Do you pay the milkman by cheque? Slip a surprise cheque in a Christmas card to a grandson or granddaughter? Or maybe you simply don't trust direct debits when dealing with gas and electricity companies?In the future you'll have no choice but to pay electronically, by plastic, or go online if, as expected, Britain's banks vote tomorrow to phase out the 300-year-old tradition of payment by cheque.Cheques cost up to £1 each to process - and the number written has been falling steadily.As recently as 2002 a typical consumer in Britain was writing 31 cheques a year, but the number fell to 14 by 2008. Big stores such as Marks & Spencer have already stopped taking cheques, and the Payments Council, which sets strategy for UK payments in Britain, says they are now used for fewer than one in 25 purchases.
Do you pay the milkman by cheque? Slip a surprise cheque in a Christmas card to a grandson or granddaughter? Or maybe you simply don't trust direct debits when dealing with gas and electricity companies?
In the future you'll have no choice but to pay electronically, by plastic, or go online if, as expected, Britain's banks vote tomorrow to phase out the 300-year-old tradition of payment by cheque.
Cheques cost up to £1 each to process - and the number written has been falling steadily.
As recently as 2002 a typical consumer in Britain was writing 31 cheques a year, but the number fell to 14 by 2008. Big stores such as Marks & Spencer have already stopped taking cheques, and the Payments Council, which sets strategy for UK payments in Britain, says they are now used for fewer than one in 25 purchases.
A Gulf monetary union pact has been agreed by four of the six nations in the Gulf Co-operation Council at a summit in Kuwait, the country's finance minister has said.Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia signed and ratified the pact on Tuesday, which will see them work towards setting up a joint central bank and implementing a single currency. The United Arab Emirates, the Gulf's second largest economy, opted out of the union over objections to selecting the Saudi capital, Riyadh as the base for the future Gulf central bank.Oman said it could not meet the union's prerequisites for joining at this time.
A Gulf monetary union pact has been agreed by four of the six nations in the Gulf Co-operation Council at a summit in Kuwait, the country's finance minister has said.Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia signed and ratified the pact on Tuesday, which will see them work towards setting up a joint central bank and implementing a single currency.
The United Arab Emirates, the Gulf's second largest economy, opted out of the union over objections to selecting the Saudi capital, Riyadh as the base for the future Gulf central bank.Oman said it could not meet the union's prerequisites for joining at this time.
Greece's prime minister has announced a series of spending cuts to prevent the country "sinking" under $422bn of debt.George Papandreou on Monday pledged that his government would reduce the 12.7 per cent budget deficit to under seven per cent of gross domestic product by 2011 and less than three per cent by 2013. The deficit, which is four times the limit set by the European Union for countries that use the euro currency, has damaged Greece's image in the eyes of investors and made it more difficult and expensive for Athens to borrow money."Greece faces the risk of sinking under its debt," Papandreou told an audience of business and union leaders in Athens, the Greek capital. "We are all hurt when Greece is held up as an example to be avoided in the entire European Union."
Greece's prime minister has announced a series of spending cuts to prevent the country "sinking" under $422bn of debt.George Papandreou on Monday pledged that his government would reduce the 12.7 per cent budget deficit to under seven per cent of gross domestic product by 2011 and less than three per cent by 2013.
The deficit, which is four times the limit set by the European Union for countries that use the euro currency, has damaged Greece's image in the eyes of investors and made it more difficult and expensive for Athens to borrow money."Greece faces the risk of sinking under its debt," Papandreou told an audience of business and union leaders in Athens, the Greek capital.
"We are all hurt when Greece is held up as an example to be avoided in the entire European Union."
The chief executive of RBS, Stephen Hester, says political meddling is damaging the bank."The process of politicisation of RBS is damaging... to our business and to taxpayers' interests" he said, pointing to the fall in the bank's share price. He was speaking after a meeting in which shareholders backed plans to enter a government insurance scheme. The asset protection scheme means the Treasury acts as an insurer against the bank's £282bn of bad debts. Under the terms of the support deal, the UK taxpayers' stake in RBS rises from 70% to 84% after the government invests an extra £25.5bn in the bank.
The chief executive of RBS, Stephen Hester, says political meddling is damaging the bank.
"The process of politicisation of RBS is damaging... to our business and to taxpayers' interests" he said, pointing to the fall in the bank's share price.
He was speaking after a meeting in which shareholders backed plans to enter a government insurance scheme.
The asset protection scheme means the Treasury acts as an insurer against the bank's £282bn of bad debts.
Under the terms of the support deal, the UK taxpayers' stake in RBS rises from 70% to 84% after the government invests an extra £25.5bn in the bank.
Mr Hester, the door is over there. keep to the Fen Causeway
The bankrupt parent of Washington Mutual Bank asked the judge in its reorganization case to allow for an expansion of a probe into the circumstances immediately leading up to the September 2008 failure. From the Puget Sound Business Journal: A filing in the Washington Mutual bankruptcy case says that new evidence supports allegations that JPMorgan Chase used access to inside information about WaMu to drive down the bank's credit rating and share price, scare away other suitors and arrange to buy the ailing Seattle bank from regulators at a bargain price. The 20-page motion cites hundreds of internal documents received from JPMorgan through discovery in the bankruptcy case, including emails between JPMorgan executives and other banks interested in bidding on WaMu as well as slide show presentations discussing the viability of a WaMu purchase. The latest motion now seeks to expand the subpoena to include regulators such as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the Office of Thrift Supervision, the U.S. Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve, other banks that considered buying Washington Mutual, Goldman Sachs in its capacity as an adviser to WaMu, credit-rating agencies and other banks involved in lending to WaMu. Conspiracy theories have been rampant since the S&L's failure, and WaMu's parent has been battling JPMorgan and the FDIC in multiple court venues over billions of dollars in assets.
From the Puget Sound Business Journal:
A filing in the Washington Mutual bankruptcy case says that new evidence supports allegations that JPMorgan Chase used access to inside information about WaMu to drive down the bank's credit rating and share price, scare away other suitors and arrange to buy the ailing Seattle bank from regulators at a bargain price. The 20-page motion cites hundreds of internal documents received from JPMorgan through discovery in the bankruptcy case, including emails between JPMorgan executives and other banks interested in bidding on WaMu as well as slide show presentations discussing the viability of a WaMu purchase.
The 20-page motion cites hundreds of internal documents received from JPMorgan through discovery in the bankruptcy case, including emails between JPMorgan executives and other banks interested in bidding on WaMu as well as slide show presentations discussing the viability of a WaMu purchase.
The latest motion now seeks to expand the subpoena to include regulators such as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the Office of Thrift Supervision, the U.S. Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve, other banks that considered buying Washington Mutual, Goldman Sachs in its capacity as an adviser to WaMu, credit-rating agencies and other banks involved in lending to WaMu.
Conspiracy theories have been rampant since the S&L's failure, and WaMu's parent has been battling JPMorgan and the FDIC in multiple court venues over billions of dollars in assets.
"The Gulf monetary union pact has come into effect," said Kuwait's finance minister, Mustafa al-Shamali, speaking at a Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) summit in Kuwait. The move will give the hyper-rich club of oil exporters a petro-currency of their own, greatly increasing their influence in the global exchange and capital markets and potentially displacing the US dollar as the pricing currency for oil contracts. Between them they amount to regional superpower with a GDP of $1.2 trillion (£739bn), some 40pc of the world's proven oil reserves, and financial clout equal to that of China.
"The Gulf monetary union pact has come into effect," said Kuwait's finance minister, Mustafa al-Shamali, speaking at a Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) summit in Kuwait.
The move will give the hyper-rich club of oil exporters a petro-currency of their own, greatly increasing their influence in the global exchange and capital markets and potentially displacing the US dollar as the pricing currency for oil contracts. Between them they amount to regional superpower with a GDP of $1.2 trillion (£739bn), some 40pc of the world's proven oil reserves, and financial clout equal to that of China.
GOOG looks for subscriptions | Reuters | 15 Dec 2009
... trailing Netflix-TiVo, Hulu (GE), Fancast (Comcast), Virgin VoD etc etc....
YouTube is considering offering users the option to pay for subscriptions in a bid to encourage more media companies to license premium TV shows and movies to the popular online video site, a senior executive said. Technology | Media YouTube, which is owned by Internet search giant Google, is already known to have held talks with several major movie studios about renting movies. Google's vice president of content partnerships, David Eun, said in an interview that some full-length shows would not be available to YouTube under its current advertising model. "We're making some interesting bets on long-form content; not all content is accessible to us with the advertising model," Eun told Reuters, who said content partners will be able to choose what works best for them. YouTube is keen to bulk up its licensing of full-length programs alongside the popular [gratis] short clips uploaded by users [-creators] that currently dominate [!] the site [as compared to advertisers' media content, e.g. music video, feature film trailers]. But Hollywood studios and TV companies are reluctant to cannibalize revenue streams, such as from cable TV and DVD sales, by offering premium programs for free viewing on the Web -- even under an advertising revenue-share model....
Technology | Media
YouTube, which is owned by Internet search giant Google, is already known to have held talks with several major movie studios about renting movies.
Google's vice president of content partnerships, David Eun, said in an interview that some full-length shows would not be available to YouTube under its current advertising model.
"We're making some interesting bets on long-form content; not all content is accessible to us with the advertising model," Eun told Reuters, who said content partners will be able to choose what works best for them.
YouTube is keen to bulk up its licensing of full-length programs alongside the popular [gratis] short clips uploaded by users [-creators] that currently dominate [!] the site [as compared to advertisers' media content, e.g. music video, feature film trailers].
But Hollywood studios and TV companies are reluctant to cannibalize revenue streams, such as from cable TV and DVD sales, by offering premium programs for free viewing on the Web -- even under an advertising revenue-share model....
especially GOOG's PPC revenue-share model... whazzat, 95.5:0.5 on fee per hit?
PS. C- for the interface re-design. Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
A Democratic proposal to ban the collection of doctors' prescription records for marketing purposes is unlikely to be included as part of the Senate's overall health reform bill, a Senate staff member said on Monday.... Pharmaceutical manufacturers in particular use information on doctor's prescribing habits to better inform their drug salespeople when they visit physician offices to market certain products.... Kim Monk, a financial analyst with Capital Alpha Partners, said the ban, if included, would have drawn fire from other Democrats and upset a crucial deal with the pharmaceutical industry. Drugmakers earlier this year made an $80 billion, 10-year deal with the Obama administration and some Senate Democrats to help fund an expansion of health insurance coverage through additional taxes and certain price agreements. "Reid has bigger policy concerns," Monk said in a research note on Friday. The American Medical Association, which represents physicians and also backs the Democrat's overhaul agenda, also generates revenue from its collection of prescribing data and likely would have balked at the proposal's inclusion.
Pharmaceutical manufacturers in particular use information on doctor's prescribing habits to better inform their drug salespeople when they visit physician offices to market certain products....
Kim Monk, a financial analyst with Capital Alpha Partners, said the ban, if included, would have drawn fire from other Democrats and upset a crucial deal with the pharmaceutical industry.
Drugmakers earlier this year made an $80 billion, 10-year deal with the Obama administration and some Senate Democrats to help fund an expansion of health insurance coverage through additional taxes and certain price agreements.
"Reid has bigger policy concerns," Monk said in a research note on Friday.
The American Medical Association, which represents physicians and also backs the Democrat's overhaul agenda, also generates revenue from its collection of prescribing data and likely would have balked at the proposal's inclusion.
Time called Bernanke " the most powerful nerd on the planet." "The story of the year was a weak economy that could have been much, much weaker. Thank the man who runs the Federal Reserve, our mild-mannered economic overlord," the article said. "He didn't just reshape U.S. monetary policy; he led an effort to save the world economy."
Time called Bernanke " the most powerful nerd on the planet."
"The story of the year was a weak economy that could have been much, much weaker. Thank the man who runs the Federal Reserve, our mild-mannered economic overlord," the article said.
"He didn't just reshape U.S. monetary policy; he led an effort to save the world economy."
