luni, 24 decembrie 2012

SEO Blog

SEO Blog


Happy Holidays | Google wishes with a new and very interesting Doodle

Posted: 24 Dec 2012 04:42 AM PST

On Christmas Eve Google is celebrating "Happy Holidays" with an interesting and very attracting Doodle on Google.co.uk. Today is the beginning of Christmas Holidays in the most of the countries of the world. Since 1970 Americans are using the word "Happy Holidays" to substitute "Merry Christmas" which has now become...
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6 people you might know on Google+

Hi Mihai!
Here are some people you might know on Google+.
Google+ team
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Saldana Spain
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zoso.ro
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www.lifelines.ro
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PC Tuneup Blog
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The most popular content on Google+View what's hot
Earthrise - 24 December 1968

The rising +Earth - add & share :) is about five degrees above the lunar horizon in this telephoto view taken from the Apollo 8 spacecraft near 110 degrees east longitude. The horizon, about 570 kilometers (350 statute miles) from the spacecraft, is near the eastern limb of the moon as viewed from Earth. Width of the view at the horizon is about 150 kilometers (95 statute miles). On Earth 240,000 statute miles away the sunset terminator crosses Africa. The crew took the...
+816 - 152 comments - 173 sharesView or comment on this post »

                           Welcome to the magical world 
                                              of 
                  Christmas and New Year's Eve in Greece


"Oniroupolis" (Dreamland) at the city of Drama http://goo.gl/VC6Io 
                        Thank you +Xaris Xaris for sharing!!!

#greece   #visitgreece   #truegreece   #destination   #christmas   #christmasdestination   #christmastravel   
+1015 - 242 comments - 158 sharesView or comment on this post »
Raising your voice
might turn beautiful hearts
into places of stone
echoing the harshness
right back to you
Your whispers
may open up the doors
to beautiful hearts and minds
you did not even know about
your kindness will return
to you even multiplied
 ♥  If you agree please share. May your Monday be peaceful. ♥ 

For #HQSPYesWeCan  also for #SupportRinusBakkerBySharing  
(c) Rinus Bakker #RinusBakkerPhotography  
...and 4 more photos.
+1277 - 418 comments - 302 sharesView or comment on this post »
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An Itty-Bitty White House

The White House Your Daily Snapshot for
Monday, December 24, 2012
 
An Itty-Bitty White House

The 2012 holiday décor at the White House features a 300 pound representation of the President's' house made entirely from edible treats.

Pastry Chef Bill Yosses and his talented team spent months planning, baking, building, and decorating the structure -- which is made from more than 175 pounds of gingerbread and more than 50 pounds of chocolate.

Check out a time-lapse of the White House gingerbread house getting built.

Video: Time-lapse of the White House gingerbread house

In Case You Missed It

Here are some of the top stories from the White House blog:

White House Holiday Social in Pictures
Last week, the White House hosted some of our newest followers on Pinterest for a Holiday Social. This was the latest in a series of White House social events that create opportunities for people who engage with us online to attend in-person events.

Weekly Address: The President and First Lady Extend a Holiday Greeting and Thank our Troops for their Service 
In this week’s address, President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, and thank our brave troops and their families for their service.

President Obama Discusses the Fiscal Cliff
After a week of negotiation and debate around the fiscal cliff, President Obama took to the James S. Brady Briefing Room in the White House to talk about where we are in the fight to keep middle-class taxes from going up.

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Seth's Blog : True professionals don't fear amateurs

 

True professionals don't fear amateurs

Professional farmers don't begrudge the backyard gardener his tomato harvest. That's silly.

And talented mechanics certainly don't mind the antics of the Car Talk guys (or their listeners). Sooner or later, if you need a real mechanic, you'll find one, and if you don't, well, that's fine too.

A few years ago, typesetting, wedding photography, graphic design and other endeavors that were previously off limits to all but the most passionate amateurs started to become more common. The insecure careerists fought off the amateurs at the gate, insisting that it was both a degradation of their art as well as a waste of time for the amateurs. The professionals, though, those with real talent, used the technological shift to move up the food chain. It was easy to encourage amateurs to go ahead and explore and experiment... professionals bring more than just good tools to their work as professionals.

The best professionals love it when a passionate amateur shows up. The clarity and intelligence of a smart customer pushes both client and craftsman to do better work.

Gifted college professors don't fear online courses. Talented web designers don't fear cloud services. Bring them on! When you need something worth paying for, they say, we'll be here. And what we'll sell you will be worth more than we charge you.

If you're upset that the hoi polloi are busy doing what you used to do, get better instead of getting angry.



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duminică, 23 decembrie 2012

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis


Yen Declines Following Shinzo Abe's Threat to Change Japanese Law; An Idle Threat?

Posted: 23 Dec 2012 06:46 PM PST

A very serious question that investors face today regards whether Japan is or isn't serious about politicians taking over Japan's central bank.

Personally, I think the politicians are serious, as well as "seriously wrong".

If you think that I am wrong, please consider Yen Declines After Abe Says He May Change BOJ Law.
The yen declined versus its peers after incoming Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe said he will consider changing the law on the central bank unless it boosts its inflation target to 2 percent next month.

Abe said on Japan's Fuji Television yesterday that he will consider revising the law governing the Bank of Japan if it fails to increase its inflation target from 1 percent at its January meeting. He is poised to become prime minister after his Liberal Democratic Party's coalition secured a majority in elections on Dec. 16.

Abe has called on the BOJ to pursue "unlimited easing" to help end deflation and revive growth. BOJ Governor Masaaki Shirakawa and his board last week refrained from doubling the central bank's 1 percent inflation target, while expanding its asset-purchase program by 10 trillion yen ($118 billion) to 76 trillion yen.
Idle Threat?

I see no indication whatsoever this is an idle threat. The counter-argument in the form of a question is "what good did a 1% inflation target by the Bank of Japan do?"

The real question pertains not to the target but actual actions. After all, policy could be 20% instead of 2% but unless either the government or the central bank backs up the pronouncement with actions, talk is meaningless.

I happen to think Shinzo Abe is nuts enough on this go around, to do what he didn't do the first time he was prime minister.

Moreover, my general belief is that statements by politicians regarding what they will or will not do are likely to be most accurate at times their policies will do the most damage.

In this case, Shinzo Abe's threat, if carried out, would destroy Japan.

I take that threat very seriously.

You are free to disagree, but first consider ...


Bear in mind that nothing moves in a straight line. The Yen has declined significantly, and a snapback rally may (or may not), happen at any time. Longer term, I see no reason to change my forecast of a declining Yen.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com

Bank of Japan Holdings of Japanese Government Bonds Exceeds 100 Trillion Yen for First Time

Posted: 23 Dec 2012 07:45 AM PST

Bloomberg reports BOJ Holdings of JGBs Exceed 100 Trillion Yen for First Time
The Bank of Japan holdings of the government's bonds exceeded 100 trillion yen ($1.2 trillion) for the first time, raising the risk that yields will jump on perceptions that it is financing public spending.

The central bank held 104.9 trillion yen of the debt at the end of September, 11.1 percent of all government bonds, a quarterly central bank report showed today in Tokyo. The BOJ said it was the highest on record. Bond holdings by foreign investors rose to a record 9.1 percent.

The BOJ yesterday expanded its asset purchase program for the fifth time this year, with half of the 10 trillion-yen increase to be spent on JGBs. Incoming Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wants more central-bank action to defeat deflation and has pledged fiscal stimulus to stoke growth, even as he's constrained by the world's largest public debt.
If QE worked and fiscal stimulus worked, Japan would not have debt-to-GDP ratio of 230%. Japan's national debt now exceeds a quadrillion yen!

A quadrillion is a number with 15 zeros. 1,000,000,000,000,000. Can that ever be paid back? How?

US has been running budget deficits exceeding $1 trillion for four straight years. What the heck is that other than Keynesian stimulus?

It has failed. But economists like Paul Krugman want more of it (please see Mish on Capital Account: "Time for Krugman to Leave Ivory Tower for Real World").

Krugman will claim deficit spending prevented disaster. It did no such thing. All it did is pile up the debt that cannot possibly be paid back.

The average 7th grader likely understands that he cannot spend more money than he has for years on end. The average economist does not.

For more on Japan, please consider Kyle Bass on the End of the Debt Supercycle and a Coming Massive Devaluation of the Yen; Most Difficult Time to Invest; The Belief Bubble

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com

Seth's Blog : How to make a website: a tactical guide for marketers

 

How to make a website: a tactical guide for marketers

This isn't about the strategy of how to design a website that works--this is my take on how marketers can work with their teams, their bosses and their developers to get the site they want built with less time and less hassle. (PS all of this works for apps, too). Most people who are responsible for websites are amateurs. This is my best take on how the goal-oriented non-professional can do a good job.

Three things worth remembering:

  • Every website is a marketing effort. Sooner or later, your site involves an interaction with a user, and that interaction won't be 100% technical. You have to sell the engagement, the interaction and the story you have in mind. While websites have always involved technology, the tech is secondary to your ability to get your point across.
  • Virtually all websites are not on the cutting edge of technology. You're doing something that's been done before, at least technically.
  • Synchronizing your team is difficult, because most people know it when they see it, and seeing it is expensive. It's sort of like building a hundred houses in order to find the one that your spouse likes--not a practical effort.

The approach I recommend:

  • Find the tech elements you need by browsing the web. Make a list--I want menus that work like this site, a shopping cart that works like that site, a home page that works like this one.
  • Create the entire site (or at least the critical elements) using Keynote on the Mac (PowerPoint works too, but Keynote is a little easier to work with). Begin by copying and pasting elements from other sites, but as you make progress, hire a graphic designer to create the elements you need. Keynote makes it easy to actually have spots on the screen link to other slides in the 'presentation', so the document you create will actually allow your team to click on various parts of the screen and jump to other pages.
  • Do not do any coding at all.

What you end up with, then, is a 3 or 10 or 100 page Keynote document, with a look and a feel. With menus. With fonts. With things in their proper hierarchy. Once you're good at this, you can build or tweak a 'site' in no time.

Now you have a powerful tool. You can use it in presentations, in meetings and even test it with users, all before you do any coding at all. Once you've shared this with the team, the question is simple, "if our website works just like this, do you approve of it?" Don't start coding until the answer is yes.

This is a discipline, one that takes a fair amount of guts to stick with, but it pays off huge dividends. Don't code until you know what you want.

Last step: Hand the Keynote doc to your developers and go away until it's finished.

As I said, this works for mobile apps too. Here's a site filled with template shortcuts for both.



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sâmbătă, 22 decembrie 2012

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis


Boogeymen and Fake Reforms

Posted: 22 Dec 2012 03:45 PM PST

Earlier today I received an email from Jonathan Ingram at the Illinois Policy Institute that I wish to share. The email is regarding the sorry state of Illinois Pensions.
Dear Mish

Illinois has a long history of fake reforms – legislative proposals that promise to solve the great policy challenges of the day when passed, but never actually accomplish these goals and often make problems worse.

In the mid-1990s, Illinois lawmakers were facing a serious problem: the unfunded liability of the state's five public pension systems had reached $20 billion.

As a way to combat this growing problem, the state created a repayment schedule, often called the "pension ramp."

The pension ramp, which was passed by the Republican-controlled General Assembly and signed into law by former Republican Gov. Jim Edgar, promised to reach 90% funding levels by 2045.

According to the repayment schedule, the five systems should be nearly 57% funded today. Instead, the systems are just 39% funded and the state's pension debt has grown to $95 billion.



What happened?

You'll often hear that the pension debt was caused by the state "skipping pension payments." What you won't hear is that taxpayers have actually paid $8 billion more than the original ramp projected.

How can the five pension systems be just 39% funded?

The systems simply weren't able to get the kinds of returns they promised and the underlying actuarial assumptions didn't reflect reality.

These are problems with the underlying structure of Illinois' pension plans. The defined-benefit structure guarantees that a large share of the actual costs will be hidden and largely unknown until the systems come back to taxpayers asking for more money to make up for poor returns and mistaken assumptions.

This creates massive uncertainty for future budgets. For example, the state's fiscal year 2014 pension contribution was originally projected to be $3.7 billion. The actual contribution for fiscal year 2014 will be $6.8 billion. That's nearly twice what was predicted.

That's why we need a government retirement system that is reliable for workers, but still affordable for taxpayers.

We must freeze all of the defined benefits workers have already earned and move to a defined-contribution plan for all future work, similar to the 401(k) plans available in the private sector and the 401(a) plans already offered to many state university workers.

Illinois has the worst-funded pension system in the nation. The only way to move toward those solutions is to get politicians out of the retirement business altogether and give employees real control over their retirement savings.

Jonathan Ingram
Director of Health Policy and Pension Reform
While Illinois burns, Moody's threatens next downgrade

Ingram is of course preaching to the choir, but I don't object one bit. It's important for Illinois citizens to be informed about the pathetic state of Illinois finances.

Please consider another look at the sorry state of affairs in Illinois, by Ted Dabrowski at the Illinois Policy Institute: While Illinois burns, Moody's threatens next downgrade.
It's no secret that Illinois has the worst-funded state pension systems in the nation. That's an accepted fact by those on both sides of the aisle. Unfortunately, that fact hasn't motivated any action from the state's politicians.

Now recent news point to even deeper troubles for the state. Moody's Investor Services has threatened to punish Illinois again with another credit downgrade by revising the state's outlook to "negative" from "stable". The agency already gave Illinois the nation's worst credit rating, an A2, in January 2012 – and things look to get worse.



What's ironic is that as the situation worsened during the past year, Springfield's lack of action became increasingly more obvious. Moody's called out this fact, saying: "The state repeatedly failed to act on pension reform – during the regular session that ended May 31, during a one-day special session convened by the governor on Aug. 17, and again during the state's 'veto sessions' in November and December."

A growing problem

A recent release by the Illinois Policy Institute shows the true extent of the crisis in Illinois. Politicians often talk about Illinois' official funding shortfall, now equal to $96 billion. But when the state's liabilities are measured under new accounting and transparency rules proposed by Moody's, Illinois' pension shortfall exceeds $209 billion.

The state also has $54 billion in unfunded liabilities for retiree health insurance and $15 billion in pension bonds that Gov. Pat Quinn and his immediate predecessor, former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, issued to avoid pension reform.

That debt now totals more than $275 billion — or $58,000 in debt for each and every household in Illinois.

Only 24% Funded

It's becoming clear that the state's pension systems are running out of time. Under new rules proposed by both Moody's and the Governmental Accounting Standards Board, the five state pension systems have reached dangerously low levels of funding. Under Moody's rules, the state's overall funding levels are now just 24 percent. The Teachers' Retirement System, or TRS, for downstate and suburban teachers is only 24-percent funded and among the worst-funded systems in the nation. One major stock market correction and that fund will be effectively insolvent.

Those findings only confirm what Dick Ingram, head of the TRS, said in February: Without reforms, TRS may be insolvent by 2029.
TRS Insolvency on the Way

Dick Ingram, head of the TRS (not to be confused with Jonathan Ingram at the Illinois Policy Institute) is an optimist.

Without reforms, TRS is highly likely to be insolvent far soon than 2029. In fact, I think it is insolvent now.

Pension plan assumptions regarding expected rates-of-return are preposterous, most likely because they have to be. All it will take to wipe the the entire plan out is another big decline in asset prices, and that is something I am confident is coming (time unknown).

If you wish to be better informed about the sorry state of affairs in Illinois and nationally, please sign up for Jonathan Ingram's Health Policy and Pension Newsletter email list

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com

Fiscal Cliff Jackasses Complain Shoppers Are Spooked

Posted: 22 Dec 2012 09:57 AM PST

It was bound to happen. Analysts are bitching the fiscal cliff is holding back retail spending.

Please consider "Fiscal cliff" spooks shoppers in last lap of holiday race.
Fears about imminent tax hikes and cuts in government spending are taking a toll on U.S. shoppers and could deprive retailers of a strong finish to the 2012 holiday shopping season.

The acrimonious debate in Washington over how to avoid the so-called "fiscal cliff" has cast a pall over shopper sentiment as consumers head to malls on the last Saturday before Christmas - typically one of the busiest shopping days of the year.

About 17 percent of the 1,514 Americans who participated in a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted December 17-20 said the impending "fiscal cliff" was making them spend less this season.

"We just try to stay on a budget. We're not going crazy," said Tom Chowinski, a market researcher at Nielsen, who was shopping with his wife for their four adult children on Saturday morning at a Wal-Mart store in Westbury, New York.

HO-HUM CHRISTMAS

"What could have been a merry Christmas is going to turn to a ho-hum Christmas, and we can thank our, you know, politicians for getting in the middle of it all," NPD analyst Marshal Cohen said. "This great unknown puts a big damper on the consumer feeling confident to go out and spend more."

More than 60 percent of U.S. consumers have already finished more than three-quarters of their holiday shopping, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Thursday. This means retailers will have to offer deeper discounts to force Americans to open their wallets in the last lap of the holiday race.
Ho-Hum This

As far as I am concerned, people spending less for Christmas is a side "benefit" of the fiscal cliff. The Government needs to tighten it's budget and consumers do as well.

For those who do go on a last minute spending spree, who doesn't want lower prices (other than retailers and NPD analyst Marshal Cohen)?

Tough times will return (not that they ever left in the first place for millions of Americans), and the  last thing people need to do is overspend on junk that will be thrown out in a month or items dear Aunt Suzie will donate to the Salvation Army.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com