Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

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Olympic Disaster in Vancouver, Taxpayers on Hook for $1 Billion "Ghost Town" Posted: 08 Sep 2010 03:40 PM PDT It boggles the mind to think that anyone can possibly think of Olympics as doing anything more than throwing taxpayer money straight down the toilet. Of course vendors and real estate agents do not give a damn about the long-term consequences as long as a quick buck can be made. Now it's payback time as Vancouver taxpayers on hook for $1-billion as most Olympic Village units unsold Sixty-six per cent of Vancouver's pricey Olympic Village condos remain unsold — a total of 483 units at the massive False Creek development that served as athletes' housing during the two-week 2010 Games. Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson, whose city remains on the hook for more than $1.03 billion of the cost of the project, predicts it will take a "full two-year term" to sell the remaining units. The suites, which are priced anywhere from $400,000 to $5 million each, have been subject to the HST since July. The city's investment in the project includes a $750-million loan plus undisclosed interest payments, $120 million still owed to the city for the land and a $110-million outlay for 252 affordable housing units. Today, six months after the 2010 Olympic Games, the village resembles a ghost town. Walking down the empty streets last Saturday afternoon, it was hard to find anyone actually living in the $1.2-billion former Olympic Village. Even the security guards conceded there's not much to do at the "showcase" Millennium Water development, where only 254 condos have been sold. Fortunately Chicago dodged a bullet as it was foolishly attempting to "win" the upcoming 2016 Olympics. In this game, winning the bid is a guaranteed loss for taxpayers. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific.

Consumers Shun Credit Cards - Credit Card Usage Drops, Debit Card Usage Rises Posted: 08 Sep 2010 11:25 AM PDT Consumers have had enough of high interest rates on credit cards but its a case of one plastic for another. Bloomberg reports Cardholders Prefer Debit as Credit-Card Use Falls Americans are shunning their credit cards and using debit to avoid incurring more debt, said Javelin Strategy & Research. Total payment volume for debit cards surpassed credit-card volume for the first time in 2009 and will continue to eclipse it in 2010, according to a report released today by the Pleasanton, California-based market-research firm that specializes in financial services. At San Francisco-based Visa Inc., the world's biggest payments network, the total payment volume for debit cards increased by 7.9 percent in 2009 to $883 billion as credit-card volume declined by 7.3 percent to $764 billion. Volume for debit cards at No. 2 MasterCard Inc. in Purchase, New York, rose by 5.8 percent and 2.8 percent at No. 4 Riverwoods, Illinois-based Discover Financial Services. Fifty-six percent of consumers said they had used a credit card in the past month compared with 87 percent who said they had in 2007, according to the study, which surveyed 3,294 people in November 2009 for that question. Other findings were based on data collected online from 5,211 respondents in March 2010 and 5,000 consumers in November 2009. If the rate of decline continues, 45 percent of consumers will reach for a credit card in 2010, the study said. Long-Term Shift Another cause for reduced credit-card use is financial reform aimed at protecting consumers, which has decreased the number of new cards given and cut available spending limits, the Javelin report said. Federal legislation that limits overdraft fees, caps on fees banks charge merchants for debit-card transactions and credit-card legislation mean banks have to recoup losses and are only giving cards to the most creditworthy borrowers, the study said. Younger people also favor debit over credit because of the immediate nature of making a payment, which means the shift to debit will be long-term, said Van Dyke. And since younger cardholders favor the convenience of debit cards, they won't turn to cash or checks, he said. Purchase transactions generated by credit and debit cards in the U.S. totaled more than 27 billion from Jan. 1 through June 30, according to the Nilson Report, an industry newsletter in Carpinteria, California. Debit-card purchases accounted for 65 percent of all sales, up from 62.3 percent, the Nilson Report said. Total Revolving Credit Revolving Credit Percent Change From Year Ago Reasons For Decline In Credit Usage Bankruptcies Other Loan Writeoffs Consumers Paying Down Debt Increasing Favoritism Towards Debit Cards Gift Cards Bank Lending Standards Increase Unprecedented Drop in Revolving Credit This is all part of an overall secular shift in consumer attitudes towards credit and debt, and bank attitudes towards lending. It's a good thing but Bernanke will not see it that way. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific.

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SEOmoz Daily SEO Blog

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An Interview on SEOBook Posted: 07 Sep 2010 04:32 PM PDT Posted by randfish Just a short post tonight. First, off, I'm honored to be interviewed by Aaron Wall. We've had our differences and maintain some divergent opinions on a few topics, but we both have an insane passion for helping make SEO professionals better at their job and work hard to grow the credibility of SEO as a whole. Second - we've got a lot of reason to be thankful. SEOmoz was recently named the 334th fastest growing company in the US by Inc Magazine. I was named to Seattle's 40 Under 40 List (I'm guessing it's a typo) and we've recently passed 6,000 PRO subscribers (actually, we're up over 6,300 as of today). As amazing as all that is, nearly everyone at SEOmoz is thinking not about these milestones, but about one of our own - Jen Lopez - who noted on her Twitter feed that she's out battling cancer. We are all with you Jen - every last one of us, with all our hearts. And we agree: #fuckcancer Do you like this post? Yes No

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Seth's Blog : Three uses for a free Kindle book

[You're getting this note because you subscribed to Seth Godin's blog.]

Three uses for a free Kindle book

Charlie Huston used one of his books (no longer free) to get me hooked on the rest of the series. Get one free, buy three. Backwards but effective.

Another: To spread an idea you believe in (where money is not the object).

And: To create hoopla for a new book launch. Josh Bernoff is doing a freebie with his new book, just this week. (Sorry, US only--publishing rights are largely a pre-digital artifact).

When the marginal cost of the interaction is zero, the marketing opportunities of spreading an idea increase dramatically.

  • Email to a friend • •

More Recent Articles

• Marketing to the bottom of the pyramid
• If you want to learn to do marketing...
• Design with intent
• Whatever happened to labor?
• Your smile didn't matter

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Answering Your Questions About the Economy

We wanted to be sure you saw this email from Austan Goolsbee earlier today. Immediately following the President's remarks on the economy in Cleveland, Austan Goolsbee will be hosting a live chat on WhiteHouse.gov/live. Be sure to tune in to the President's speech at 2:10 PM EDT and join the chat immediately after. You can submit your questions now on Facebook.

Good morning, Millions of our friends and neighbors around the country are looking for work, wondering how they will pay this month’s rent or put food on the table for their families.  At a speech in Wisconsin on Monday, the President made clear that turning our economy around is his top priority: I am going to keep fighting every single day, every single hour, every single minute, to turn this economy around and put people back to work and renew the American Dream, not just for your family, not just for all our families, but for future generations. At 2:10 p.m. EDT today, President Obama will announce a set of targeted proposals to help our economy continue on a path to recovery during a speech in Cleveland, Ohio.  I know many of you have questions about what this Administration is doing to support working families and small businesses who are struggling to get by.  So immediately following the President’s remarks, I’ll be hosting a live chat to answer your questions about what we’re doing to help Americans find jobs and to rebuild our economy for the long term. I’m looking forward to talking with you later today. Sincerely, Austan Goolsbee Council of Economic Advisers P.S. In case you missed it, you can check out the video of the President’s speech in Wisconsin on Monday where he laid out his plan to put Americans back to work renewing and rebuilding America’s roads, rails and runways: http://www.whitehouse.gov/labor-day     This email was sent to e0nstar1.blog@gmail.com. Unsubscribe e0nstar1.blog@gmail.com | Privacy Policy Sign-Up For Updates from the White House Please do not reply to this email. Contact the White House The White House • 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW • Washington, DC 20500 • 202-456-1111

Michael Gray - Graywolf's SEO Blog

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How To Silo Your Website: The Footer Posted: 07 Sep 2010 08:18 AM PDT This post is part of a series on How to Silo Your Website. The other parts in the series are: How to Silo Your Website: The Masthead, How to Silo Your Website, The Breadcrumb , How to Silo Your Website: The Content, and How to Silo Your Website: The Sidebar. For this last part, we’ll be looking at the footer. Another strategy I’ve seen used that often has good results is the dynamic footer … Ah…the website footer. Aside from meta keywords and descriptions, it’s hard to think of an area that’s been more abused. A common spot for selling run of site links, turning into a link brothel (looks in the direction of you Lendingtree), or for stuffing content below the copyright information that you can’t even argue is for bots not humans (looks at you Match.com). It’s hard to resist the temptation to abuse the footer, which IMHO is why links in the footer possess so little value compared to links in the sidebar, masthead, and content sections. So how can a site owner use the footer to their advantage? First, let’s look at usability. All of those service links that I said you should remove from the masthead and sidebar: this is where they should go. Over the years, people have learned to look here if they need information. However, sometimes the amount of links can make the area look … well … excessively linky. If that’s a problem, I suggest checking out this post on beautiful footers to get some ideas about how to keep it looking good and easy to use. Another strategy I’ve seen used that often has good results is the dynamic footer, first popularized by Weblogs Inc (the company Jason Calacanis sold to AOL for 25 million). The basic concept is to keep the links in the footer changing and pointing to new or updated content (for Weblogs Inc it was used to show links to new posts all from multiple sites across the network. See divester for an example). While this tactic isn’t as effective as it once was, keeping the footer dynamic is still a good idea worth trying (see How to Make Your Homepage More Dynamic for tips on how and what to include). So what are the takeaways from this post: Put all of the service links you removed from other sections here. Look for ways to keep it usable and visually appealing. Try to include as much dynamic content as possible. While there are still some subtleties to siloing a website, hopefully this series has pointed you in the right direction. If you have any questions or followup posts you would like to see, drop me a tweet and let me know @Graywolf. photo credit: twicepix This post originally came from Michael Gray who is an SEO Consultant. Be sure not to miss the Thesis WordPress Theme review. How To Silo Your Website: The Footer Related posts: How To Silo Your Website:The Sidebar The following post is part of a series on How... How To Silo Your Website: The Masthead One of the more powerful tools an SEO can use... How To Silo Your Website: The Breadcrumb Trail In Part 1 we looked at How To Silo Your... How to Silo Your Website: The Content The following is part of the series How To Silo... Tip for the Keyword & Link Footer Stuffers If you’re going to stuff your footer with #EEFFFF (very... Advertisers: Text Link Ads - New customers can get $100 in free text links. CrazyEgg.com - Supplement your analytics with action information from click tracking heat maps. BOTW.org - Get a premier listing in the internet's oldest directory. Ezilon.com Regional Directory - Check to see if your website is listed! Page1Hosting - Class C IP Hosting starting at $2.99. Directory Journal - List your website in our growing web directory today. Content Customs - Unique and high quality SEO writing services, providing webmasters with hundreds of SEO articles per week Majestic SEO - Competitive back link intellegence for SEO Analysis Glass Whiteboards - For a professional durable white board with no ghosting, streaking or marker stains, see my Glass Whiteboard Review Need an SEO Audit for your website, look at my SEO Consulting Services KnowEm - Protect your brand, product or company name with a continually growing list of social media sites. Scribe SEO Review find out how to better optimize your wordpress posts. TigerTech - Great Web Hosting service at a great price.

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Daily Snapshot: Rebuilding Our Economy

Your Daily Snapshot for Wednesday, September 8, 2010   Photo of the Day Young dancers participate in a workshop in the East Room of the White House, prior to the White House Dance Series: A Tribute to Judith Jamison performance, Sept. 7, 2010. Students from around the country participated in the 90 minute workshop and then attended the performance honoring Jamison's career in dance. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy) View more photos. Today's Schedule Today, the President will update the American people on the state of the economy, talk about the progress we have made, and discuss some targeted proposals to keep the economy growing including extending tax cuts for the middle class, and investing in the areas of our economy where the potential for job growth is greatest. It took years to create our economic problems, and it will take more time than any of us would like to fully repair the damage. There are no silver bullets and anyone who is promising them is not being straight with the American people. But there are some ideas that will help the economy and help American families that are hurting and those proposals will be a part of the President’s remarks. Speaking in the city where Minority Leader Boehner recently detailed the Republican economic agenda, the President will lay out the choice between his ideas and the failed policies and failed philosophy that led us into this mess. All times are Eastern Daylight Time 8:00 AM: The Vice President hosts a breakfast meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton 9:45 AM:  The President and the Vice President receive the Presidential Daily Briefing 10:30 AM: The Vice President meets with Governor Bill Richardson 12:05 PM: The President departs the White House en route Andrews Air Force Base 12:20 PM: The President departs Andrews Air Force Base en route Cleveland, Ohio 1:30 PM: The President arrives in Cleveland, Ohio 2:10 PM: The President delivers remarks on the economy  (audio only) 3:00 PM: Open for Questions: Boosting the Recovery with Austan Goolsbee 3:50 PM: The President departs Cleveland, Ohio en route Andrews Air Force Base 5:00 PM: The President arrives at Andrews Air Force Base 5:15 PM: The President arrives at the White House 5:20 PM: The President meets with senior advisors  Indicates Events that will be livestreamed on WhiteHouse.gov/live. In Case You Missed It Here are some of the top stories from the White House blog.  Rebuilding Our Economy to Work for Middle Class Americans Again Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer lays out the stakes on the economy ahead of the President's remarks in Cleveland. President Proposes New Jobs, Renewed Infrastructure Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood looks at the President's new proposals on infrastructure along with what the Administration has already accomplished. Prize Platform Invites Citizens to Solve Nation’s Challenges Deputy Director for Policy in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Tom Kalil introduces Challenge.gov, a new platform for citizens to share novel solutions, compete for prizes and prestige, and advance our national priorities. Get Updates Sign up for the Daily Snapshot   Stay Connected     Facebook Twitter YouTube Flickr iTunes         This email was sent to e0nstar1.blog@gmail.com Manage Subscriptions for e0nstar1.blog@gmail.com Sign Up for Updates from the White House Unsubscribe e0nstar1.blog@gmail.com | Privacy Policy Please do not reply to this email. Contact the White House The White House • 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW • Washington, DC 20500 • 202-456-1111