Central Perk

luni, 11 aprilie 2011

Damn Cool Pics

Sexy Celebrity Shorties
Top 10 Ghost Towns in America
Bureaucrats, Сivil Servants and Their Salaries
How to Open a Bottle with a Helicopter

Posted: 11 Apr 2011 05:56 PM PDT

These miniature celebrities look sexy despite their short height. Maybe they won't confess how short they are in real life, but we still know their little secret.

Snooki, 4 ft 9 in (1.45 m)

Natalie Portman, 5 ft 3 in (159 cm)

Kylie Minogue, 5 ft (154 cm)

Kristen Bell, 5 ft 1 in (155 cm)

Rachel Bilson, 5 ft 2 in (1.57 m)

Scarlett Johansson, 5 ft 3 in (160 cm)

Eva Longoria, 5 ft 1 in (1.55 m)

Elisha Cuthbert, 5 ft 4 in (162 cm)

Kim Kardashian, 5 ft 3 in (160 cm)

Hayden Panettiere, 5 ft 1 in (155 cm)

Hilary Duff, 5 ft 1 in (155 cm)

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, 5 ft 1 in (155 cm)

Shakira, 4 ft 11 in (1.50 m)

Kourtney Kardashian, 5 ft (1.52 m)

Tila Tequila, 4 ft 11 in (1.50 m)

Salma Hayek, 5 ft 2 in (1.58 m)

Nicole Richie, 5 ft 1 in (155 cm)

Top 10 Ghost Towns in America

Posted: 11 Apr 2011 03:55 PM PDT

These are some real ghost towns in the United States. Most of these towns were thriving at one time or another. There are various reasons for their demise. Now they are simply ghost towns.

Ruby, Arizona

Bodie, California

Centralia, Pennsylvania

Flagstaff, Maine

Virginia City, Montana

Cahawba, Alabama

Rhyolite, Nevada

Glenrio, Texas/New Mexico

Goldfield, Arizona

Gleeson, Courtland and Pearce, Arizona

Bureaucrats, Сivil Servants and Their Salaries

Posted: 11 Apr 2011 03:17 PM PDT

It is amazing how much civil servants and bureaucrats make in different countries. Some of them make as little as $11 per month. Usually, these people have extremely large families.

Liberia, bureaucracy, 2006. Liberia-04/2006 [Mon., AD (b. 1940)]. Major Adolph Dalaney (b. 1940) works in the Reconstruction Room of the Traffic Police at the Liberia National Police Headquarters in the capital Monrovia. Monthly salary: barely 1,000 Liberian dollars (US$ 18, euro 17). Traffic accident victims at times are willing to pay a little extra if Dalaney"s department quickly draws up a favorable report to present to a judge.

Liberia, bureaucracy, 2006. Liberia-29/2006 [Car., ADT (b. 1946)]. Alfred D. Tartea (b. 1946) is administrative assistant and acting superintendent (highest civil servant) of Careysburg district, Montserrado County. Monthly salary: 750 Liberian dollars (US $ 13, euro 12.50).

Liberia, bureaucracy, 2006. Henry Gray (1940), acting commissioner for Gbaepo district, Kanweaken, River Gee County. During the Civil War, the office was completely looted and destroyed: only one wall remained. Gray has 11 personnel, of whom only 4 are paid. The rest are volunteers. He has no budget and over two years salary owing. Yesterday, he went to the capital Fishtown to collect last two months salary, two times 975 Liberian dollars (2x US$ 17, 2x euro 16). All he got was 600 dollars (US$ 11, euro 10). Gray is father to 34 children (sic), 13 of them depending, and has 18 grandchildren.

Bolivia, bureaucracy (police), 2005. Marlene Abigahit Choque (1982), detective at the the Homicide Department of the Potosi police. The department has only broken typewriters, no computer, no copy machine, not even telephone. It shares a car with the Vice Squad: "If there is no petrol in the car, we have to buy it from our own money. If the car is gone, we take the bus. We have to pay the tickets ourselves." The head on the cupboard to the right is used to make witnesses of murder cases show where the bullets went in or out.Monthly salary: 920 bolivianos (euro 102, US$ 114).

Bolivia, bureaucracy (police), 2005. Josué Galarza Mendez (1969) is police constable in Betanzos, Potosi department. The police post has 5 men, among other things responsible for safety on the main road from Potosi to Sucre. And they try to solve thefts and burglaries. The bureau has one motorbike. The typewriter is Mendez's private property. In emergencies, he uses his own mobile phone. Policemen have only truncheons for weapon. Whoever has a gun, has paid that himself. His monthly salary: 977 bolivianos ( euro 109, US$ 122).

Bolivia, bureaucracy (police), Potosi, 2005. Bolivia-08/2005 [Tin., CAVC (b. 1950)]. Constantino Aya Viri Castro (b. 1950), previously a construction worker, is a police officer third class for the municipality of Tinguipaya, Tomás Frías province. The police station does not have a phone, car or typewriter. Monthly salary: 800 bolivianos ( euro 189, US$ 100).

Bolivia, bureaucracy (c) Potosi, 2005. Bolivia-22/2005 [Pot., DRC (b. 1972)]. David Ruiz Doro (b. 1972) is chief of urban and environmental projects at the Department of Public Works' Technical Division of the municipality Potosí, the capital of the department by the same name. Monthly salary: 2,400 bolivianos (euro 267, US$ 299).

India, bureaucracy, Bihar, 2003. India-01/2003 [Man., RY (b. 1970)]. Ram Prabodh Yadav (b. 1970) is sub-inspector (deputy inspector) of police in Maner Block, Patna district, State of Bihar. Monthly salary: 10,000 rupees ($ 220, 200 euro). Rp Yadav (b. 1970) is sub-inspector van politie in Maner Block, Patna district, State of Bihar. Maandsalaris: 10,000 rupees (euro 200, US$ 220).

India, Bihar, Bureaucracy, 2003. India-28/2003 [Mak, OP (1963)]. Om Prakash (1963) is Block Development Officer (BDO) in Makhdumpur Block (200.000 inhabitants), district Jahanabad, Bihar. Prakash has 45 subordinates and is responsable for public order and the development of his block. As the highest civil servant in Makhdumpur, he has a towel on his chair. The plate behind him contains the names of his predecessors. Monthly salary: 12,000 rupees (euro 240, US$ 263).

India, bureaucracy, Bihar, 2003. India-29/2003 [The., HDP (b. 1947)]. Harsh Deo Prasad (b. 1947) is panchayat chief (village head) in the village of Tehta, Makhdumpur block, Jahanabad district, State of Bihar. He informs local farmers about the use of fertilizers, irrigation and other ways to achieve efficiency in agriculture. Monthly salary: 9,100 rupees ( euro 181, US$ 199).

China, bureaucracy, Shandong, 2005. China-10/2007 [Cui, CW (b. 1943)/CG (b. 1969)]. Cui Weihang (left, b. 1943) is village chief of Cui, and Cui Gongli (b. 1969) is party secretary of the Chinese Communist Party in Cui (population 2,300), which is in Tuanli Town, Jiaxiang County, a part of Jining City, Shandong province. Monthly salary for the village chief: no payment. Monthly salary for the party secretary: 280 renminbi (US$ 35, 26 euro).

Yemen, bureaucracy, 2006. Yemen-28/2006 [Shi., MHA (b. 1962)]. Mohammed Hamid Azein (b. 1962) collects the monthly water bills in the district of Shibam, Al-Mahwit Governorate. Monthly salary: 21,600 rial (US$ 121, euro 83), but he had not received a salary for five months.

Yemen, bureaucracy, 2006. Yemen-35/2006 [AIM., AAN (b. 1982)]. Alham Abdulwaze Nuzeli (b. 1982) works at the regional office of the Ministry of Tithing and Alms in the city of Al-Mahwit, Al-Mahwit governorate. Monthly salary: 12,000 rial (US$ 67, euro 46). Behind her a portrait of president Saleh of Yemen.

France, bureaucracy, Auvergne, 2006. France-16/2006 [Cle., RV (b.1957)]. Roger Vacher (b. 1957) is a narcotics agent with the national police force in Clermont-Ferrand, Puy-de-Dome department, Auvergne region. Monthly salary: euro 2,200 (US$ 2,893).

USA, bureaucracy, Texas, 2007. USA-11/2007 [Ozo., SF (b. 1961)]. Shane Fenton (b. 1961) is sheriff of Crockett County (about 3000 inhabitants), Texas, and based in Ozona, the county seat. Monthly salary: US$ 3,166 (euro 2,356).

USA, bureaucracy, Texas, 2007. USA-18/2007 [Pal., RF (b. 1963)]. Rudy Flores (b. 1963) is one the 118 Texas Rangers state law enforcement officers, who cover 254 counties between them. He is based in Palestine, Anderson County, Texas. He is responsible for three counties. Monthly salary: US$ 5,000 (euro 3,720).

Russia, bureaucracy, Siberia, province Tomsk, 2004. Russia-19/2004 [Tom., MNB (b. 1962)]. Marina Nikolayevna Berezina (b. 1962), a former singer and choir director, is now the secretary to the head of the financial department of Tomsk province"s Facility Services. She does not want to reveal her monthly salary.

How to Open a Bottle with a Helicopter

Posted: 11 Apr 2011 03:06 PM PDT

If you like extraordinary tricks, this one will surely glue your attention. These people used a huge helicopter to open a bottle!

Traffic & Trust by Nick Reese Review Graywolf's SEO Blog

Traffic & Trust by Nick Reese Review

Posted: 23 Mar 2011 08:06 AM PDT

One of the questions that comes to my inbox fairly regularly is how do you actually build an affiliate website, one that will rank for competitive terms and make you enough money that you can live on? Talk about a big question that I really can’t answer in a single or even multiple emails! Well, if you’re one of those folks, I’ve finally got something to offer you: Nick Reese’s Traffic & Trust ebook.

… there is a section called “blueprint” that helps you go from a blank piece of paper to an actionable list on building a successful, money-making website …

Ok let’s get the hard question out of the way. Nick sent me a free copy of his book and asked whether, if had the time, I would review it. To be honest, I get these requests all the time and, if I don’t know you or know of you, I’m not going to do it. Secondly, if I start someone’s ebook and don’t like it or don’t think it has any value, rather than bash it, my schedule will suddenly become too busy, and I’ll never get to it. However, Traffic and Trust is a book that I think has value. If you apply the principles in it, you will make back the initial investment and more money over the long haul.

The problem with a lot of ebooks is they give you overly generalized advice, sort of a 10,000-feet-up, CEO-style overview. Very few ebooks give you “in the trenches” actionable info that you can use. Now, this isn’t a step by step recipe for how to build a money making website. Quite honestly, I don’t think that’s even possible. But it takes the 10,000-feet-up good advice and helps you break it down into actionable items you can use to make a “to-do” list. In fact, there is a section called “blueprint” that helps you go from a blank piece of paper to an actionable list on building a successful, money-making website. The blueprint section is very specific. You will have to do the work, because there are no “get rich quick” steps, but it’s very do-able even if you have limited to no technical skills.

One of the sections of the book that I think is particularly important is the promotion section. As you may know, over the past year Google has tried to give credit to trusted brand websites. They have even filed patents trying to algorithmically define and identify what is a brand . IMHO two of the most important parts of the algorithm are trust and authority. If you do a good job promoting your website, the links, trust, and authority will flow. In fact if your content is good, and you do a good job promoting it, you won’t have to worry about crazy linking schemes.

There is also a section on tracking. To be honest, this is an area where a lot of people screw up. If you can build your website so you know which pages not only get the most traffic but drive the conversions, you have very powerful information. You want to put most of your effort into the parts of your website that make you money and less effort into the parts that don’t.

The very last part of the book has a list of resources that you can use to help you get from wherever you are to money making website, even if you don’t even have a domain name . It lists everything from registrars and hosting companies to affiliate programs, plugins, and promotion tools. I don’t use everything on his list but I do use a lot of them. Personally, I’m a big fan of Tiger Tech Hosting because they rock. They even monitor my friends’ tweets and provide solutions on the spot. I also use quite a few more plugins than he does–heck, I use more than most people (see WordPress SEO plugins)–but these are personal preferences. I didn’t see anything in his list of recommendations that made me wince.

Who is thus book for? If you’re an SEO veteran, there’s probably not a lot here for you. You might pick up one or two things but that’s it. If you’re a mid-level SEO and you can drive some traffic and sales but want to take it to the next level, there is definitely actionable information here for you. If you’re new and your website isn’t making any money, then you should absolutely get the book. If you put in the work described, there’s no doubt in my mind you will make more money.

Check out Trust and Traffic by Nick Reese.

Traffic Down From Panda Update – Diversify Your Traffic Sources Recently Google had an update and some webmasters were significantly...
Nick Wilson Blogging Podcast After listening to my buddy Nick Wilson’s podcast last night...
Google Trust and Librarians So what websites does Google trust? Well we all have...
Interview with Nick Stamoulis of Brick Marketing The following is a sponsored post For this post we’re...
Don’t Trust Jason Calacanis It’s been five days since Jason posted his new rules...

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Traffic & Trust by Nick Reese Review

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Your Daily Snapshot for
Monday, April 11, 2011

Photo of the Day

President Barack Obama greets surprised tourists at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., Saturday, April 9, 2011. The President made an unannounced stop to thank people for visiting the memorial a day after he and Congressional leaders agreed on a bill to keep the government open. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Seth's Blog : How to fail

How to fail

There are some significant misunderstandings about failure. A common one, similar to one we seem to have about death, is that if you don't plan for it, it won't happen.

All of us fail. Successful people fail often, and, worth noting, learn more from that failure than everyone else.

Two habits that don't help:

Getting good at avoiding blame and casting doubt
Not signing up for visible and important projects

While it may seem like these two choices increase your chances for survival or even promotion, in fact they merely insulate you from worthwhile failures.

I think it's worth noting that my definition of failure does not include being unlucky enough to be involved in a project where random external events kept you from succeeding. That's the cost of showing up, not the definition of failure.

Identifying these random events, of course, is part of the art of doing ever better. Many of the things we'd like to blame as being out of our control are in fact avoidable or can be planned around.

Here are six random ideas that will help you fail better, more often and with an inevitably positive upside:

Whenever possible, take on specific projects.
Make detailed promises about what success looks like and when it will occur.
Engage others in your projects. If you fail, they should be involved and know that they will fail with you.
Be really clear about what the true risks are. Ignore the vivid, unlikely and ultimately non-fatal risks that take so much of our focus away.
Concentrate your energy and will on the elements of the project that you have influence on, ignore external events that you can't avoid or change.
When you fail (and you will) be clear about it, call it by name and outline specifically what you learned so you won't make the same mistake twice. People who blame others for failure will never be good at failing, because they've never done it.

If that list frightened you, you might be getting to the nub of the matter. If that list feels like the sort of thing you'd like your freelancers, employees or even bosses to adopt, then perhaps it's resonating as a plan going forward for you.

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duminică, 10 aprilie 2011

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Australian Home Sales Sink, Luxury Units Sell for Half Cost; New Home Loans at 10-Year Low; Australia Retailers in Deep Trouble; Party Officially Over

Posted: 10 Apr 2011 08:58 PM PDT

Things are not looking too hot down under. Not only is the Australia housing collapse picking up steam, but Australian retailers are struggling mightily in spite of rising sales numbers.

Bloomberg reports Australia Retail Sales, Loans Rose in February, Sending Dollar to Record

Australian retail sales rose in February and lending to businesses climbed for the first time in nine months, according to government reports that sent the nation's currency to a record against the U.S. dollar.

Sales advanced 0.5 percent from a month earlier, when they gained 0.4 percent, the Bureau of Statistics said in Sydney today. That was the biggest increase since July and was higher than the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of 24 economists for a 0.4 percent increase.

A separate report from the Reserve Bank of Australia showed total credit extended by Australian lenders last month jumped by the most since May, led by business loans. The signs of stronger consumer spending and a lending revival boosted the local dollar as confidence grew that natural disasters didn't derail the economy's expansion.

That is the extent of the good news.

Housing is a veritable disaster. Even retail sales do not look so good from the perspective of retail profits.

Frugal is the New Black, Tourism Sinks, Retailers Struggle

The Australian reports Mining hides flatlining Australian economy

The growth in employment, which yesterday pushed the March jobless rate below 5 per cent, is concentrated in a handful of industries, several of which have little to do with the overall health of the economy.

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry's latest survey of business confidence found that 34.5 per cent of businesses say trading conditions are poor, while the number expecting conditions to deteriorate over the next three months has almost doubled since the beginning of the year to 18.7 per cent.

"The non-mining sectors, which still make up 90 per cent of the economy, are exposed to pressure from interest rates, the dollar, cautious household spending and rising oil prices," ACCI economics director Greg Evans said.

Figures released this week revealed spooked consumers and a sluggish housing market had put even the booming mining state of Western Australia into a technical recession, with two consecutive quarters of economic contraction.

The latest figures from RP Data revealed house prices fell in every capital city except Sydney in February, with the strong growth experienced in the market in 2009 flattened in the past year by the run of interest rate rises.

Retail king Gerry Harvey, co-founder of the Harvey Norman electrical and furnishings chain, yesterday described a "multi-speed economy" in which only the mining, food and hardware sectors were flourishing.

"There's an awful lot of retailers just surviving, who have sacked all their staff and kept on mum, dad and the kids working 14 hours a day just to keep the doors open," Mr Harvey said. "You'll see a lot of retailers going in the next few months - they just can't survive - and the small ones are going under every day."

Australian National Retailers Association chief executive Margie Osmond said retail was "the sick man of the economy. "We've been severely bruised by interest rate activities, and we have a community completely conditioned now to discount-only. Frugal is the new black."

But Australian Tourism Export Council managing director Felicia Mariana notes that foreign visitors are less likely to stray beyond the big cities, starving regional towns of investment. "Further afield, you'll see hotel occupancy rates of 30, 40, 50 per cent," she said yesterday. "People are using the internet to build itineraries and they are less and less inclined to meander and drive four or five hours to find an interesting place."

The trend is most apparent in far north Queensland, where visitor numbers fell 9 per cent last year. Tourism spending fell 12 per cent - and the fall-off came even before Cyclone Yasi and floods ravaged the region.

Luxury Units Sell For 50% of Cost

The Fraser Coast Chronicle reports Luxury units go at basement prices

AFTER more than 18 months on the market, the luxury Riverview On March apartments finally went under the hammer yesterday — and about 140 people came to watch as they sold for a song.

Valued at $650,000 to $700,000-plus each, four of the six units sold. They fetched $510,000, $320,000, $339,000 and $300,000.

Auctioneer Jason Andrew was made to earn his keep in cajoling every last dollar out of the buyers, but bidding was desultory for the two penthouses, which were eventually passed in because they did not meet the reserve price.

Developer Ron Blyth admitted he felt hard done by, with three of the four sold units going for less than half the building cost.

Even on the highest-selling apartment, Mr Blyth lost about $200,000 – or a total of about $1.2 million for the combined sales.

"It's less than encouraging," he said. "The situation probably is that real estate isn't in vogue at the moment." "I thought we had enough interest to get them sold, but there w bidders there and they didn't all bid."

There were not really 30 bidders there were 4 bidders and 26 "Lookie Lous". Expect to see "No Bid" with increasing frequency at auctions.

New Housing Loans at 10-Year Low

The Australian reports Buyer retreat spells slump in home prices

BUYERS are deserting the housing market at a pace that threatens a slump in housing prices and a risk to the economic outlook.

The number of new housing loans approved by the banks dropped 5.6 per cent to a 10-year low in February, after a similarly sharp drop in the previous month.

The buyer retreat comes as the stock of unsold houses mounts. Figures compiled by property analysts SQM Research show there are now 356,600 properties on the market, which is almost 50 per cent more than a year ago.

"It is clear now that the sudden drop in finance approvals in the new year is not to do with the flooding, but is rather due to the Reserve Bank's interest rate rise in November, which was the straw that broke the camel's back," SQM chief executive Louis Christopher said.

The slump threatens to undermine budget calculations for the government, which is counting on a rapid return to growth in the next financial year.

The number of loans for new homes slumped 12 per cent in February and has dropped almost 36 per cent in the past three months. Home building is a key economic sector influencing both the health of manufacturing and consumption.

Mr Christopher said the market was likely to continue weakening until the Reserve Bank cut rates or there was some form of government stimulus.

Stimulus the Problem, Not the Solution

I cannot help but laugh at some of the comments by SQM chief executive Louis Christopher.

For starters, one last interest hike did not break the camel's back, nor will buyers return when the Reserve bank of Australia cuts rates.

Christopher seems to be angling for more stimulus. Has anyone, anywhere learned anything from the popping of the US housing bubble?

Hells bells it took massive stimulus and silly bank loans to reach peak housing insanity in the US, in Australia, in China, in the UK, in Spain, in Ireland, and for that matter everywhere there was a housing bubble.

Perhaps this annotation I made on the Australian graphic will help.

Buyer Exhaustion - Pool of Greater Fools Runs Out

Australia is suffering from buyer exhaustion after the Australian government foolishly stimulated housing to stave off the last recession.

Buyer exhaustion would have set in whether the Reserve Bank made that last rate hike or not. .

Now what?

Housing inventory is both huge and rising, few can afford homes, and those who can afford homes already have one (if not more).

Simply put, the pool of greater fools has run out.

Stimulus will not help. After all, how many rounds of stimulus did the US try to restore housing prices? Let me count the ways.

US Housing Stimulus Tried and Failed

Fannie and Freddie nationalized
Home buyer tax credits
Home buyer tax credit extensions
HAMP - Home Affordable Mortgage Program
Numerous foreclosure moratoriums
QE round I
QE round II
Fed bought $2 trillion in mortgages to keep rates low
Fed holding short-term rates at zero percent
Record low mortgage rates

Did any of those work? How many others did I miss?

Regardless of how many I missed, none of them worked. So why would they work in Australia?

Please don't tell me it's different down under, and don't tell me there is a shortage of housing either. Skyrocketing inventory and falling demand says otherwise. Besides, it's a simple economic fact that home prices cannot sustainably rise above people's ability to pay for them. Nor can home prices sustainably rise several standard deviations above rental prices.

Party is Now Officially Over

Please pay attention to those struggling retailers. Australian retail sales will collapse once the housing bubble bust pick up more steam. That collapse in retail sales will crucify banks that made poor commercial real estate loans and it will bankrupt store owners who paid too much for their stores.

Look for the Reserve Bank of Australia to cut rates. It will not matter when they do. It was one hall of a party Australia, but the party is now officially over.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List

Obama Want to Take "Scalpel Not a Machete" to Reduce $1.6 Trillion Deficit; Scalpel and Machete Both Wrong; Student Loan Scam Revisited

Posted: 10 Apr 2011 11:39 AM PDT

You cannot reduce a $1.6 trillion deficit by taking a scalpel to it. Yet that is exactly what the president wants to do. Please consider Obama to Offer Details of Plan to Reduce U.S. Budget Deficit

President Obama will lay out a long-term deficit reduction plan later this week that will take "a scalpel, not a machete," to programs like Medicare and education and try once again to extract more taxes from the wealthiest Americans, his senior adviser said Sunday.

Appearing on several Sunday morning television talk shows, David Plouffe, Mr. Obama's senior adviser and former campaign manager, laid out few of the contours of the deficit-cutting plan but sought to distinguish it from a Republican congressional plan announced recently by Paul D. Ryan Jr. of Wisconsin, the chairman of the House budget committee. He said the Republican plan "would give the average millionaire $200,000 in tax cuts" but double the health care costs of senior citizens "$6,000 a year down the road" and trim "energy investment at a time of record gas prices."

That is disingenuous because Ryan did not propose new tax cuts. The president is referring to tax cuts that came about under the Bush administration. In other words, the president wants tax hikes, not that Ryan is proposing new cuts.

As far as energy goes, the best thing to do is let the free market sort it out.

On CNN's "State of the Union," he [Plouffe] also claimed that the deal reached with Republicans protected 800,000 children from being dropped from Head Start, the preschool program for children in poor families, and safeguarded the student loan program.

"Obviously, we need to look at all corners of government," Mr. Plouffe said. As he said previously, his health care law is $1 trillion in deficit reduction over the next two decades, but we have to do more there. We have to look at more spending here, carefully. As he said, we have to use a scalpel not a machete. And, obviously, this is a distinction with the congressional Republican plan that was announced this week."

Obama Safeguards the Plague

It is hard to comment on details because Obama did not provide many. Supposedly more are coming. In the meantime, I can comment on student loans because Plouffe specifically mention "safeguarding" them.

Bragging about safeguarding student loans is like bragging about safeguarding the plague.

Student loans have done four things, all of them bad.

Jack up the cost of education
Make students debt slaves for the rest of their lives
Unjustly hand over huge profits to schools like the University of Phoenix at taxpayer expense
Add to the national debt

The best thing to do with student loans would be scrap the program entirely.

Please consider

A Remarkable Comparison: Affordable Student Loans vs. Affordable Housing an email from Eugene Holloway, a Maryland Attorney, on the rising cost of college education.

Debt for Diploma Schemes: Debt for Diploma Schemes and the Cookie Monster Principle

Off-Balance-Sheet Budget Fraud: Budget Deficit Accounting Fraud and the Off-Balance-Sheet Student Loan Scam; Time to Scrap Entire Student Loan Program

Pell Grants Turn Students into Debt Zombies: For Profit Schools Turn Students Into Debt Zombies; It's Time To Kill The Entire Pell Grant Program

Subprime College Loans, Who is to Blame?: Subprime Goes to College; Students Buried in Debt; Who is to Blame?

Expect More Student Riots: University of California Campus Erupts In Riots; Student Loan Scam Drives Up Cost Of Education; Expect More Riots

Reflections on a Wise College Major

Scalpel and Machete Both Wrong

We do not need to take a Scalpel or a Machete to the student loan program. The student loan program should be scrapped in entirety. Indeed there are entire departments that should be scrapped entirely, including the department of education and department of energy.

Perhaps there are a few items of some merit in those departments such as the strategic energy reserves, but such functions could be moved elsewhere if needed.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List

Seth's Blog : The free market

The free market

Companies that operate in a free market generally work as hard as they can to make that market not free.

By creating lock in, monopolies, patent protection, long term contracts, chasms in pricing and other barriers to entry, companies profit out of proportion to their risk or investment. That's their job.

Acting on their own behalf, self-interested companies will almost always work to make the playing field unlevel, to create loopholes and to generate barriers that keep the market unfree. It's what their owners profit from.

Their adversaries? Technological change, enforced transparency and regulation in favor of consumer protection and against monopolies. There's no question that an unfettered authoritarian corporate regime is more efficient and effective--in the short run. In the long run, though, the free market triumphs, as long as it isn't destroyed by those that get to play first.

The free market is a great idea, which is why we need to be careful when market incumbents lobby to make it un-free.

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luni, 11 aprilie 2011

Damn Cool Pics

Damn Cool Pics

Traffic & Trust by Nick Reese Review Graywolf's SEO Blog

Traffic & Trust by Nick Reese Review Graywolf's SEO Blog

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How to fail

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duminică, 10 aprilie 2011

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

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The free market

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luni, 11 aprilie 2011

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