Thursday, December 30, 2010

Help Making Money




Top Stories



Obama's budget has been delayed a week, reports Jonathan Weisman: "President Barack Obama's budget proposal for fiscal 2012 will be released in mid-February, a little more than a week after its planned release date. The administration is scrambling to assemble what could be a pivotal document following a six-week delay in the confirmation of the White House's new budget director, a senior administration official said Monday. The budget's release date will be pushed back from Monday, Feb. 7, to some time the following week, the official said. The White House's new budget director, Jacob Lew, saw his confirmation put on hold by Louisiana Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu, who was protesting the administration's moratorium on offshore oil drilling. Mr. Lew was confirmed Nov. 19."



Members of Congress are finding ways besides earmarks to fund pork projects, reports Ron Nixon: "Lettermarking, which takes place outside the Congressional appropriations process, is one of the many ways that legislators who support a ban on earmarks try to direct money back home. In phonemarking, a lawmaker calls an agency to request financing for a project. More indirectly, members of Congress make use of what are known as soft earmarks, which involve making suggestions about where money should be directed, instead of explicitly instructing agencies to finance a project. Members also push for increases in financing of certain accounts in a federal agency’s budget and then forcefully request that the agency spend the money on the members’ pet project. Because all these methods sidestep the regular legislative process, the number of times they are used and the money involved are even harder to track than with regular earmarks.



Real talk: The move from earmarking to lettermarking, phonemarking, hearingmarking, etc, wasn't just predictable. It was inevitable. And make no mistake: Within three-to-five years, we're likely to be back to earmarking as well.



Corporations are using their cash supplies to fuel mergers, not job growth, reports Jia Lynn Yang: "The volume of global mergers this year rose 19 percent, according to Dealogic, ticking up for the first time since 2007 as firms looked for ways to deploy the record amount of cash sitting on their balance sheets...Conditions are ripe for a comeback in mergers and acquisitions because U.S. companies are holding a record nearly $2 trillion in cash. They have been hesitant to use these massive piles of funds to hire as they wait to see whether the economic recovery picks up more speed. Instead, this year they've been making safer bets: buying back stocks to help boost their share prices and spending money on modestly sized mergers."



Fuzz-pop interlude: Wavves plays "King of the Beach".



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Still to come: Foreign banks benefited from a Federal Reserve program; being unemployed is bad for your health; Obama's federal pay freeze is being extended to more civil service workers; the incoming House Energy and Commerce chair outlines his plan to derail the EPA's climate regulations; and a genetically engineered singing mouse.

Economy



The Obama administration is cracking down on banks that are delinquent on their TARP payments, reports Zachary Goldfarb: "The Obama administration has begun monitoring the high-level board meetings of nearly 20 banks that received emergency taxpayer assistance but repeatedly failed to pay the required dividends, according to Treasury Department officials and documents. And it may soon install new directors on some of their boards. The moves come as the number of banks that failed to make at least one dividend payment to the government rose to 132 in the last quarter. These 'deadbeats,' as they are sometimes called, are virtually all community lenders and collectively received billions of dollars in taxpayer assistance. In addition to those firms, seven others have failed, resulting in the total loss of the government's investment."



Looking for a rigorous overview of the various methodological difficulties involved in assessing stimulus proposals? Alan Auerbach, William Gale, and Benjamin Harris have you covered (pdf).



Non-US banks have benefited from Federal Reserve credit, report Robin Harding, Bernard Simon, and Christian Oliver: "Some of the world’s strongest banks have profited from an emergency credit facility set up by the US Federal Reserve to shore up confidence in the global financial system, according to a Financial Times analysis of data released by the Fed. More than half of lending under the Fed’s term auction facility - the largest of its crisis programmes - went to foreign banks. Details of the varied uses to which they put it may add to political criticism of the Fed. The Taf was set up in December 2007 to provide one-month loans to creditworthy banks as markets dried up for lending longer than overnight. In August 2008, it began offering three-month loans as well."



A new study suggests startups are central to job growth: http://on.wsj.com/fDs2eV



There's much Obama could do for the economy that wouldn't require congressional approval, write Paul Krugman and Robin Wells: "Democrats could pressure the administration to fix the inexcusable mess at the HAMP (mortgage modification) program--a program whose Kafkaesque complexity has in many cases made matters so bad for home owners that it has triggered the foreclosures it was supposed to avoid. In addition, mortgage relief would benefit the wider economy. Furthermore, the scope of mortgage relief could be made much wider if Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were used to guarantee mortgage refinancing. Other proposals go even further: for example, that Fannie and Freddie engineer reductions in mortgage principals. All of this could be done, conceivably, by executive order."



Prizes for spurring innovation work, writes Annie Lowrey: http://slate.me/dFXZgh



A survey of jobless workers shows the extent of their suffering, writes Bob Herbert: "More than 15 million Americans are officially classified as jobless. The professors, at the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers, have been following their representative sample of workers since the summer of 2009. The report on their latest survey, just out this month, is titled: 'The Shattered American Dream: Unemployed Workers Lose Ground, Hope, and Faith in Their Futures.' Over the 15 months that the surveys have been conducted, just one-quarter of the workers have found full-time jobs, nearly all of them for less pay and with fewer or no benefits. 'For those who remain unemployed,' the report says, 'the cupboard has long been bare.'



The American political system is corrupted in favor of the upper classes, writes Jeffrey Sachs: http://bit.ly/icPQdh



Extreme sports interlude: Russian-style bungee jumping.



Health Care



Enrollment is lower and costs higher than expected in health care reform's high-risk pools, reports Amy Goldstein: "An early feature of the new health-care law that allows people who are already sick to get insurance to cover their medical costs isn't attracting as many customers as expected. In the meantime, in at least a few states, claims for medical care covered by the 'high-risk pools' are proving very costly, and it is an open question whether the $5 billion allotted by Congress to start up the plans will be sufficient... According to some health-policy researchers, the success or failure of the pools also could foreshadow the complexities of making broader changes in health insurance by 2014, when states are to open new marketplaces - or exchanges - for Americans to buy coverage individually or in small groups."



Real talk: High-risk health-care pools never work very well. The Democrats knew that when they rejected Republican plans that would've put them at the center of the health-care system for sick individuals. Then, of course, they turned around and made them one of health-care reform's early deliverables. I'm skeptical of arguments that say they "foreshadow" larger market reforms, which work very differently than segregating a tiny fraction of sick patients in state-run insurance programs.



Unemployment could cause serious health damage, reports David Wessel: "A new National Bureau of Economic Research paper suggests that increases in unemployment lead to a decrease in fruit and vegetable consumption, with potentially long-lived effects on workers’ health. 'Among those who are predicted to be at the highest risk of unemployment, a one percentage point increase in the resident’s state unemployment rate is associated with a 2% to 4% reduction in the frequency of fruits and vegetable consumption, and an 8% reduction in the consumption of salad,' economists Dhaval Dave of Bentley University in Waltham, Mass., and Inas Rashad Kelly of Queens College in Flushing, N.Y, said...Research by Daniel Sullivan and Till von Wachter finds that mortality rates in the year following a layoff among high-seniority male workers increases sharply."



The White House denies its new regulation on end-of-life care represents a policy change: http://politi.co/gkMbRZ



Domestic Policy



The federal pay freeze is being extended to more civil servants, reports Lisa Rein: "The two-year pay freeze that is now law for federal employees on the pay scale known as the General Schedule will also apply to hundreds of thousands of civil servants whose wages are set under a separate salary system, according to an executive order signed last week by President Obama. Employees covered by the so-called Administratively Determined pay scale - not legislated by Congress but set by federal agencies - make up about 30 percent of the workforce of 2 million. They include public health doctors and nurses, medical personnel in the Veterans Affairs system, administrative law judges and attorneys, auditors and other staff at financial agencies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission."



Nobelist James Heckman is urging early childhood education as a path toward economic growth, reports James Warren: " James J. Heckman, who has won the Nobel in economic science, offered a provocative idea for reducing spiraling budget deficits and strengthening the economy: investing in early childhood development. Mr. Heckman marshals ample data to suggest that better teaching, higher standards, smaller classrooms and more Internet access 'have less impact than we think,' as he put it at the Spertus Institute. To focus as intently as we do on the kindergarten to high school years misses how 'the accident of birth is the greatest source of inequality,' he said. He urges more effectively educating children before they step into a classroom where, as Chicago teachers tell me, they often are clueless about letters, numbers and colors -- and lack the attentiveness and persistence to ever catch up."



Public universities are getting creative about tuition fees: http://on.wsj.com/ifgrV1



Obama should push for Social Security reform, writes Michael Gerson: "Obama's liberal base contends that the Social Security trust fund is not in immediate trouble. But this argument depends on an elaborate accounting trick. The trust fund is not filled with assets - gold bullion and Apple stock. It is filled with debt issued by the government to itself. The surpluses of the trust fund are in fact liabilities for the government as a whole. And these illusory surpluses are regularly used to subsidize the rest of the budget. The scheme begins to collapse in 2037, when promised benefits for Social Security recipients will suddenly drop by about 25 percent - unless the system is reformed...Obama's urgent political need is to polish his image among Independents on spending and debt."



Fun with genetic alterations interlude: Scientists create a singing mouse.



Energy



Congress should stop the EPA from regulating carbon emissions, write House Energy and Commerce chair Fred Upton and Todd Phillips: "The best solution is for Congress to overturn the EPA's proposed greenhouse gas regulations outright. If Democrats refuse to join Republicans in doing so, then they should at least join a sensible bipartisan compromise to mandate that the EPA delay its regulations until the courts complete their examination of the agency's endangerment finding and proposed rules. Like the plaintiffs, we have significant doubt that EPA regulations can survive judicial scrutiny. And the worst of all possible outcomes would be the EPA initiating a regulatory regime that is then struck down by the courts."



The EPA is well within its rights to regulate carbon emissions, writes Brad Plumer: "Over at The Atlantic, Conor Friedersdorf thinks the EPA is 'disregarding [the] separation of powers.' But why? How? The Clean Air Act is a law that was passed by Congress and amended several times. The law originally focused on specific toxins like lead and sulfur-dioxide, but it was intended to be updated periodically, as new science on pollution and human health came in. The Supreme Court ruled that greenhouse gases fit within this framework--and, so, the Obama administration has begun enforcing the relevant laws. Set aside whether you agree with the policy outcome. What about this is constitutionally troubling?"



The Department of Energy is circulating a "list of accomplishments" from the past year: http://bit.ly/gbQFTh



Sen. Jay Rockefeller is challenging the administration on mine safety, reports Andrew Restuccia: "Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) is raising questions about whether the federal agency charged with mining safety is adequately funded. In a letter to Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, Rockefeller said he is concerned that the Senate’s inability to pass an omnibus spending bill that would have increased funding for mine safety could 'undermine the progress that is being made and further limit MSHA's [Mine Safety and Health Administration] ability to fulfill its mission.' Instead of the broad omnibus spending bill, the Senate passed a narrow continuing resolution that largely funds the government at current levels until March."



John Tierney makes the case for optimism about the world's energy supply: http://nyti.ms/fKyVGN



Closing credits: Wonkbook is compiled and produced with help from Dylan Matthews, Mike Shepard, and Michelle Williams. Photo credit: White House.



It looks like Shep Smith isn't the only person on Fox News that was shamed by Jon Stewart into getting a bit tougher on these Republicans for filibustering the first responders bill. Chris Wallace brought up Stewart's interview with first responders to Jon Kyl, and in response we just got more sorry excuses as to why he still would not support the bill.


Kyl Denies Health Care For 9/11 Rescue Workers Because He Doesn’t Want To ‘Hurry’:


Last week, an incensed Jon Stewart invited 9/11 first responders to the Daily Show to offer their thoughts on this callous behavior. “Disgusted” and “hurt” by their actions, the rescue workers admonished Republicans for using the holiday schedule and Senate process as an excuse to block desperately needed help. Recounting their criticism today, Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace asked Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) why he couldn’t “find a way to give these heroes peace of mind when it comes to health care.” Ignoring their emotional pleas, Kyl insisted that, while he didn’t want to deny care to those who desperately need it, he just refuses to do so “in a hurry”. [...]


Kyl’s excuses fall flat in the face of fact. Any cries for more time ignore that both the Senate and House version of the Zadroga bill have been available to Kyl since 2009. If a year with the text wasn’t enough, Kyl was free to attend the bill’s June 2010 Senate hearing he insists never happened. Had he shown up, he would’ve learned that the bill is very clear on who is eligible for funding. First responders can pursue compensation established by the Zadroga bill to bolster any coverage already received from the current health fund set up in New York City.


As Jon Stewart pointed out earlier this week as well, after refusing to give these first responders health care, none of these birds should ever be allowed by our media to invoke 9-11 for political purposes ever again. Let's hope this thing gets passed despite the continued obstruction by the likes of Kyl and his fellow shameless Republican cohorts.


Transcript via Nexis Lexis.


WALLACE: Joining us now, two Senate leaders, the number two Democrat, Dick Durbin of Illinois, and his Republican counterpart, Jon Kyl of Arizona.


And, Senators, welcome back to "Fox News Sunday."


KYL: Thank you, Chris.


WALLACE: Senators, before we talk about issues that have gotten a lot of attention, I want to ask you about one that hasn't, and let me begin with you, Senator Kyl.


Will you vote this week for the 9/11 bill that would guarantee health care for the first responders who went to Ground Zero?


KYL: I don't know if that bill is going to come before us, but Dick tells me just a moment ago that he thinks that it will. First question is, is it amendable, or is it a take it or leave it proposition? The bill hasn't been through committee. There are problems with it.


And I think the first thing Republicans will ask is do we have a chance to fix any problems that may exist with it. And it's a lot of money, and so I -- my early response is that I am skeptical about that bill.


WALLACE: Senator Durbin, Republicans in addition to Senator Kyl say - - Republican critics say that you're creating a $7 billion entitlement, and that the way you pay for it is a corporate tax increase.


DURBIN: Chris, I can tell you that Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer have been working nonstop for the last several weeks with Republicans to try to find the best way to approach this. These first responders literally risked their lives when they went to Ground Zero. They came from all over the United States. And now many of them are struggling with health problems that are clearly directly related to that experience. To turn our backs on these brave people is the wrong thing to do.


Will it cost money? Yes. Is it the right thing to do? Yes. We've got to find a way to fund it that's acceptable to Republicans and Democrats.


WALLACE: Well, but let me ask you about that, Senator Durbin. If this 9/11 bill is so important, why is it that the Democratic- controlled Senate never held a vote on this bill until the lame duck session and that President Obama, the best we can tell, has never said a word about this bill in public?


DURBIN: I can't tell you where the White House stands. I hope they support it. I will just tell you this. This is like an airport that has a runway closed down. We have aircraft stacked up trying to land. We have bills stacked up over the Senate because of the nonstop filibusters that we faced this year.


I wish we could have done things more efficiently and more directly. But we've lurched from one 30-hour delay to another 30-hour delay to more Senate quorums. This Senate could be much more efficient. It should be. And it should be much more bipartisan than this.


WALLACE: Will this bill pass?


DURBIN: I think this bill will pass, and I do believe that Senators Gillibrand and Schumer are working night and day to make that happen.


WALLACE: Senator Kyl, one of your objections is -- he was blaming you for the filibusters. One of your objections is that Harry Reid put too many items on the agenda in this lame duck session.


I want to play what you said and then how one of the first responders who now has cancer reacted. Let's watch.


(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)


KYL: It is impossible to do all of the things that the majority leader laid out without doing -- frankly, without disrespecting the institution and without disrespecting one of the two holiest of holidays for Christians.


(END VIDEO CLIP)


(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)


(UNKNOWN): I'm here to say that you won't find a single New York City firefighter who considers it a sign of disrespect to work in a New York City fire house on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.


(END VIDEO CLIP)


WALLACE: Senator, everyone -- everyone -- praises the first responders as heroes. You say you're skeptical about this bill. Why not find a way to give these heroes peace of mind when it comes to health care?


KYL: Well, first of all, they should have peace of mind when it comes to health care. The question is what and how.


And when you try to do it, as you said in your introduction, in a hurry, in the lame duck session, without a hearing, without understanding what the ramifications are and whether we can amend the bill, you're doing it in the worst way.


For example, there's already been a settlement for a lot of these people, a fund that has been set up for them to receive funding. Will the people that are supporting this legislation be able to participate in that fund? Nobody has been able to say. Why $7 billion? What will the requirements for qualification be for the money?


Nobody wants to deny care to people who -- and by the way, these are primarily people who helped to clean up the site in the aftermath of 9/11, and there weren't adequate precautions taken in some cases to deal with potential health issues. And to the extent that they've become ill, they do need to be taken care of.


It's one thing to make an emotional appeal, to say we need to care for somebody who did something good. It's another to do it in a sensible way. And that's all we're asking for. You bring it up in the lame duck session with no opportunity to amend it, and you're probably going to make bad legislation.


WALLACE: Let me move to...


KYL: All of this could have been done earlier, I might add.




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Windows Phone Marketplace hits 5000 Apps and is Cracked

There's been good news and bad for Microsoft this week. The good news is that the number of apps available in the new Windows Phone marketplace has been growing steadily since October and has now passed the 5000 mark. ...

Larry Kramer: This Is Why Fox <b>News</b> Continues To Roll

People are getting lazy about forming their own opinions.

Kidney Donation Set as Condition of Miss. Sisters - AOL <b>News</b>

Gov. Haley Barbour has pardoned Gladys and Jamie Scott, who were each serving life sentences for an $11 armed robbery. But to be released, Gladys, 36, must donate a kidney to her 38-year-old sister, Jamie, who requires dialysis and ...


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Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Im Making Money


In a letter to the New York Times, CPA John Carrick succinctly summarizes a governmental scheme that would send private citizens to jail if they did the same thing:


Social Security is in effect a giant Ponzi scheme. Today’s contributions are used to pay beneficiaries who contributed yesterday, and the surplus of current contributions is “lent” to the federal government and used for general spending.


The Ponzi scheme underlying the Medicare system is even more blatant. Consider the new “Medicare Contribution,” enacted as part of ObamaCare in the name of “fairness,” which extended the 3.8 percent Medicare tax to the investment income of those making more than $200,000 ($250,000 in the case of a couple). The legislation dispensed with the interim step of sending the money to the Medicare Trust Fund, to then be “lent” to the general fund and spent on non-Medicare programs. Instead, the money from the new “contribution” will go straight to the general fund; Medicare will not even get a government IOU to hold in “trust.” Privately run Ponzi schemes are generally less brazen.


Later this month, Democrats will attempt to increase the “fairness” of the most progressive income-tax system in the world (under which about half of American households pay no tax at all and the top 1 percent pay of earners pay about 40 percent of the total) by increasing taxes on the “rich” to help finance the trillion-dollar deficits Obama has made the new norm. The plan is to withdraw hundreds of billions more dollars from the private economy while assuring citizens that the economic consequences will be felt only by the targeted few. The public seems to understand that the economic effect will be somewhat broader.


It is a shame that there isn’t more money in the Social Security and Medicare trust funds to “borrow.” That is such a simpler system — and there is no pesky criminal law to prevent it, since only private Ponzi schemes are banned. But the federal government has exhausted its current Ponzi possibilities and now seems more like Adam Sandler in a tax-fairness costume.






Poor thang:


Ciara says she received the “most negative energy” as a result of her lackluster sales, with bloggers and other critics declaring her music career over. Now the 25-year-old singer, who released her fourth album, “Basic Instinct,” this month, says she’s learned not to be concerned about selling millions of records anymore. In a recent phone interview, she talked about how she’s still making waves in the entertainment realm.


The Associated Press: On the opening track of “Basic Instinct (U Got Me),” you lashed out at bloggers and critics. How important was it for you to get those things off your chest?


Ciara: I wanted to speak to all the haters. I just wanted to scream out and show how I felt. People are so easy to write you off. I live for energy like that. The harder they hate, the harder I go. I do believe I will be here for a while. I’m claiming it and no one … make me think differently.


AP: How do you feel when people say that your star as singer has fallen?


Ciara: Even though my last album didn’t do as well as my previous ones, I was still able to go out and make money and tour. Every day is not always the perfect day. Artists that I have loved and admired, who have had a long career, have not had every record or song or video that was always the right choice.


AP: With your previous album not selling well, are you concerned about what type of numbers you put up for “Basic Instinct”?


Ciara: Selling records are becoming smaller fraction of branding and building a long-lasting career. You can sell a lot of records, but can you tour. You can sell records, but where does it go beyond that? That’s a part of building a brand for yourself.


AP: So at this point of your career, going on tour has bigger precedence over album sales?


Ciara: Absolutely. If you can walk away from your career and are successful touring, you’ll always be straight. Artists like Madonna have been doing it for years. She may put out one single, do a tour and gross over $200 million.


AP: You are in the blogs almost every other day. Was there anything you read that rubbed you the wrong way?


Ciara: It used to be funny to me when people would say, “Oh, Ciara is going Hollywood.” And you know what, I have gone Hollywood. I do want to make Hollywood money. But it doesn’t mean that I’ve changed who I am as a person. I haven’t changed because of the people who I hang out with now. I’m still the same person as I was before.


Damn, CiCi…you definiely need more people, babygirl.


Source




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Cable <b>News</b> Ratings 2010: Top 30 Programs Of The Year (PHOTOS)

2010 is almost done, and the cable news ratings for the entire year are in. As always, Fox News came out on top, thoroughly dominating the competition and taking the top 12 slots on the ratings list.

The Best of 2010&#39;s Animals in the <b>News</b>

2010 produced many weird, far-out, bizarre photos of people. But let's not forget all of the animals that made headlines over the past 12 months: from a rhino cow, penguin santas and lip-syncing monkey, we offer some of the best.

Fox <b>News</b> - Ratings - 2010 | MSNBC - CNN | Mediaite

Fox News will mark 2010 as one of the best years since the network's launch in 1996. The network posted powerful ratings, beating the combined ratings of CNN and MSNBC and marking the ninth straight year as cable's top news network.


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Cable <b>News</b> Ratings 2010: Top 30 Programs Of The Year (PHOTOS)

2010 is almost done, and the cable news ratings for the entire year are in. As always, Fox News came out on top, thoroughly dominating the competition and taking the top 12 slots on the ratings list.

The Best of 2010&#39;s Animals in the <b>News</b>

2010 produced many weird, far-out, bizarre photos of people. But let's not forget all of the animals that made headlines over the past 12 months: from a rhino cow, penguin santas and lip-syncing monkey, we offer some of the best.

Fox <b>News</b> - Ratings - 2010 | MSNBC - CNN | Mediaite

Fox News will mark 2010 as one of the best years since the network's launch in 1996. The network posted powerful ratings, beating the combined ratings of CNN and MSNBC and marking the ninth straight year as cable's top news network.


bench craft company scam

Cable <b>News</b> Ratings 2010: Top 30 Programs Of The Year (PHOTOS)

2010 is almost done, and the cable news ratings for the entire year are in. As always, Fox News came out on top, thoroughly dominating the competition and taking the top 12 slots on the ratings list.

The Best of 2010&#39;s Animals in the <b>News</b>

2010 produced many weird, far-out, bizarre photos of people. But let's not forget all of the animals that made headlines over the past 12 months: from a rhino cow, penguin santas and lip-syncing monkey, we offer some of the best.

Fox <b>News</b> - Ratings - 2010 | MSNBC - CNN | Mediaite

Fox News will mark 2010 as one of the best years since the network's launch in 1996. The network posted powerful ratings, beating the combined ratings of CNN and MSNBC and marking the ninth straight year as cable's top news network.


bench craft company scam

Cable <b>News</b> Ratings 2010: Top 30 Programs Of The Year (PHOTOS)

2010 is almost done, and the cable news ratings for the entire year are in. As always, Fox News came out on top, thoroughly dominating the competition and taking the top 12 slots on the ratings list.

The Best of 2010&#39;s Animals in the <b>News</b>

2010 produced many weird, far-out, bizarre photos of people. But let's not forget all of the animals that made headlines over the past 12 months: from a rhino cow, penguin santas and lip-syncing monkey, we offer some of the best.

Fox <b>News</b> - Ratings - 2010 | MSNBC - CNN | Mediaite

Fox News will mark 2010 as one of the best years since the network's launch in 1996. The network posted powerful ratings, beating the combined ratings of CNN and MSNBC and marking the ninth straight year as cable's top news network.


bench craft company scam

Cable <b>News</b> Ratings 2010: Top 30 Programs Of The Year (PHOTOS)

2010 is almost done, and the cable news ratings for the entire year are in. As always, Fox News came out on top, thoroughly dominating the competition and taking the top 12 slots on the ratings list.

The Best of 2010&#39;s Animals in the <b>News</b>

2010 produced many weird, far-out, bizarre photos of people. But let's not forget all of the animals that made headlines over the past 12 months: from a rhino cow, penguin santas and lip-syncing monkey, we offer some of the best.

Fox <b>News</b> - Ratings - 2010 | MSNBC - CNN | Mediaite

Fox News will mark 2010 as one of the best years since the network's launch in 1996. The network posted powerful ratings, beating the combined ratings of CNN and MSNBC and marking the ninth straight year as cable's top news network.


bench craft company scam

Cable <b>News</b> Ratings 2010: Top 30 Programs Of The Year (PHOTOS)

2010 is almost done, and the cable news ratings for the entire year are in. As always, Fox News came out on top, thoroughly dominating the competition and taking the top 12 slots on the ratings list.

The Best of 2010&#39;s Animals in the <b>News</b>

2010 produced many weird, far-out, bizarre photos of people. But let's not forget all of the animals that made headlines over the past 12 months: from a rhino cow, penguin santas and lip-syncing monkey, we offer some of the best.

Fox <b>News</b> - Ratings - 2010 | MSNBC - CNN | Mediaite

Fox News will mark 2010 as one of the best years since the network's launch in 1996. The network posted powerful ratings, beating the combined ratings of CNN and MSNBC and marking the ninth straight year as cable's top news network.


bench craft company scam

Cable <b>News</b> Ratings 2010: Top 30 Programs Of The Year (PHOTOS)

2010 is almost done, and the cable news ratings for the entire year are in. As always, Fox News came out on top, thoroughly dominating the competition and taking the top 12 slots on the ratings list.

The Best of 2010&#39;s Animals in the <b>News</b>

2010 produced many weird, far-out, bizarre photos of people. But let's not forget all of the animals that made headlines over the past 12 months: from a rhino cow, penguin santas and lip-syncing monkey, we offer some of the best.

Fox <b>News</b> - Ratings - 2010 | MSNBC - CNN | Mediaite

Fox News will mark 2010 as one of the best years since the network's launch in 1996. The network posted powerful ratings, beating the combined ratings of CNN and MSNBC and marking the ninth straight year as cable's top news network.


bench craft company scam

Cable <b>News</b> Ratings 2010: Top 30 Programs Of The Year (PHOTOS)

2010 is almost done, and the cable news ratings for the entire year are in. As always, Fox News came out on top, thoroughly dominating the competition and taking the top 12 slots on the ratings list.

The Best of 2010&#39;s Animals in the <b>News</b>

2010 produced many weird, far-out, bizarre photos of people. But let's not forget all of the animals that made headlines over the past 12 months: from a rhino cow, penguin santas and lip-syncing monkey, we offer some of the best.

Fox <b>News</b> - Ratings - 2010 | MSNBC - CNN | Mediaite

Fox News will mark 2010 as one of the best years since the network's launch in 1996. The network posted powerful ratings, beating the combined ratings of CNN and MSNBC and marking the ninth straight year as cable's top news network.


bench craft company scam

Cable <b>News</b> Ratings 2010: Top 30 Programs Of The Year (PHOTOS)

2010 is almost done, and the cable news ratings for the entire year are in. As always, Fox News came out on top, thoroughly dominating the competition and taking the top 12 slots on the ratings list.

The Best of 2010&#39;s Animals in the <b>News</b>

2010 produced many weird, far-out, bizarre photos of people. But let's not forget all of the animals that made headlines over the past 12 months: from a rhino cow, penguin santas and lip-syncing monkey, we offer some of the best.

Fox <b>News</b> - Ratings - 2010 | MSNBC - CNN | Mediaite

Fox News will mark 2010 as one of the best years since the network's launch in 1996. The network posted powerful ratings, beating the combined ratings of CNN and MSNBC and marking the ninth straight year as cable's top news network.


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Cable <b>News</b> Ratings 2010: Top 30 Programs Of The Year (PHOTOS)

2010 is almost done, and the cable news ratings for the entire year are in. As always, Fox News came out on top, thoroughly dominating the competition and taking the top 12 slots on the ratings list.

The Best of 2010&#39;s Animals in the <b>News</b>

2010 produced many weird, far-out, bizarre photos of people. But let's not forget all of the animals that made headlines over the past 12 months: from a rhino cow, penguin santas and lip-syncing monkey, we offer some of the best.

Fox <b>News</b> - Ratings - 2010 | MSNBC - CNN | Mediaite

Fox News will mark 2010 as one of the best years since the network's launch in 1996. The network posted powerful ratings, beating the combined ratings of CNN and MSNBC and marking the ninth straight year as cable's top news network.


bench craft company scam

Cable <b>News</b> Ratings 2010: Top 30 Programs Of The Year (PHOTOS)

2010 is almost done, and the cable news ratings for the entire year are in. As always, Fox News came out on top, thoroughly dominating the competition and taking the top 12 slots on the ratings list.

The Best of 2010&#39;s Animals in the <b>News</b>

2010 produced many weird, far-out, bizarre photos of people. But let's not forget all of the animals that made headlines over the past 12 months: from a rhino cow, penguin santas and lip-syncing monkey, we offer some of the best.

Fox <b>News</b> - Ratings - 2010 | MSNBC - CNN | Mediaite

Fox News will mark 2010 as one of the best years since the network's launch in 1996. The network posted powerful ratings, beating the combined ratings of CNN and MSNBC and marking the ninth straight year as cable's top news network.


bench craft company scam

Thursday, December 23, 2010

web internet marketing

Matthew Latkiewicz works at Zendesk.com, customer support software. He writes for and edits Zengage, Zendesk’s blog about customer engagement. He also writes about wine for McSweeney’s and imagines stuff at his own website, youwillnotbelieve.us.

Just as early television shows were essentially radio plays shot on film, the earliest attempts by online marketers mimicked the worlds of television and print. While banner ads and pre-roll commercials are still with us, of course, a new generation of marketing professionals and companies are exploring techniques more native to the web: multi-platform marketing campaigns that encourage interactivity.

Marketers who take advantage of the Internet’s unique capabilities have the potential to build increasingly engaged customer communities. Here’s a look at three major trends.

1. User-Generated Content Contests

Doritos hosted its first Crash the Superbowl campaign in 2007. Like a lot of big companies, Doritos bought a commercial slot for the Superbowl, but instead of hiring a production company to make a 30-second spot, Doritos turned to its consumers. “Grab your camera and create your Doritos commercial,” the company advertised. Anyone could create and submit a spot. These spots were put to a vote online, and the finalists received $10,000 and the winning spot ran in the very expensive Superbowl slot.

More than 1,000 people submitted videos, and Doritos generated a lot of attention for the campaign, ranking high in a number of surveys that tracked buzz and impact of the Super Bowl commercials.

These kinds of campaigns are very popular on the Internet at the moment and they range in scale. SolidWorks, makers of computer-aided design (CAD) software, worked with the design firm Small Army to build a campaign that involved its very active community. Christine Washburn, VP of marketing at SolidWorks, says, “We wanted to do something that would involve them and be very visible for new potential members of the community.”

Small Army came up with Let’s Go Design, an interactive web series. Users submit design ideas in response to challenges proposed by the show. Ideas are voted on and ultimately incorporated.

What works: Activity and participation around the brand.

If users get involved, they can win. And the voting structure generates even more activity. Washburn reports that SolidWorks’ “web traffic is up by a factor of four in comparison to previous campaigns.”

When this doesn’t work: Your brand doesn’t carry either the same kind of mass appeal as Doritos or the committed fandom of SolidWorks.

Branding consultant Lisa Merriam wrote a case study of a failed contest campaign by a company called Levia. It tried a campaign similar to Doritos, asking consumers to submit a video about the healing power of light.

Doritos is a mega-brand millions and millions of passionate consumers. And Levia®? You probably never heard of it. Levia® is a device that uses light to treat psoriasis. The set of people who suffer from psoriasis and who have heard of Levia® and who have the technical know-how to produce video and who care enough to come up with winning concepts about light’s power to heal is an infinitesimally small set of people — certainly not a crowd./>

2. Making a Consumer Community

Marketers have jumped on the relatively recent explosion of online communities. If customers have the ability to talk to one another, why not create an incentive and a space for them to talk about your brand?

One way to accomplish this is to offer customers something they might actually do in real life. Marketing agency Movement Strategy, for instance, recently created an online forum for two of its NBA clients, the Denver Nuggets and the New York Knicks. The site — NuggetsVsKnicks.com — operated during an actual game between the Nuggets and the Knicks, giving the fans a place to cheer on their team (and trash talk the other). By integrating with Facebook — users cheered by “Liking” their team — Movement Strategy was able to give a real-world analog to the digital interaction.

What works: Campaigns that encourage community among their customer base can really help to build loyalty.

When this doesn’t work: When the campaigns are lazy.

It’s not fair to say that most company Facebook Pages don’t work, but often the conversations there offer a relatively low level of engagement. Contests, questions and announcements all encourage participation from the customer, but not necessarily participation with each other.

A lot of brands use Twitter contests in a similar way. A few years ago Squarespace, for instance, gave away an iPhone a day to anyone who mentioned Squarespace in a tweet. While this kind of activity can generate a lot of buzz, the actual customer engagement in the brand is low — the equivalent of dropping your business card in a fishbowl.

Even worse is when Facebook and other social network integration is used as a gimmick. Last March, Absolut sponsored a short film by Spike Jonze, the director of Being John Malkovich. The film, titled I’m Here, was designed to be shown on the web. Before watching, the viewer is first walked through an invitation process using Facebook Connect. The friends you invite are cleverly integrated into an introductory cut scene, during which, you “enter” the theater to watch the film. Their photos appear on the VIP passes of other people in the theater. The whole thing works to give you a sense that you are watching this film with people who you know.

Except in this case, the experience stops there. As soon as the film starts, the connection to your community ends. The introduction has nothing to do with the film itself and instead feels tacked on and gimmicky. Absolut hinted at what could be done but didn’t actually do it.

3. Choose Your Own Adventure

Perhaps the most exciting development in multi-platform interactive campaigns is the ability of the customer base to participate in and affect the outcome of a story.

At Blogworld 2010, Ford announced an online marketing campaign to promote its new Focus. The campaign, called Focus Rally, pits six teams against each other in a reality-style adventure game where the viewers make the important calls for the participants.

“It’s a little bit like a choose your own adventure here, but the people at home were choosing the adventure for these players. It’s kind of cool how interactive the show is going to be,” says Focus Rally producer Neal Konstantini.

Specifically, the Focus Rally competitors must rely on the network capabilities of the car and their social networks to solve challenges. “f you’re in Albuquerque and you’re stuck and you run out of gas,” Konstantini explains, “you’re going to have to get on Facebook and tell your network, ‘I’m stuck. I need gas. Help me.’”

What works: When the web is integrated into both a compelling storyline and effective brand messaging.

When this doesn’t work: When you expect interaction to be what solely carries the campaign.

“It’s not enough to be interactive,” says Michal Ann Strahilevitz, associate professor of marketing at Golden Gate University. “It has to be truly compelling, engaging and persuasive to the target market. If you build it, they may or may not come.”

Choose your own adventure campaigns build off the Internet’s potential as a story-telling device. These kinds of campaigns “require the audience’s presence and participation in order to be complete,” says Mike Monello, co-founder and executive director of Campfire, an advertising agency in New York. Monello was one of the creators of The Blair Witch Project and used viral Internet distribution before there was a name for such a thing.

In a recent campaign that Campfire created for the Discovery Channel’s Shark Week programming, the team produced a series of videos about famous shark attacks throughout history. Like Absolut’s promotion of I’m Here, Campfire used Facebook Connect to personalize users’ experience of the site and videos. But whereas Absolut’s choice felt tacked on at the end, Campfire accessed users’ Facebook information to build a personalized shark attack for the visitor. It integrated personalization into the branding and the storytelling.

“Telling stories is one of mankind’s most enduring traditions,” Campfire explains on its website. “Our increased connectedness has only made spreading them faster, more pervasive, and more effective.”

More Business Resources from Mashable:

- 5 Ways to Sell Your Expertise Online/> - 4 Misconceptions About Marketing in Social Games/> - Small Biz Checklist: 5 Important Tasks for the End of the Year/> - HOW TO: Boost Holiday Sales With Commonly Overlooked Marketing Strategies/> - Why SMS Marketing Still Makes Sense for Small Business

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, IvanWuPI

For more Business coverage:

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Unity Stoakes is the co-founder and president of OrganizedWisdom, an expert-driven digital media company focused on health and wellness. OrganizedWisdom is building the world’s first digital mapping of online health experts to help people easily discover and connect with credible health resources.

Is your doctor easily accessible online, or does he or she believe that the Internet isn’t a resource for accessing health information?

If it’s the latter, it may be time to find another doctor. With nearly 90% of online Americans searching the Internet for health resources, it’s likely you and your friends and family already use the Internet to research health issues. It’s true that the web has a jumble of health information, and engaging online takes time, which most health experts don’t have. The good news, however, is that the increasing number of health professionals now embracing the Internet as an important and useful tool for health and wellness is beginning to change your options as a consumer.

Read on for some ways that social media can help doctors, health experts and everyday users.

Social Wellness Trends/>

An exciting new social media trend is emerging that disrupts the standard view of health care delivery and will have a profound impact on us all. Thousands of doctors, nurses, allied health professionals, and health advocates are publicly engaging with people online. In fact, nearly 40% of Americans turn to social media for health information.

Patients (and a few early adopter health pros) moved online years ago to share health guidance, give support and find answers. But until recently, many health professionals have avoided using the Internet and social media as a way to help patients. This reluctance is changing, as savvy physicians, nurses, dentists and other health pros are realizing that if their patients are online, then perhaps they should be too. Health practitioners who were once too busy, inexperienced or afraid to share their expertise online, now actively share links on Twitter and Facebook, blog, write for online medical journals, engage on Q&A sites, or contribute to online health sites and forums.

For too long, health and wellness has been a do-it-yourself proposition for patients online, and people have been left on their own to determine how to effectively utilize empty search boxes. People have great access to lots of information, but they must sort through the billions of articles to determine the credible from redundant health encyclopedias, marketing web sites or sites with potentially unknown sources. Then, the task of deciding the credibility of the sources and articles has fallen on the patient alone.

While the number of health experts interacting with patients online is relatively small, there is a clear trend taking shape. A recent Manhattan Research survey of U.S. physicians shows an increase of Internet usage for professional purposes up from 2.5 hours per week in 2002 to 8 hours per week in 2010. More strikingly, while more than 100,000 doctors are using closed social health networks like Sermo.com and publishing in peer-reviewed journals online, thousands of health professionals are now blogging, using Twitter, and connecting with patients on Facebook in very public ways. So much so that this November, for the first time, the American Medical Association released a set of guidelines to direct physicians communicating and engaging with patients via social media. And earlier this year, the CDC also published its own best practices toolkit for how health professionals should be using social media.

Given that so many people now go to the Internet before, during and after their visit to the doctor’s office, the lack of guidance from credible and trusted health experts online is a growing problem. In fact, Manhattan Research shows that 61% of people now use the Internet instead of visiting a doctor. Thankfully, the tide is turning as thousands of health practitioners move online to do much more than interact with friends, family and colleagues and are instead using the social web to dispense their particular health expertise.

What This Means for Health Information Seekers/>

We are standing at the precipice of a new online revolution in health care. As more and more health experts embrace the Internet and increase their social media activity, health information seekers will undoubtedly benefit in profound ways. Based on conversations and surveys conducted with experts and health information seekers, here are some of the benefits associated with a robust online community of active health experts:

Interaction With Experts: In the real world, people seeking answers to important health, financial or legal matters look for guidance from the best experts. With a growing community of health experts participating in online discussions, people have access to more expertise than ever before at their fingertips.

Credibility and Trust: With doctors and other health professionals contributing information online in increasing numbers, it is important for a trust filter to separate credible information and sources from information that is not credible. The community of health professionals that is forming online will act as a system of checks and balances to separate good information and sources from the bad.

Transparency: It’s been a watershed year for increased transparency as government, big business, the financial services industry and other sectors have been shining a light into their operations like never before. Healthcare is taking a major step forward in this regard at the grassroots level, with an expert community being formed online by doctors, nurses and other health professionals across the country. As more doctors view social media as an extension of their professional reputation, you can be sure that they will treat their online interactions with the same care as they do in the offline world.

While the increase in the online activity of health experts is a welcome development, searching for crucial health information online remains an overwhelming and intimidating process for many. In the offline world, people searching for health information seek out the best experts — and now with more health professionals moving online, people will finally be able to connect with credible experts they can trust.

More Social Media Resources from Mashable:

- 4 Effective Tools for Monitoring Your Child’s Online Safety/> - Social Media Parenting: Raising the Digital Generation/> - 5 Fun and Safe Social Networks for Children/> - HOW TO: Help Your Child Set Up a Blog/> - The Case For Social Media in Schools

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, dcdr

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<b>News</b> Conference by The President | The White House

News Conference by The President. South Court Auditorium, Eisenhower Executive Office Building. 4:16 P.M. EST. THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody. Good afternoon. I know everybody is itching to get out of here and spend some time with ...

Assange: Republicans, Democrats, Fox <b>News</b> conducting terrorism <b>...</b>

Assange counters 'high-tech terrorist' label by accusing his critics of terrorism.

Ben Sherwood - ABC <b>News</b> | Attack Video | Mediaite

If a video posted to Vimeo is to be believed, there are some insiders at ABC News who don't really care very much for newly-named boss Ben Sherwood, described in the video as the Draco Malfoy of Broadcast News. The video--essentially a ...


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<b>News</b> Conference by The President | The White House

News Conference by The President. South Court Auditorium, Eisenhower Executive Office Building. 4:16 P.M. EST. THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody. Good afternoon. I know everybody is itching to get out of here and spend some time with ...

Assange: Republicans, Democrats, Fox <b>News</b> conducting terrorism <b>...</b>

Assange counters 'high-tech terrorist' label by accusing his critics of terrorism.

Ben Sherwood - ABC <b>News</b> | Attack Video | Mediaite

If a video posted to Vimeo is to be believed, there are some insiders at ABC News who don't really care very much for newly-named boss Ben Sherwood, described in the video as the Draco Malfoy of Broadcast News. The video--essentially a ...


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<b>News</b> Conference by The President | The White House

News Conference by The President. South Court Auditorium, Eisenhower Executive Office Building. 4:16 P.M. EST. THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody. Good afternoon. I know everybody is itching to get out of here and spend some time with ...

Assange: Republicans, Democrats, Fox <b>News</b> conducting terrorism <b>...</b>

Assange counters 'high-tech terrorist' label by accusing his critics of terrorism.

Ben Sherwood - ABC <b>News</b> | Attack Video | Mediaite

If a video posted to Vimeo is to be believed, there are some insiders at ABC News who don't really care very much for newly-named boss Ben Sherwood, described in the video as the Draco Malfoy of Broadcast News. The video--essentially a ...


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<b>News</b> Conference by The President | The White House

News Conference by The President. South Court Auditorium, Eisenhower Executive Office Building. 4:16 P.M. EST. THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody. Good afternoon. I know everybody is itching to get out of here and spend some time with ...

Assange: Republicans, Democrats, Fox <b>News</b> conducting terrorism <b>...</b>

Assange counters 'high-tech terrorist' label by accusing his critics of terrorism.

Ben Sherwood - ABC <b>News</b> | Attack Video | Mediaite

If a video posted to Vimeo is to be believed, there are some insiders at ABC News who don't really care very much for newly-named boss Ben Sherwood, described in the video as the Draco Malfoy of Broadcast News. The video--essentially a ...


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<b>News</b> Conference by The President | The White House

News Conference by The President. South Court Auditorium, Eisenhower Executive Office Building. 4:16 P.M. EST. THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody. Good afternoon. I know everybody is itching to get out of here and spend some time with ...

Assange: Republicans, Democrats, Fox <b>News</b> conducting terrorism <b>...</b>

Assange counters 'high-tech terrorist' label by accusing his critics of terrorism.

Ben Sherwood - ABC <b>News</b> | Attack Video | Mediaite

If a video posted to Vimeo is to be believed, there are some insiders at ABC News who don't really care very much for newly-named boss Ben Sherwood, described in the video as the Draco Malfoy of Broadcast News. The video--essentially a ...


bench craft company scam

<b>News</b> Conference by The President | The White House

News Conference by The President. South Court Auditorium, Eisenhower Executive Office Building. 4:16 P.M. EST. THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody. Good afternoon. I know everybody is itching to get out of here and spend some time with ...

Assange: Republicans, Democrats, Fox <b>News</b> conducting terrorism <b>...</b>

Assange counters 'high-tech terrorist' label by accusing his critics of terrorism.

Ben Sherwood - ABC <b>News</b> | Attack Video | Mediaite

If a video posted to Vimeo is to be believed, there are some insiders at ABC News who don't really care very much for newly-named boss Ben Sherwood, described in the video as the Draco Malfoy of Broadcast News. The video--essentially a ...


bench craft company scam

<b>News</b> Conference by The President | The White House

News Conference by The President. South Court Auditorium, Eisenhower Executive Office Building. 4:16 P.M. EST. THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody. Good afternoon. I know everybody is itching to get out of here and spend some time with ...

Assange: Republicans, Democrats, Fox <b>News</b> conducting terrorism <b>...</b>

Assange counters 'high-tech terrorist' label by accusing his critics of terrorism.

Ben Sherwood - ABC <b>News</b> | Attack Video | Mediaite

If a video posted to Vimeo is to be believed, there are some insiders at ABC News who don't really care very much for newly-named boss Ben Sherwood, described in the video as the Draco Malfoy of Broadcast News. The video--essentially a ...


bench craft company scam

<b>News</b> Conference by The President | The White House

News Conference by The President. South Court Auditorium, Eisenhower Executive Office Building. 4:16 P.M. EST. THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody. Good afternoon. I know everybody is itching to get out of here and spend some time with ...

Assange: Republicans, Democrats, Fox <b>News</b> conducting terrorism <b>...</b>

Assange counters 'high-tech terrorist' label by accusing his critics of terrorism.

Ben Sherwood - ABC <b>News</b> | Attack Video | Mediaite

If a video posted to Vimeo is to be believed, there are some insiders at ABC News who don't really care very much for newly-named boss Ben Sherwood, described in the video as the Draco Malfoy of Broadcast News. The video--essentially a ...


bench craft company scam

<b>News</b> Conference by The President | The White House

News Conference by The President. South Court Auditorium, Eisenhower Executive Office Building. 4:16 P.M. EST. THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody. Good afternoon. I know everybody is itching to get out of here and spend some time with ...

Assange: Republicans, Democrats, Fox <b>News</b> conducting terrorism <b>...</b>

Assange counters 'high-tech terrorist' label by accusing his critics of terrorism.

Ben Sherwood - ABC <b>News</b> | Attack Video | Mediaite

If a video posted to Vimeo is to be believed, there are some insiders at ABC News who don't really care very much for newly-named boss Ben Sherwood, described in the video as the Draco Malfoy of Broadcast News. The video--essentially a ...


bench craft company scam

<b>News</b> Conference by The President | The White House

News Conference by The President. South Court Auditorium, Eisenhower Executive Office Building. 4:16 P.M. EST. THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody. Good afternoon. I know everybody is itching to get out of here and spend some time with ...

Assange: Republicans, Democrats, Fox <b>News</b> conducting terrorism <b>...</b>

Assange counters 'high-tech terrorist' label by accusing his critics of terrorism.

Ben Sherwood - ABC <b>News</b> | Attack Video | Mediaite

If a video posted to Vimeo is to be believed, there are some insiders at ABC News who don't really care very much for newly-named boss Ben Sherwood, described in the video as the Draco Malfoy of Broadcast News. The video--essentially a ...


bench craft company scam

<b>News</b> Conference by The President | The White House

News Conference by The President. South Court Auditorium, Eisenhower Executive Office Building. 4:16 P.M. EST. THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody. Good afternoon. I know everybody is itching to get out of here and spend some time with ...

Assange: Republicans, Democrats, Fox <b>News</b> conducting terrorism <b>...</b>

Assange counters 'high-tech terrorist' label by accusing his critics of terrorism.

Ben Sherwood - ABC <b>News</b> | Attack Video | Mediaite

If a video posted to Vimeo is to be believed, there are some insiders at ABC News who don't really care very much for newly-named boss Ben Sherwood, described in the video as the Draco Malfoy of Broadcast News. The video--essentially a ...


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Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Making Money Scam


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  • Hint: he's not just a student doing a project -nt-
    by CincoSolas_del_Bronx




  • Make a better argument!
    by jhh1023




  • Unfortunatly, he wont.
    by gekster




  • Who are you?
    by writeblock




  • Slow down and think.
    by gekster




  • P.S.
    by writeblock




  • Bash the "religious guys" again and you're gone.
    by Bill S




  • Who Cares About Democrats
    by tommyt




  • 5
    by aesthete




  • I thought they grew a backbone.
    by tommyt




  • gekster...
    by writeblock




  • kowalski: told ya he wouldn't stop.
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  • two day wonder doesn't know how to put up a spam diary, so a spam comment.
    by gekster




  • Laugh away, but I still make more sense...
    by writeblock




  • That'd be a good match nt
    by aesthete




  • Strength Training Protect Football Players from Injuries
    by seallow




  • NO MORE RINOs
    by tommyt




  • Writeblock, some friendly advice...
    by aesthete




  • Agree strongly with drewk and Kyle-MI
    by califgal




  • Hillbuzz is wrong on this...
    by rightwingnut2




  • good points again
    by gekster




  • Prior to his drop-out
    by writeblock




  • As to Giuliani's popularity...
    by writeblock




  • And again
    by powertothepeople




  • This is critical to our future.
    by Brian Hibbert




  • What about Obama's weird way of talking, where he takes dramatic pauses, and always emphasizes the last word of a sentence? Normal people don't talk that way.
    by nvrepub




  • Agreed, Just like Reagan Carter had to happen....
    by audax




  • Report from Brevard Cnty, FL
    by cwilson




  • 1) Bolton
    by TNJim




  • agreed - nt
    by Mike gamecock DeVine




  • I'll bring the beer -nt
    by izoneguy




  • Make that Huckabee and Paul...
    by writeblock




  • Homosexuals still the primary AIDS Plague Vector
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    by writeblock




  • No, you cut the crap and take off the blinders...
    by writeblock




  • Armey
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  • But Harriet Miers was not filibustered.
    by cwilson




  • I have to agree with drewk
    by Kyle-MI




  • A DVD set of 25 classic BBC productions, encoded in PAL, region 2 format, and maybe an iPod with speeches by Queen Elizabeth. nt
    by Greg Garrison




  • Very good explanation.
    by gekster




style="text-align: center;">

/> [style="text-decoration: underline;">Ed. note: This post is authored by Evan Jowers and Robert Kinney of Kinney Recruiting, sponsor of the Asia Chronicles. Kinney has made more placements of U.S. associates and partners in Asia than any other firm in the past four years. You can reach them by email: asia at kinneyrecruiting dot com.]

Evan here. If you are a transactional associate at a top US firm and your name happens to be of Asian origin, especially of Chinese background, then you are probably receiving multiple cold calls per day from recruiters. After all the Asia lateral biglaw markets, especially HK / China are red hot now and it is of course very easy to compile a list of top US firm associates with Asian names.

Keep in mind that there can be very negative consequences in giving control of such an important career move and job search to someone calling you out of the blue (no matter how many times they may call). We often get calls from very well qualified US associates with sad tales of at worst their resume being plastered unauthorized all over China or other Asia markets; or at best only authorized submissions (thankfully) but realizing their recruiter has done little more than emailing their resume to begin with and is unresponsive for weeks.

It is important to note that your resume is a very valuable commodity to recruiters calling you. When you are placed at a law firm, the recruiter who submitted your resume is typically paid (by the law firm) 25 to 30% of your starting base salary. Thus, the recruiters cold-calling you have a big incentive to get a hold of your resume and email it to law firms, with or without your authorization (believe it or not, some biglaw recruiters in Asia are known to be even less ethical than the worst of the lot in the US). Once your resume has been submitted to a law firm, the recruiter who did so “owns” your candidacy there for at least six months. Further, when your resume has been submitted without your authorization, it will take an affidavit from you to the target firm explaining such for the submission to be reversed (and basically that is you explaining to the firm that you did not know you even applied there, which can of course cool off any motivation of that firm to continue to want to interview you, and the unethical recruiter is counting on you to thus not take that route).

We try to think that a lot of recruiters do not take such unethical steps, but please note that even the most well-intentioned recruiters trying to break into the Asia markets are more often than not woefully inexperienced with such lateral placements (and even most of those with some experience have never been more than resume pushers).id="more-49277">

We recommend that you make sure you are represented by a recruiter who is willing and able (has the experience necessary in your target market) to act as your agent, instead of just someone who is only able and / or willing to email your resume to firms. You should be pro-actively looking for an agent (we recommend interviewing prospective agent / recruiters months before you start your search when possible), not simply handing your search over to a headhunter that happens to be calling with the earth shattering news that they know, for example, of firms in China that have openings for Mandarin fluent US associates in cap markets and M&A (almost every top US and UK firm in HK / China has such openings), or that the sky is blue.

The question you should be asking is not whether there are openings and whether you would be very competitive candidate for such spots (yes and yes), but whether the person calling you is best suited for representing you.

At the very least, make sure the recruiter cold-calling you can:

a) Provide at minimum 10 references of US associates they have actually placed in your target market in Asia (I could easily provide 50, as 10 is a very small and unimpressive number, but should be a minimum guideline to figure out if the recruiter actually has a history of successfully placing US associates in your target market); and

b) Is able to discuss in great detail each roles you may consider targeting, including details regarding the relevant partners involved (does the recruiter even have a business relationship with the particular partners making the hire), including their personality, practice area, and plans for growth. I usually refer to this as the “3 hour rule”, in that if you get the impression that the recruiter could not talk non-stop about your target market for about 3 hours, then move on to the next recruiter (does not mean you actually have to listen to them for 3 hours).

It can be a lengthy process to find the right fit lateral spot in Asia, especially if you are moving from the US. It is much more complex than simply moving down the street to another big office. Instead you are moving to a much smaller office, smaller group, a place where you will have a lot more responsibilities with clients and where your personality fit with your primary supervising partner will be key (not only for progression at your new firm, but also for the foundation of your career in your target Asian market).

It is also a very exciting move and you deserve to be working with an agent / recruiter (rather than headhunter / recruiter) who is excited about helping you and the firms / partners he is recruiting for in Asia; who is excited to be invested in your career for the long-term; not focused on a recruiting fee (is willing to give advice not corresponding with recruiter being paid if that is the best advice); and who is capable (actual long-term experience with the market and similar lateral moves) of giving you the best advice and guidance.

Our team at Kinney can of course do a great job for you on an Asia job search. We know a handful of recruiters outside our recruiting firm as well whom we can recommend and are happy to do so. If unfortunately you have gone down the road already of being represented by a headhunter (instead of an agent) and you need advice, feel free to get in touch with us as well. While we can’t represent you at your target firms in such situations (remember, your headhunter already “owns” your candidacy at any firm contacted for at least 6 months), we are happy to give you advice and guidance regarding job search strategy and which offer to take (we have helped numerous US associates in such situations, including helping them negotiate their comp packages).


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Facebook Rolling Out More Prominent Design of <b>News</b> Feed Filters

Facebook is rolling out a new way to filter the news feed. Users with access to the redesigned feature see a drop-down arrow beside their Most Recent news feed tab on the home page, revealing filters for status updates, Photos, Links, ...

<b>News</b> Corp. Digital Sell-Off Continues With Fox Mobile Group <b>...</b>

The latest in News Corp.'s yearlong divestitures in its digital unit is Fox Mobile Group, which the conglomerate announced Wednesday was sold to Jesta Group. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. ...

Facebook Makes <b>News</b> Feed Filters Available To All

It looks like Facebook has made its revived news feed filters available to all users, after initially made them available selectively last week.


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Facebook Rolling Out More Prominent Design of <b>News</b> Feed Filters

Facebook is rolling out a new way to filter the news feed. Users with access to the redesigned feature see a drop-down arrow beside their Most Recent news feed tab on the home page, revealing filters for status updates, Photos, Links, ...

<b>News</b> Corp. Digital Sell-Off Continues With Fox Mobile Group <b>...</b>

The latest in News Corp.'s yearlong divestitures in its digital unit is Fox Mobile Group, which the conglomerate announced Wednesday was sold to Jesta Group. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. ...

Facebook Makes <b>News</b> Feed Filters Available To All

It looks like Facebook has made its revived news feed filters available to all users, after initially made them available selectively last week.


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Facebook Rolling Out More Prominent Design of <b>News</b> Feed Filters

Facebook is rolling out a new way to filter the news feed. Users with access to the redesigned feature see a drop-down arrow beside their Most Recent news feed tab on the home page, revealing filters for status updates, Photos, Links, ...

<b>News</b> Corp. Digital Sell-Off Continues With Fox Mobile Group <b>...</b>

The latest in News Corp.'s yearlong divestitures in its digital unit is Fox Mobile Group, which the conglomerate announced Wednesday was sold to Jesta Group. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. ...

Facebook Makes <b>News</b> Feed Filters Available To All

It looks like Facebook has made its revived news feed filters available to all users, after initially made them available selectively last week.


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Facebook Rolling Out More Prominent Design of <b>News</b> Feed Filters

Facebook is rolling out a new way to filter the news feed. Users with access to the redesigned feature see a drop-down arrow beside their Most Recent news feed tab on the home page, revealing filters for status updates, Photos, Links, ...

<b>News</b> Corp. Digital Sell-Off Continues With Fox Mobile Group <b>...</b>

The latest in News Corp.'s yearlong divestitures in its digital unit is Fox Mobile Group, which the conglomerate announced Wednesday was sold to Jesta Group. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. ...

Facebook Makes <b>News</b> Feed Filters Available To All

It looks like Facebook has made its revived news feed filters available to all users, after initially made them available selectively last week.


bench craft company scam

Facebook Rolling Out More Prominent Design of <b>News</b> Feed Filters

Facebook is rolling out a new way to filter the news feed. Users with access to the redesigned feature see a drop-down arrow beside their Most Recent news feed tab on the home page, revealing filters for status updates, Photos, Links, ...

<b>News</b> Corp. Digital Sell-Off Continues With Fox Mobile Group <b>...</b>

The latest in News Corp.'s yearlong divestitures in its digital unit is Fox Mobile Group, which the conglomerate announced Wednesday was sold to Jesta Group. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. ...

Facebook Makes <b>News</b> Feed Filters Available To All

It looks like Facebook has made its revived news feed filters available to all users, after initially made them available selectively last week.


bench craft company scam

Facebook Rolling Out More Prominent Design of <b>News</b> Feed Filters

Facebook is rolling out a new way to filter the news feed. Users with access to the redesigned feature see a drop-down arrow beside their Most Recent news feed tab on the home page, revealing filters for status updates, Photos, Links, ...

<b>News</b> Corp. Digital Sell-Off Continues With Fox Mobile Group <b>...</b>

The latest in News Corp.'s yearlong divestitures in its digital unit is Fox Mobile Group, which the conglomerate announced Wednesday was sold to Jesta Group. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. ...

Facebook Makes <b>News</b> Feed Filters Available To All

It looks like Facebook has made its revived news feed filters available to all users, after initially made them available selectively last week.


bench craft company scam

Facebook Rolling Out More Prominent Design of <b>News</b> Feed Filters

Facebook is rolling out a new way to filter the news feed. Users with access to the redesigned feature see a drop-down arrow beside their Most Recent news feed tab on the home page, revealing filters for status updates, Photos, Links, ...

<b>News</b> Corp. Digital Sell-Off Continues With Fox Mobile Group <b>...</b>

The latest in News Corp.'s yearlong divestitures in its digital unit is Fox Mobile Group, which the conglomerate announced Wednesday was sold to Jesta Group. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. ...

Facebook Makes <b>News</b> Feed Filters Available To All

It looks like Facebook has made its revived news feed filters available to all users, after initially made them available selectively last week.


bench craft company scam

Facebook Rolling Out More Prominent Design of <b>News</b> Feed Filters

Facebook is rolling out a new way to filter the news feed. Users with access to the redesigned feature see a drop-down arrow beside their Most Recent news feed tab on the home page, revealing filters for status updates, Photos, Links, ...

<b>News</b> Corp. Digital Sell-Off Continues With Fox Mobile Group <b>...</b>

The latest in News Corp.'s yearlong divestitures in its digital unit is Fox Mobile Group, which the conglomerate announced Wednesday was sold to Jesta Group. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. ...

Facebook Makes <b>News</b> Feed Filters Available To All

It looks like Facebook has made its revived news feed filters available to all users, after initially made them available selectively last week.


bench craft company scam

Facebook Rolling Out More Prominent Design of <b>News</b> Feed Filters

Facebook is rolling out a new way to filter the news feed. Users with access to the redesigned feature see a drop-down arrow beside their Most Recent news feed tab on the home page, revealing filters for status updates, Photos, Links, ...

<b>News</b> Corp. Digital Sell-Off Continues With Fox Mobile Group <b>...</b>

The latest in News Corp.'s yearlong divestitures in its digital unit is Fox Mobile Group, which the conglomerate announced Wednesday was sold to Jesta Group. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. ...

Facebook Makes <b>News</b> Feed Filters Available To All

It looks like Facebook has made its revived news feed filters available to all users, after initially made them available selectively last week.


bench craft company scam

Facebook Rolling Out More Prominent Design of <b>News</b> Feed Filters

Facebook is rolling out a new way to filter the news feed. Users with access to the redesigned feature see a drop-down arrow beside their Most Recent news feed tab on the home page, revealing filters for status updates, Photos, Links, ...

<b>News</b> Corp. Digital Sell-Off Continues With Fox Mobile Group <b>...</b>

The latest in News Corp.'s yearlong divestitures in its digital unit is Fox Mobile Group, which the conglomerate announced Wednesday was sold to Jesta Group. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. ...

Facebook Makes <b>News</b> Feed Filters Available To All

It looks like Facebook has made its revived news feed filters available to all users, after initially made them available selectively last week.


bench craft company scam

Facebook Rolling Out More Prominent Design of <b>News</b> Feed Filters

Facebook is rolling out a new way to filter the news feed. Users with access to the redesigned feature see a drop-down arrow beside their Most Recent news feed tab on the home page, revealing filters for status updates, Photos, Links, ...

<b>News</b> Corp. Digital Sell-Off Continues With Fox Mobile Group <b>...</b>

The latest in News Corp.'s yearlong divestitures in its digital unit is Fox Mobile Group, which the conglomerate announced Wednesday was sold to Jesta Group. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. ...

Facebook Makes <b>News</b> Feed Filters Available To All

It looks like Facebook has made its revived news feed filters available to all users, after initially made them available selectively last week.


bench craft company scam