reset, their rates immediately dependent on available credit. Moreover, many borrowers were not made aware of the insidious nature of their home loans.

Often, their interest rates are artificially low for some period of time, usually one to two years, and then change to reflect market rates afterward. These “teaser” rates were designed to lure more potential homeowners, and they worked: all estimates of the amount of sub-prime mortgages number in the millions, and many consumer advocacy groups have decried the skyrocketing incidence of “predatory loaning” leading up to the credit crunch. Defaults have continued to increase, which has forced the financial institutions which invested in mortgage-backed securities to write down billions, eventually leading to the spectacular collapse earlier this year of Bear Stearns, formerly Wall Street’s fifth-largest investment bank.

Since the securities made from these increasingly worthless mortgages have been so widespread, any effort towards recovery must first be focused on stabilizing borrowers, who are increasingly behind on payments. In this respect, the government has taken several different courses of action. In an effort to stop unnecessary foreclosures, the US Treasury has begun an initiative to freeze mortgage payments at current levels for qualified recipients. However, its restrictions make less than 5% of homeowners eligible for the program.

In addition, the Treasury has introduced a plan to reorganize and regulate the lending industry over the next several years, which should help streamline the financial system in the future. However, its greatest effect so far has been to distract from more immediate economic problems.

By far, the greatest player in the recovery effort has been the Federal Reserve, which reversed its previously hawkish view to drop mortgage interest rates multiple times, from 5.25% last summer to 2.25% now, with a further cut of 25 basis points highly likely at the next meeting. They have also taken the unprecedented move of making its “discount window” rate loans available to investment banks. This access has historically only been available for commercial banks up until this point as a matter of last resort, but by bailing out Bear Stearns, the Fed made a commitment to help troubled investment banks weather the credit crisis. A recovery will require a combination of liberal monetary policy, further government intervention on behalf of mortgage holders, and enforceable regulation in order to prevent another bubble.

Escapeso Realty is a real estate company in Austin Texas. They run a site filled with information about Austin real estate. Their site provides information on mortgage interest rates along with a search of the Austin MLS.

All businesses, no matter what type, are in the same standing when it comes to tax requirements. The IRS requires everyone, especially business owners, to declare all of their income, file their tax returns and pay all applicable fees. This mandate extends to business transactions that are primarily done online. Fortunately, many tax benefits, and even loopholes, that apply to regular offline ventures can also be utilized in online businesses. Knowing what these are, is specifically significant for you to avoid dealing with IRS problems in the future.

To claim for tax deductions, online business owners should make use of the fact that a huge portion of their business is actually run at home. Depending on whether or not they qualify for specific IRS requirements, they may actually be eligible for some very significant tax deductions. One of the important qualifications for a house to be considered a home office is that it should be used regularly and solely for business. A dining room where the family eats dinner in the evening but is used as an office during the day can’t be classified as a home office.

For it to qualify as a home office, a particular space or room must be primarily used for business, like daily operations and client meetings. Although you are given leeway in dividing the time spent for each room, whether business or personal, you might want to keep it simple. Claiming that a room is utilized for business operations 100% of the time instead of 75%-25% for business and personal uses, respectively, is a more beneficial alternative. This strategy will keep you away from potential IRS problems.

Another major stipulation for a space to be considered a home office is that it must be considered as your principal business rendezvous. Online entrepreneurs generally find this stipulation quite easy to attain since they operate completely from their homes most of the time anyway. Basically, the IRS wants to make sure that all business-related activities you carry out in your home office, is not also accomplished any place else, specifically places like rented offices or suites.

These two main requisites, when met, will definitely allow you to deduct many costs associated with your office and home. Among other things, these costs include rent or mortgage payments, insurance costs, utility bills and property taxes. You cannot, on the contrary, deduct all of your rent or mortgage payment. The way it works is usually through a percentage computation. If your office makes up for 25% of your home, and your mortgage payment is $1,000 per month, then you would be able to deduct 25% of that $1,000 which is $250. So every month you would be able to deduct $250 which totals to $3,000 per year. This is essentially how you should deduct expenses concerning your home office. In addition, keeping updated records of your online business will help you avoid IRS problems in the future.

Restrictions to online business tax deductions are also available. For example, you cannot have accumulated deductions that will lead to a net loss in a given year. Specifically, if your business registers annual revenues of $50,000 and your exemptions also total to $60,000, you can’t claim a net loss equaling to that $10,000 difference. Claiming for a net gain of zero, however, is a possible and reasonable option.

Darrin T. Mish is a Nationally recognized Attorney whose practice focuses on representing clients across the United States with IRS Problems. He is AV rated by Martindale-Hubbel and is a member of the American Society of IRS Problem Solvers and the Tax Freedom Institute. He has been honored by a listing in Martindale-Hubbel’s Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers. His passion is providing IRS help to taxpayers with both individual and payroll tax problems. He teaches attorneys, CPAs and Enrolled Agents in the finer aspects of IRS representation all around the United States. He can be reached at his website at http://www.getIRShelp.com

ETFs, otherwise known as “Exchange Traded Funds”, are a fast-growing segment of the Finance and Investment Market which are moving towards supplanting Mutual Funds as preferred means of fund investing.

You probably know most of the ways available to trade the markets… Stocks, Forex, Options, Futures & Commodities, … plenty of trading choices to consider.

But for over a decade now – since the early 90′s, there’s been a group of funds that are now growing rapidly as more investors and traders become aware of their profit potential – that is, ETFs.

In 1996 there were about $16 billion in ETFs… then just over a decade later that number has sky-rocketed to in excess of $600 billion!

An ETF is a fund comprised of a group of stocks, bonds, or other investment vehicles similar to a mutual fund. However, unlike a mutual fund, ETFs trade like stocks allowing a trader to buy and sell during normal exchange trading hours. Hence you can have immediate access to your funds upon selling an ETF position during normal market hours anytime you want.

Whilst ETFs can be generally more cost and tax efficient than mutual funds, a commission cost applies in the same way as it would have when trading stocks. There are no minimum buy requirements or holding period requirements common to many mutual funds. Likewise, you can buy as little as 1 share of an ETF as you would buy 1 share of a stock.

In simple terms, this means you can get the diversification that a fund has to offer and the ability to trade in and out of the fund. This is a big deal, because you can virtually eliminate stock specific risk by trading a basket of stocks within the fund so that if one stock in the fund suddenly drops in price, the negative impact on a position you may have in the fund would be far less than if you had owned a position in the shares of that particular stock.

There are many different types of funds available. In the United States alone there are currently now over 600 funds, with more being added on a daily basis. ETFs include stock sector, country, currency, commodity, bond or other investment objective related funds.

Further, there are funds that have only short positions and are sometimes referred to as “short” funds, or “short ETFs”, which will increase in price as the short positions they hold go down in price.

Some funds are leveraged funds, meaning that when the stocks in their funds go up by say 5%, the fund could go up by 10% and short funds whose stocks go down in price by say 5%, could go down 10%.

ETFs are also a growing investment vehicle in international stock markets as well. A prospectus on each ETF is available and information on the individual holdings of an ETF can be found on Yahoo Finance and other financial related websites.

However, not all ETFs are suitable for trading as many are thinly traded or too volatile to be considered good swing trading vehicles. ETFs in the U.S. are created and maintained by sponsor companies subject to the approval and regulation of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Success in any chosen field can only be gained by knowledge and practice. Knowledge is best gained from recognised experts in their field.

Nadine Huegel
http://www.squidoo.com/MoneyMarketMastery