Financial and Investment News

Like other states in the recession-plagued United States, the government of Florida is having a tough time with finding enough revenue. Their population has been shrinking which has had the effect of also reducing their tax base. A crackdown may be in the offing for the 130,000-plus businesses that will probably request waivers to avoid the fee for not filing their annual business reports. Last year, 136,400 businesses did just that. They claimed they did not receive reminders to file the report.
Steve Bousquet writes a November 16, 2009 report for the online news provider, Miami Herald. Bousquet begins the report; Florida may crack down on corporate fees. Some other states already have.
All in all, Bousquet quotes Secretary of State, Kurt Browning as saying, “You know you got the notice. You just don’t want to pay the fee.” Speaking of that, you just might need a leading Florida Tax lawyer and if so, David garvin may be your man. He is a leader in this particular field, and is also a fine Miami criminal lawyter as well as being a tax specialist. The fine for failing to file the report is $400. Browning wants to make the fine $200, but make it mandatory. Such a fine might result in $30 million in extra revenue. Florida faces in excess of $2 billion in budget shortfalls. Browning also suggests charging corporations $300 to reinstate after they have been dissolved. Right now the charge is $600, but that fee is often waived, just like the annual report fee. That would result in another $14 million. All of this should also result in various state tax attorney offices getting more business if this keeps up.

The recent statistics show that one in every three houses across the country is bank owned property or are heading for foreclosure. While homebuyers are urged by credit counseling experts to make the decision wisely, the homes that are heading for foreclosure are also people that with the proper debt management help or credit counseling might be able to save their home. The mortgage lender and the rental management company is not that different when it looks at the financial history of a person that is applying for a home loan or that is filling out a rental application. Which is what many people being foreclosed on by the lender will be forced into renting and have their credit history looked at by the rental management company. Foreclosure of a property without the intervention of a credit counseling company can mean bad credit and that can limit the types of rental properties that will be available.
Credit counseling companies are able to work with the homeowner and with the lending company to make an agreement to make up for past due payments in a manner that will not strain the budget of the homeowner allowing them to remain in the home.

According to various mainstream media articles, a female identified as Teresa Tambunting is suspected of stealing $12 million in gold and gems from her job at Queens jewelry store and then storing them in her basement. The Jacmel Jewelry store found $12 million in gold pieces and other jewelry were missing from the vault.These included 10k gold chain, mens diamond ring, etc..

 

The female from Scardale reportedly told her family at dinner that she was scared of the recession. According to family members Tambunting’s fears stemmed from the stock market convulsions and her husband Edgardo’s job at Cantor Fitzgerald. Tambunting was afraid the economy would make her husband have to switch jobs.

 

Prosecutors state that during this time Tambunting, her 3 kids plus husband were living with raw gold and jewelry hidden in their house basement.. They say the 50-year-old woman over a 6-year time slipped small pieces of gold and jewelry in her purse.All in all, she was the vault manager from where the twelve  million of gold and jewelry was missing since 1991. It appears she was taking stuff like a 10K gold chain, gold earrings, gold franco chain, hip hop jewelry and similiar items. I think that I would have taken the 10K gold chain if I had worked there and wanted to do the rip-off thing.

 

She stated she had to steal the goods from the store according to police. The rest of the stolen merchandise was returned to the jewelry company from the basement of Tambunting’s home, 500 pounds of merchandise.

Today, unfortunately, the stock market, the DOW and other leading economic indicators took another sizeable hit as it was widely reported that
Washington does not appear to be in a major hurry to bail out the automotive industry. it did not help that their 
representatives from Motown who were pleading povery arrived in style in an opulent jet as if they were still high-rollers. In any event,
a collapse of any of the Big 3 automakers would of course have a disastrous impact on the American economy, with employment taking perhaps the largest single hit of any sector with GDP close behind, sadly enouph.
All in all, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson today defended his part in the handling of the current financial crisis in various reported statements but nonetheless has
 not stated one way or another whether further aid will be forthcoming to the struggling bank Citigroup (is that the one that just gave gigantic bonuses to it’s Executives? Glad the deserving folks are getting those golden parachutes).
In any even, he has maligned his critics who stated that permiting Lehman Brothers fail in September made the situation much worse.
In addition, he stated that authorities had had actually assisted in averting a large-scale financial collapse, according to the Reuters internet news network.
On the world level of the crises, meanwhile, developed countries continue to have differences over the various specifics of a common strategy.
These differences are even more profound when the views of underdeveloped or ‘Third World’ countries are added to the mix.
By the way if you going through your own personal financial crises then by all means you should seek debt advice from a professional.

I think it is fair to state that the iPhone is not the only game in town, especially these days as it’s competitors fiercly try to cut into it’s share of this trendy and very lucrative market.. Now there’s the new iPhone G3 that Apple Inc. has come out with. As much news coverage as it has had you would think that the Apple iPhones are in a class all their own. This is quite untrue. As a matter of fact, the iPhones have a truckload of competition these days. For them it must feel like the dog days of summer as they fend off assualt after fierce assault. Just do not try for an iPhone repair at the main HQ, better to go with an independent iPhone repair service if you have water damage, cracked 3g screens and the like.

Nonetheless, iPhone is still in fact the most famous mobile phone in the country. After all, individuals will camp out and stand in lines to purchase the latest iPhone when they are released for sale as if they are anticipating the latest batman movie. The iPhone G3 is an even superior handheld gadget than the original and the iPhone G3 is three times faster,  believe it or not, which is really amazing when you stop to think about it…. They come also come in cool new colors of White and Bondai Blue.

Some new items have similar features and even some extra features which the iPhone does not have.  As an example the Cingular 8525 may even be far superior to the iPhone G3. It’s another of the Smart Phones and has all the capabilities as the iPhone. It has a touch screen and also functions as a multi media device. The Cingular 8525 runs Windows Mobile 5.0.

Yet Another cellular device that is similar to the iPhone is Verizons 2 new phones, the LG phone named Venus and another LG phone named The Voyager. LG Electronics makes both these phones. The Voyager has extremely fast web access. In addition to this, the Venus has a touch screen and the keypad slides out.

perhaps the best new cellular device to give the iPhone a true run is the new Samsung Instinct. This one is offered by the Sprint Network and may prove to be even superior in overall performace than the Apple iPhone, although only father time will eb able to tell for sure.

The iPhone has until now, remained the better product but technology is such that many more devices are in the making to compete with the Apple iPhone. Owners of the iPhone absolutely love them but more and more owners are hacking their device to be free of the AT&T network. The network has responded by bring suit against the customer who in fact does. Just watch about the repair servicesMeanwhile, as mentioned on the articles posted just yesterday, the heavyweight Sprint Corp. has been nipping at the heels of their very hip and trendy competitors.

News reports persist that there may be changes in store for iPod owners and those who plan to buy iPods. The Apple corporation is in discussions in regards to making the favorite download website known as iTunes at least partially free for the general iPod using public. However, instead of paying at the iTunes online E-store, iPod users will instead be paying more for the particular model of iPod they choose to specifically purchase at the store.

   While this has not been decided as final, at least officially, the Apple Corporation as well as EMI, Sony BMG plus Warner Music would not make comments about this as late as the end of last week, but I would expect an official final decision on this topic very soon..

   Meanwhile, in official statements made by David Pakman, who happens to be the Chief Executive Officer of eMusic, which is a competitor of the online music website iTunes, stated that his concern lies primarily with the fact that the Apple Corporation might attempt to take advantage of the monopoly it currently enjoys in the digital player market in general.

   As it stands, for example, the various IPod lines (which are fairly numerous, relatively speaking) represent around eighty five percent or so of the digital music market online as of the time of this writing. Having nearly ninety percent of any such market is quite staggering, but if this particular plan which has been leaked in some competitors thoughts, if it is for example bundled with music from iTune downloads then that would be grounds to be considered anti-competitive, according to staements made by David Pakman.

In other related news, the online technology magazine called ‘MAcWorld UK’ has reported that the Apple Corp. has Registered an ”iPod Air” Domain Name as well as a Web Site and this has led them to think that there are probably more wireless iPod technologies coming down the research and development pipeline and into the production stage. All in all, in fact, The patents filed would seem to suggest that the iPod touch has been a fairly big success in general. It seems as if the firm has been releasing new products and accessories of this line quite regularly, not to mention the iPhone as well,

so I expect more announcements very soon.

Fortune magazine writer Phil DeWitt has has said that Apple has delivered a definate blow to many potential iPhone and iPod touch developers. He also said that move will probably send a message to the develpoment community in no uncertain terms that could be harmful to Apple, one that says ”Keep on developing for Jailbroken iPhones guys!” Speaking of the Apple Corporation, here is the latest  headlines for you: he globe’s costliest iPod which has been donated to a charity auction that was held in London, England. It is being labeled the iDiamond iPod and it was made by a jeweler from Norway/European Union, one Tom Heterdahl. By the way, the iPod plus earplugs have been made of solid white and pink 18 karat gold, along with the coating of more than four hundred diamonds which includes 118 diamonds on the earplugs. Hererdahl stated that he would not design another of this one of a kind iDiamond iPod and feels that it would be quite a different situation if it were to be produced commerically. This design according to the jeweler was designed with the Apple iPod Shuffle in mind.  That is pretty cool indeed, don’t you think?. By the way, additional iPod, iPhone as well as Apple headlines may be found at the iPod Touch Blog so take a look over there if you find the time.

   In any case the jeweled iPod in question has a possible value of about £ 20,000 (that is about forty thousand dollars I believe, man has the American dollar dropped in value as of late) and was presented at The Feast of Albion, which was a fund raising dinner held at Guildhall as part of an auction prize.

   The auction prize that the iDiamond iPod was include in as part of a larger package which also included a chauffeured Jaguar XJ and even VIP tickets to Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters who will be performing Dark Side of the Moon along with other selected pieces for the last time. I am sure he was also play other classics such as ‘We don’t need no education’ as well.  That is a pretty awesome package to be sure. Well stay tuned for more iPod news because there has been a lot going on lately as Apple and also Ipod/iPhone headlines have been making the mainstream news headlines a lot as of late.

Reports say that as of Wednesday of this week the Apple Corporation cut the amount of NAND flash memory for the 2008 year that iSuppli would have supplied Apple with for iPods and Iphones.

   The iSuppli firm who supplies a large enough amount of this type of memory stated that it is felt the effect of this decrease in orders could be a warning that the Apple iPod sales will slow this spring along with the rest of the national ecconomy.

   This also could prove to be a decisive factor in the revenue of the iSuppli Company……… Apple spent an approximate $1.2 billion dollars on flash memory in the 2007 year, which is another indication with this cut in orders that the Apple iPod sales are expected to be slower this year.

   Prior to this announcement iSuppli had forecasted that the NAND flash memory orders would increase by approximately 32.2% and they had expected this would vastly increase their market growth.

   This comes as a surprise after the recent trade shows in which Apple brought their new iPods to the public with larger storage space and the information released about the long awaited movies that would be available on iTunes. This news should be interesting to watch,especially from an economic perspective in general.

On the supply side, capital spending on NAND production in 2008 will grow by over twenty percent, which will cause a drop in prices, iSuppi said. As a result, suppliers are likely to go into the red in the first quarter of this year and are unlikely to recover in the second quarter. Additional details can be found over at the Apollo Technology Blog 

Signs of market troubles were evident in the fourth quarter of last year, as global NAND revenue declined 2.4% from the third quarter to $4.1 billion. Of the top-eight NAND suppliers, six suffered sequential declines in revenues

In an excellent story by top journalist Matt Woolsey which was initially published on the Yahoo online News network, it was reported that the real estate market in general and home prices in particular keep falling in many regions of the United States. In Sacramento, for instance, home sale prices for November of last year fell just under twenty percent over 2006!But there is nonetheless some good news for those beleagured residents of the state capital: they will benefit from the executive initiative which is supposed to assist homeowners who are facing foreclosure and financial ruin. This particular effort is named “Project Lifeline,” and has been put together by 6
 of the countries’s biggest financial institutions, which service nearly fifty percent of the mortgages in the United States. it essentially permits certain homeowners to suspend proceedings for some thirty critical days while providing them with various forms of refinancing assistance.

The financial companies in question, such as JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Countrywide Financial, Citigroup, Washington Mutual plus Wells Fargo state that they will let homeowners know who are ninety days or more past due and try to find some kind of way to make their loans manageable, according to the news report.

ZipRealty, which is a San Francisco real estate tracking company which analyzes multiple listing service data, provided the facts for Matt Woolsey’s superbly informative article.

In the California state capital, about half of all the houses on the market have been reduced in price! That is an amazing percentage, is it not?

Just behind them is the city of Las Vegas, Nevada, where during that same one year time perios prices tumbled about seventeen percent or so. In addition, the number of homes on the market surged by some thirty percent during that same time span likely leading to more problems later on.

Detroit, Michigan finished ninth on the list. They were already a pretty depressed real estate market with a declining manufacturing base (isn’t outsourcing grand).

Florida took spots on the list of the fastest-falling markets, according to the report.

California, who has been wanting to impose a stricter set of rules for greenhouse gas emission standards for automobiles has been denied.

   According to statements from Stephen L. Johnson who is the administrator of the EPA the reason that

California along with fifteen other states is due to White House policy. This policy is to keep a national standard rather than one set by each state, this occurred in December of 2007 and there was also a bill put into law named the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 which will require auto makers to product fuel efficient autos including SUV’s and small trucks. This may not be enough for the State of

California since these automakers will have until the year 2020 to produce these fuel-efficient autos that will be a required 35 per gallon. Incidentially, while we are on the subject of California and legal news, if you are in the greater Los Angeles area and you require a good Los Angeles spinal cord injury lawyer  then The law offices of Bob Mansell may assist you in this regard should you need a good spinal cord Injury lawyer, a Los Angeles traumatic brain injury lawyer or perhaps a Pasadena burn injury lawyer. Now back to the news article at hand…….

   In answer to this refusal to regulate their own standards the California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown jr.  brought a lawsuit against the United States Environmental Protection Agency for not allowing the state of

California to make their own regulations. This suit was filed January 8^th of 2008 in the United States Court of Appeals at the 9^th Circuit. Meanwhile, according to the respected online publication ‘The Juror’, it was reported that several days ago EPA officials claimed executive priviledge regarding certain pertinent documents.