Image via WikipediaUSC was the top ranked team for the first 4 weeks of the college football, until they lost to Oregon State in Corvallis. Oregon State isn’t a bad team, but USC shouldn’t have lost to them. Their only excuse is that it was a road game. But, shouldn’t national championship teams be able to win on the road?
The University of Oklahoma took over as the top team for the next 2 weeks until they got beat at the Cotton Bowl by the University of Texas this past weekend. This is a big rivalry game, so ratings don’t matter when these teams play. Texas beating Oklahoma isn’t a big upset.
The teams that remain undefeated are Texas, Alabama, Penn State, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, BYU, Utah, Tulsa, and Ball State. Texas, Texas Tech, and Oklahoma State all play each over the next 4 weekends. So, only one of those teams will be undefeated and odds are all of them will suffer a defeat.
BYU and Utah play each other on November 22nd, which means one of those teams will be knocked from the ranks of the unbeaten. The winner of that game will probably be undefeated. Ball State is ranked 25th and faces a hard time moving far enough up in the ratings to even get into a BCS game. They also face two-time defending MAC champion Central Michigan on the road. Neither Boise State nor Tulsa is even ranked, so they don’t count.
That leaves us with Penn State as the only other team that has a chance at an undefeated season. They have their two hardest games at home – Ohio State and Michigan State. Penn State has looked tough, but losing one of those games wouldn’t be surprising. Put all those things together and either BYU or Utah has a good chance to be in the BCS championship game. Boise State was a nice story when it beat Oklahoma in the Fiesta two years ago, but that wasn’t the national championship game. BYU or Utah will definitely lose to the winner of the SEC title game and would even be trounced by loser of that game.
It is time for a playoff in college football. Something like an 8 team playoff that could still use the existing bowl games. We just want a little fairness in the world and that is what 104inc.com is about.
Image via WikipediaThey say it is but why? Who pays these people to tell us that good health and exercise are important? The health industry is a $500 billion dollar industry and growing. Think about it. You exercise and you exercise and what do you have to show for your results sore back, bad knees, messed up elbow. Then you go to doctors you make billions of dollars prescribing you drugs to make you feel better. Wait all those drugs have side effects. They can kill you, or cause heart damage of liver disease, etc, etc, etc. So then you go back for more pills and surgery. This is all done in the name of good health.
So is exercise and good health important? Doctors say it is. How do doctors make money? They need to treat sick people. If people did not get sick we would not need doctors. If people did not get hurt we would not need doctors. That would mean that we would not need drug companies or insurance companies. We would save so much money by not having gym memberships, dealing with doctors, insurance companies. That would then reduce or level of stress and we would live longer.
That sounds like a better deal to me then exercising. Just eat better reduce your stress and you will live longer. Some people may say I am crazy but it sure makes sense to me. We are to busy complicating life. We need to step back and realize that we are just animals that were put on this earth to procreate and eat. Why do we have to have a higher purpose then that?
You don’t think so? Your stock portfolio is shrinking, your 401k is not worth anything, you have you’re your home plummet in value, and your bank is out of business. So do you still think we are winning this war against them?
Let us examine the situation. How do you do the most damage all western powers? Is it by killing their people? Is it by overthrowing a government? The answer is none. You destroy them by disrupting what they love most; Money, Power and Greed. The world trade center gets attacked. The world trade center represented the financial strength of this nation and a sign of stability. Things are not very stable now.
The governments of the world that are supported by the US rally to fight a war on terror. Our government is more focused on this war on terror then anything else in our country or around the world. Enter the greed and money. The wealthiest people in the world convince the government to deregulate a number of industries which opens up a faucet of riches to these people. These greedy people then manipulate the system to their advantage rape the world and walk away.
Let us now fast forward to October of 2008. We are no longer facing a US economic meltdown. We are actually facing a worldwide financial crisis, a destruction of our financial markets as we know it today. This crisis is going to destroy wealth around the world. It is going to create fear, hatred and destruction among countries and people. Why do you think the holocaust started? Hitler said that it was the fault of the Jews that their economy was so bad. He said if the people of Germany put him in charge he would get rid of the Jews and the German people would prosper with jobs.
Looks like history is repeating itself, we are on the verge of a worldwide great depression. We will then blame someone and World War III will be in affect. So let me ask you this question again. Is Al-Qaida winning the war and achieving their goals. I think so. They wanted chaos in our society and we let it happen. Shame on us.
Does this mean it is too late? Hell No! What is the solution? Not sure yet. Maybe this can be discussed at 104inc.com.
What you need to know when driving your car during the winter months, it’s important for you to know all the features on your car very well, especially during winter. Because when you are presented with rain, ice, fog and slippery roads, your car will react much differently then at other times. So what will you need to know when you are driving in hazardous condition? I’ll give you 5 tips below to help you .
#1 How driving at a lower speed will decrease your chances of an accident
This is one of the simplest things we can do. Unfortunately we all have busy lives and are always in a hurry. There are so many things like getting our kids to school or going to work, grocery store, repairs on the car and much more. Usually we are always running behind schedule and the first thing we do is speed up. This is a huge mistake especially when it first starts to rain and the oil from the surface of the ground comes up and that makes for a very slippery road and increases the chance of you getting into an accident.
#2 How leavening your headlights on gives you more visibility
This is another simple thing you can do to ensure the safety of you and everybody else. Studies have shown that driving with your lights on will increase the chance of another driver seeing you earlier and helping to avoid an accident.
#3 How applying your brakes slowly will prevent your car from sliding
Make sure to never slam your brakes while driving in the ice, rain or snow. If you do slam your breaks, then your car will be sliding all over the road because your tires will lose traction. If you live in the mountains where it snows a lot then it is best to get snow tires VS the all season tires and use chains for even better traction.
#4 How to be careful regardless of the type of vehicle you drive.
The reason I say that is because some people that have bigger cars or that have four wheel drive vehicles think “I will be ok if I drive fast and change lanes recklessly” but you have to realize that your car is also heavier and if something happens, it will cause a bigger accident. The bigger the car the harder it will be for you to handle and for you to break in time, especially in a wet environment.
#5 checking your tires
Make sure that you have a mechanic check your tires and see if they are ok and they are not bald on the side or in the middle. Tires are very important for you especially when it is raining, because when the tires are bald and you drive on them they do not hold to the ground and you are more likely to sliding all over the road and lose control or your car.
Make sure during the winter time that you try and go with some of the basic information that I have given you. This will help you and others on the road.
Communication skills involve both speaking and listening to the client and showing your sincerity and professionalism. Communication involves receiving information, processing information and responding. You do this in a sequence of actions that require you to be attentive. As a Sales Associate, you will depend upon your communication skills from the Meet/Greet to Thank/Follow-up।
You probably spend more time using your listening skills than any other kind of skill. Like other skills, listening takes practice. What does it mean to really listen? Real listening is an active process that has three basic steps.
Hearing. Just means listening enough to catch what the speaker is saying. For example, say you were listening to a report on zebras, and the speaker mentioned that no two are alike. If you can repeat the fact, then you have heard what has been said. Understanding. The next part of listening happens when you take what you have heard and understand it in your own way. Let's go back to that report on zebras. When you hear that no two are alike, think about what that might mean. You might think, "Maybe this means that the pattern of stripes is different for each zebra." Judging. After you are sure you understand what the speaker has said, think about whether it makes sense. Do you believe what you have heard? You might think, "How could the stripes be different for every zebra? But then again, fingerprints are different for every person. I think this seems believable."
There are three forms of listening: passive, selective and active. Passive listening is a non-verbal form of listening. The listener provides little to no verbal feedback to the client. Passive listening can lead your clients to assume that you are not really interested, or they may feel it necessary to repeat themselves to ensure that you understand. Selective listening can be summed up as “hearing what you want to hear.” When selective listeners hear what they want to hear, they appear to be engaged and to understand. Conversely, when selective listeners do not hear what they want to hear, they tune out the client, or worse, become reactive.
Active listening is sometimes referred to as reflective listening. Active listeners receive clients’ messages with care and respect and then work to verify their understanding of the message. Active listeners capture both the facts and the feelings of clients. Some behaviors to use are: · Show patience · Give verbal feedback to summarize understanding · Acknowledge emotions · Speak up when something is unclear, or confusing Fundamental to good communication is using “active listening.” Whenever you listen actively to another person’s comments, your reason for doing so is to understand the meaning of the message from the speaker’s point of view. Your clients have choices. If you don’t make them feel welcomed and valued, you will likely lose them as a client.
In 1985 a movie came out staring Richard Pryor and John Candy called “Brewster’s Millions.” The plot: A minor league baseball player has to waste $30m in 30 days in order to inherit $300m; however he's not allowed to tell anyone about the $300m deal. It sounds easy but it is not because he could not have any assets to show for his wasteful spending. They had limitations such as how much you could give to charity and lose gambling etc.
The movie illustrates how difficult it is to spend that amount of money and to not have anything to show for it. It is funny how our government can spend $700 Billion of our tax money and easily have nothing to show for it. The roads are not fixed. Traffic congestion is at an all time high. My health care costs are not paid for, the school districts waste our tax dollars on stuff that does not help educate my children, and the list goes on and on.
Getting back to the movie, one of the biggest ways to waste money is to run for public office. Richard Pryor’s character learned that and decided to run for Mayor of New York City. In that seen he made a very interesting observation. He pondered the question, “Why are the candidates spending millions of dollars to run for public office when the job itself pays about a fraction of what is being spent to run for office?”
Do any of you ever wonder that same question? I believe the President of the United States which is the highest paying job in our Federal Government which $400,000 per year as of 2000. The president also can get a pension that can pay him or her over $7M in paid benefits before they pass away. Also keep in mind that most of the people that run for office are already rich like George Bush and are Multi-Millionaires.
So why spend $500M - $1B for a presidential campaign for a job that only returns a fraction of that. The ROI there is not positive but negative. Not only that who are the people that are donating all this money and why is it so important that their candidate win? Because these are very rich people who want to get richer and stay rich. They are paying for their government. Your $5 donation to Barack Obama or John McCain is not going to get you good government. If these candidates want to be president so bad let them spend their own money.
They won’t because they are not stupid. The system was created to keep the powerful in power and the weak out of office. They do not want to do right by the American People. They only want to do right for their friends. Why aren’t more Americans standing up and asking these questions? Why aren’t more Americans upset about how things are going on Main Street and Wall Street? If you are so upset why do you only vote Republican or Democrat? How about None of the Above? Vote but make your vote count and show that you all have a lack of confidence in both candidates and you want and deserve more choices except for the same 2 people that they recycle every 4 years.
Market conditions in recent days have turned many arcane financial terms into familiar vocabulary. Words and phrases such as breaking the buck, securitization, counterparty risk and short selling are being used frequently in the media. But many of these terms are not easily understood by the average consumer who don’t deal with them every day.
Given recent news headlines, definitions of a few terms and phrases may be useful as you read daily coverage about the current economic environment:
Auction Rate Securities: Short-term instruments designed to preserve capital while generally realizing higher rates of return than traditional money market investments (for example, municipal auction rate securities, municipal preferreds and action preferred stock). Interest rates or dividends reset frequently, usually every seven to 49 days, via Dutch auction. The interest or dividends received can be 70% to 100% exempt from federal taxes. Issuers include states, municipalities, corporations, utilities, hospitals, housing finance agencies, student loan finance authorities and universities.
Break the buck: When a money market mutual fund's net asset value drops below $1 per share. Money market funds aren't federally insured like bank deposits; therefore, fund assets have an implied promise to preserve capital at all costs and preserve the $1 floor on share prices. These funds are regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission; rules restrict what they can invest in based on credit quality and maturities with the hope of ensuring principal stability.
Collateralized Debt Obligation (CDO): An investment-grade security (one with a high bond rating such as BBB) backed by a pool of bonds, loans and other assets. CDOs do not specialize in one type of debt but are often non-mortgage loans or bonds. Similar in structure to a collateralized mortgage obligation (CMO) or collateralized bond obligation (CBO), CDOs are unique in that they represent different types of debt and credit risk. In the case of CDOs, these different types of debt are often referred to as “tranches” or “slices.” Each slice has a different maturity and risk associated with it. The higher the risk, the more the CDO pays.
Commercial Bank: A full-service institution that offers customers deposit, payment and credit services, in addition to other financial services.
Counterparty risk: The risk to each party of a contract that the counterparty will not live up to its contractual obligations. A counterparty is the other party that participates in a financial transaction. Every transaction must have a counterparty for the transaction to go through. More specifically, every buyer of an asset must be paired with a seller that is willing to sell and vice versa.
Credit Default Swap (CDS): A swap* designed to transfer the credit exposure of fixed income products (securities that pay specific interest rates, such as a bond, money market instrument or preferred stock) between parties. The buyer of a credit swap receives credit protection, whereas the seller of the swap guarantees the credit worthiness of the product. By doing this, the risk of default is transferred from the holder of the fixed income security to the seller of the swap. For example, the buyer of a credit swap will be entitled to the par value of the bond by the seller of the swap, should the bond default in its coupon payments.
*Note: a swap traditionally means the exchange of one security for another to change the maturity (bonds), quality of issues (stocks or bonds) or because investment objectives have changed.
Deleverage: A process undertaken by a company in an attempt to reduce its financial leverage, or the degree to which the company is using borrowed money. Financial leverage can be beneficial for a company, but if it becomes too risky or harmful, the company may need to deleverage itself by paying off the amount of debt that it owes.
Derivative: In finance, a security whose price is dependent upon or derived from one or more underlying assets. The derivative itself is merely a contract between two or more parties. Its value is determined by fluctuations in the underlying asset. The most common underlying assets include stocks, bonds, commodities, currencies, interest rates and market indexes. Most derivatives are characterized by high leverage.
Investment bank: An individual or institution that acts as an underwriter or agent for corporations and municipalities issuing securities. Most also maintain broker/dealer operations, maintain markets for previously issued securities and offer advisory services to investors. Investment banks also have a large role in facilitating mergers and acquisitions, private equity placements and corporate restructuring. Unlike traditional banks, investment banks do not accept deposits from and provide loans to individuals.
Money market deposit account: A type of savings account offered by banks and credit unions just like regular savings accounts. However, they usually pay higher interest, have higher minimum balance requirements and limit the number of withdrawals per month. As with bank accounts, the money in a money market account is generally insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) subject to certain limitations. The recent announcement from the U.S. Treasury regarding money market mutual funds does not affect money market deposit accounts or impact FDIC insurance of such deposit accounts.
Money market mutual fund: A fund that invests in a pool of high-quality, short-term, interest-bearing securities. A money market mutual fund is not a bank deposit and is not insured or guaranteed by Bank of America, the FDIC or any other government agency.
Resolution Trust Company (RTC): A U.S. government-owned asset management company charged with liquidating assets (primarily real estate-related assets, including mortgage loans) that had been assets of savings and loan associations declared insolvent by the Office of Thrift Supervision, as a consequence of the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s. In 1995, its duties were transferred to the Savings Association Insurance Fund of the FDIC. Between 1989 and mid 1995, the Resolution Trust Corporation closed or otherwise resolved 747 thrifts with total assets of $394 billion.
Securitization (or securitized assets): The process of distributing risk by aggregating debt instruments (for example, mortgage loans) in a pool, then issuing securities that are backed by the pool and available for purchase by investors in the secondary mortgage market.
Subprime mortgages: A type of mortgage that is sometimes offered to borrowers with a greater-than-average risk of defaulting on the loan. Lending institutions often charge interest on subprime mortgages at a rate that is higher than a conventional mortgage (often referred to as “prime”) to compensate themselves for carrying more risk.
Short sale: A transaction in which an investor sells borrowed stock, betting the stock will decline with the intention of buying it back at a lower price to realize a profit.
Warrant: Certificate given to its stockholders or bondholders by an issuer that allows the holder to purchase a specific amount of its securities at a set price. A warrant can be sold to another investor if the holder chooses not to exercise the warrant.
You should be aware that http://104inc.com is always a useful resource for terms and acronyms. You can help keep 104inc stay current by submitting updates and ideas for features you would like added to the site through their feedback button.
Well, ladies and gentleman, the magic number is now 35. 35 days until election day. Where do you stand? Where should you stand? Well, I'll tell you one thing. Anyone who votes for McCain might as well jump on the first ship, plane, train, helicopter, pigeon, or anything else that moves out of the country. Now, don't get me wrong. Bush III, err...McCain is a solid guy. A war veteran, former POW - we all know his resume; but the shear fact that his running mate is a nonsensical, Oprah-watching, I-can't-answer-one-question-with-an-intelligent-answer soccer mom scares the ever-loving crap out of me. Can you imagine if, God forbid, something happened to McCain (72 years old and not in the best condition), then our Commander in-chief would be....gulp...Sarah Palin. Wow. I just started convulsing at the thought of the Lifetime Channel taking over the television airwaves. OK, now I'm just terrified - and I think I just threw up a little. That woman has no business in office, and McCain would be wise to change his running mate (if that's possible). Now, for all you reading this that are currently flipping through a thesaurus to come up with every synonym of chauvinist, let me make this perfectly clear. I voted for Hilary Clinton in the primaries because of her experience, intellect, and proven past of the Clinton family. This is not a 'I am man, hear me roar' rant. I don't care if there's a woman in office, as long as it's the right one. Okay, I better change course a bit, because I'm getting fired up. I suppose it's obvious that I am a democrat and a strong Obama supporter. Now, who reading this saw the debate? And of you who did, who was for McCain, but after seing the debate, feels like Obama may be the better man? I thought so. McCain was flustered, not confident, and was caught multiple times spewing false statistics, to which Sen. Obama called him out ever time. So, I ask you, Mr. John McCain, what is your master plan? This 'plan' we have heard about, but yet know nothing about. McCain/Palin are in short, a deadly combo... and I don't mean that as a compliment. He can't back up anything, she can't answer a question, and all they do is waste their time bashing Obama and his crew, in hopes that the retarded voters who elected Bush not once, but twice, will vote for them. They hope that the bon-bon popping Oprah fanatics will 'relate' to the stultifying nature that is Sarah Palin. I mean, if McCain must use Palin, perhaps he could consider swapping her out with Tina Fey (comedienne from Saturday Night Live); with the uncanny ability to do a spot-on impersonation of Palin, Tina Fey has more substance and actually has the ability to answer questions. The choice is simple. The choice is ours...and yours. But as for this man, I say the answer is clear....OBAMA or bust. I'm getting Virgin Atlantic on standby in case McCain/Palin win - I'll be on the first flight to Prague. Need any more help? Not sure which way to go? Well, at least there's one easy choice. Log on to 104Vote.com for related articles on the upcoming election, as well as simple and easy ways to accommodate all your needs!
Yep, that is how much you and every American will be paying for the government bailout. This does include your children. Luckily, it doesn’t include your cats, dogs, and fish. This year’s bailout includes the following items: $700 billion proposed Wall Street bailout; $85 billion for AIG; $200 billion for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; $150 billion stimulus package (your $600/person rebate check); $438 billion projected Federal deficit; and a small $29 billion bailout for Bear Stearns. Makes you glad you got that rebate check earlier this year, doesn’t it?
The scary part is that this number will probably grow. The Treasury Department is really just asking for a blank check and they won’t have any accountability to Congress or anyone else. There is the potential to include more than problem mortgages in this package. Car loans, student loans, and credit card debt could all be included in this package. This $700 billion Wall Street bailout could grow to over $2.5 trillion dollars.
Just in case you were curious, this won’t help only American banks - it will also help foreign banks. Pretty nice of the US taxpayer to help the world. Though, I guess we did help create the problem.
It was all about trying to take advantage of the system. The investment banks came up with inventive ways of repackaging debt. The rating agencies went along with something they obviously didn’t understand. Then, we didn’t think and went along with their greed. Why? Because we are just as bad as Wall Street is.
Some people bought houses with “neg am” loans. What a concept – you can make a payment, but it doesn’t have to even cover your interest payment - just go deeper in debt. The other cool idea was tapping into your new found “equity” in your home. Just refinance or take out a home equity loan, take out some cash, and go deeper in debt. Well, at least you got to buy a Gucci bag and a jet ski. Hope it was worth it.
Yell and scream at Wall Street and the government all you want, but we are just as much to blame.
Luckily, www.104inc.com isn’t going to be asking you to help them out. Go check out their website to get away from this mess.
To pursue a strategy of "product leadership" entails delivering value through offering leading edge products and services, providing a stream of new products and services, and creatively adapting to new and changing marketing conditions while constantly pursuing new solutions on behalf of its clients and customers.
This strategy depends on an organizational structure that, among other things, is very research and development centered (if a manufacturing company) or extremely knowledgeable about the products and services currently being developed and considered in the market place. In addition, the firm's Sales & Marketing Departments must be part and parcel of their customer's business planning process so as to be able to anticipate future needs, to supply that need, to teach their customers new approaches and solutions to their problems, and particularly to be able to direct their customers into avenues they hadn't entertained on their own as being profitable directions.
In contrast to (but overlapping in certain respects with) the organizational structure demanded by a "customer intimacy" strategy, "product leadership" requires an organization that is not bureaucratic but rather quick to action and opportunistic in intent. Personnel tend to be organized into matrix teams that cross departmental lines since this type of structure provides the fastest response time. At the same time, since decision making authority is spread throughout the firm, risk management is carefully monitored.
In addition, in order to stay current with clients' long range plans to which their input could be invaluable, "relation selling" is essential. These firms have not only the sales force, but also as many other departments as they can, in their clients' planning meetings. The firm's personnel take on an advisory and consultative role, putting them in the position of informing their clients' strategic thinking and anticipating their needs.
An advertising and PR firm continually scans the marketing environment for new approaches to offer their clients and for creative talent with whom to partner either temporarily or long term. They are continually meeting with their clients to review these new approaches and the opportunities their newly discovered talent opens up.
In order to achieve this level of "service leadership", personnel are teamed into matrices, with each team having the responsibility to bring fresh ideas and directions to their clients. They joke about having offices at their clients because they are rarely seen in their home offices. Communication between team members is so crucial that each team has a designated person whose primary responsibility is to ensure that everyone knows what everyone else on the team is doing and to serve as a liaison to senior management. In addition, the teams convene regularly to review not only the latest presentations and their impact, but also what is out there in the market place, who is doing what, etc., and how can they partner or ally themselves with the talent that is out there.
Because the cost of this kind of process is high (e.g., voluntarily preparing project ideas with accompanying support material clients hadn't even initiated or requested), Finance is regularly consulted about each team's ROIs.
Our story at 104Inc is simple: We like to help others. Imagine a team that consists of family and friends who all have the same passion in life. Imagine a group of individuals who sacrifice so much everyday in-order to attain their goal and one day live their dream. Now, imagine the amount of effort, motivation and discipline it takes for ordinary people like us having a burning desire to accomplish something extraordinary. Here at 104Inc, we have the opportunity to do all of that. We have, the aspiration, the zeal and the motivation to help others in areas where they are less fortunate, including our own family and friends.
Image via WikipediaUSC was the top ranked team for the first 4 weeks of the college football, until they lost to Oregon State in Corvallis. Oregon State isn’t a bad team, but USC shouldn’t have lost to them. Their only excuse is that it was a road game. But, shouldn’t national championship teams be able to win on the road?![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=9f862edd-6e48-47ea-888b-d99b74d40218)
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