wilson96   Economy, Politics, and More…

Website Templates Making an Impact with Today’s Economy With today’s economy, more and more people are turning to themselves making their own fate, and starting online businesses, can you blame them? Who doesn’t want to rid themselves of corporate politics and strings. Most everybody wants to spend more time with family and friends, but how and what does this have to do with website templates? I will tell you shortly. I Want to Start An Online Business But What? Honestly, there are a lot of things you can do to make money online but I will focus on the most important factor nobody seems to be talking about is zero inventory businesses. It’s a pretty simple concept, start an online business that has zero or very little inventory. This simple formula will give you the greatest return on investment, so dump the drop shipping business and get away from minimal returns. Now, you need a website and an idea what to sell. Think E-Media as Your Product to Sell This is probably the toughest part to figure out, what should you sell? My suggestion is to create E-Files, let me explain what I mean by that. Say you are a wonderful cook and have developed some great recipes in the process, create an e-book (type your recipes in a word file) and sell this e-book online! You could sell this e-book for say $4.99 and sell it thousands of times depending how involved the recipe e-book is. This is just one suggestion, but the possibilities are virtually endless, the key is to create a very good and helpful e-book (include images). Now on to website templates to build your website? Website Templates Is the Best Way to Build You Online Store Let’s face it, you don?t have a few thousand to spend on a custom website. I mean you are already stretched as it is, so why get yourself deeper. Website Templates can be bought for under $100 for a main website, $300 for a flash e-commerce website that gives you the ability to sell your products online using Paypal or a merchant account using Authorize.net or 2checkout. Don?t be overwhelmed by buying and installing a website, it is actually a lot easier than you think. Overview 1. Think about creating an online business that allows flexibility for yourself and your life 2. Find a niche that you are knowledgeable about and write an e-book about it. (Make it the best in the business, develop the e-book the way you would like to read it) 3. Build an online presence with a website templates, use our shopping cart to sell your products 4. Be your own boss, and break free the stranglehold of corporate politics and do something you enjoy for a change, start slow and don?t give up your day job until your own business grows to where you want it.

Economy 101: Jobless rate widens for black workers
When the unemployment rate rose last month, the pain wasn’t spread evenly. There is always statistical noise in month-to-month changes in the labor market, but some patterns are clear.

Read more on AP via Yahoo! Finance

By Mike Caggeso Associate Editor Money Morning

The People’s Bank of China continued nipping away at its one-year lending rate, cutting off 0.27 percentage points to 5.31%, its fifth rate cut in three months.

China also lowered its deposit rate by the same amount and reduced the proportion of deposits lenders have to hold as reserves by 0.5 percentage points to 15.5%, Bloomberg reported. All rate cuts will take effect Tuesday.

China’s slow burn of its interest rates is a calculated response to falling numbers across its board: gross domestic product could fall as low as 5% next year, way down from the 11.7% growth in 2007; exports fell for the first time in seven years last month; imports and manufacturing numbers also fell.

Unemployment figures are getting ugly, too. So far, the global financial crisis has taken 4 million city jobs from migrant workers and pushed urban unemployment up to 9.4%, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences estimated last week. The result is rising gang violence and increased police measures and surveillances in cities hardest hit, Reuters reported.

China is also facing a dangerous decline in inflation, which limped at 2.4% annual pace in November, its fourth consecutive month-to-month drop and a sharp drop from the 4.0% posted in October, its National Statistics Bureau reported two weeks ago.

“The surprise is how small the move is,” Mark Williams, an economist with Capital Economics in London, told Bloomberg. “There’s been a sudden very rapid deterioration in all China’s economic data over the last 8 to 12 weeks.”

Last month, China cut interest rates by 1.08 percentage points, its biggest reduction in 11 years.

Also last month, China announced a massive $586 billion economic stimulus plan that will pump money into low-income housing, water and energy projects, airports, disaster relief and new railroads for the next two years.

“China understands that it’s gaining importance in the world economy and that it’s going to participate in that process,” said Keith Fitz-Gerald, Money Morning’s investment director and a former professional trade advisor who’s spent more than two decades focusing on investment opportunities in China, Japan and the rest of the Asia region.

“Many experts will see this as just a ‘bailout’ that’s directed at Chinese infrastructure projects, Chinese technology companies and at holding the global financial crisis at bay,” Fitz-Gerald said. “But the real message here is that Beijing is going to pull out all the stops to ensure that its economy does not falter. And that’s because China realizes that it’s become the super glue that’s holding the rest of the planet together.”

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Investment News

Sectors of Industry and EconomyPrimary:The primary sector is all of the manual labouring jobs which convert natural resources into raw materials. Examples include agriculture, fishing, forestry and mining. Industries which process or ‘purify’ these materials are also often considered to be of the primary sector of the industry. Britain used to have very large primary economy with all of our coal mines etc, however, that sector is now led by countries such as Japan and Africa.Secondary :This sector refers to the manufacturing and sometimes processing of raw materials into products and goods. This includes food processors, car manufacturers, paper mills and energy companies. The secondary sector used to be heavily laden with tools, but now that our world has progresses with technology (and keeps on doing so), the majority of secondary sector work can be, and is carried out by CAM – Computer Aided Manufacture.Tertiary:The tertiary sector is the services, such as bus companies and taxis. Other examples include education, the police, banking, delivery services and insurance. This sector of industry is based mostly around paperwork and had little to no CAM. Quaternary:This sector focuses on the intellectual side of industry – research, development and information. Although once part of the tertiary sector, it has now formed into this branch of it’s own. This sector is seen as the playmaker, it allows others to progress and improve, without it the industry would simply stop progressing due to a lack of information and availability of research. Some believe that health and education should fall into this category, although looking at the actual definition, this seems highly illogical!

Singapore’s Economy Expected To Grow 15%
Singapore economy seen growing 15 percent in 2010

Read more on Forbes

We’re now officially in a recession. Despite the present administration’s best efforts to spin the truth, we’ve been in decline for a year now and what we’ve all known for quite some time is simply now official. But here’s an interesting tidbit—more millionaires are created during a recession than at any other time in the economic cycle. This is because opportunities are everywhere as the uninformed start to panic. Prices of stocks and real estate fall, people start to hoard precious metals, sales decline so prices drop—the list goes on. The key is knowing how to spot these opportunities, and then knowing how to capitalize on them.

There’s a growing demand today for wealth education. Most people have learned about money from parents or peers who may not be all that successful with money themselves. This is a recipe for disaster. Tips for creative investing can be learned from leaders in their field, as long as you can seek out and access these people. There are many diverse strategies that the wealthy employ to continue building their wealth, even when the economy takes a nosedive. If you’re not aware of these strategies, it’s important that you learn them.

For example, with gold and silver prices at an all time high, had you invested in these precious commodities only a year ago, you’re investment would have blossomed. The real estate market has tanked and is continuing its downward trend. Home prices are at an all time low. Does the old adage “buy low and sell high” apply here? You bet it does. Provided of course that you have the capital to buy now and hold the property until the market comes back—which it will.

The new administration is promising a financial incentive package that relies heavily on tax incentives as its foundation. But in order to capitalize on them, you need to understand how they affect your personal situation. To grow and thrive in a down economy, you need to be able to reduce your debt, and to create new wealth. If you’re wondering how to do this, you owe it to yourself to find out. One more thing—if you’re not healthy, none of this matters anyway, so make your personal wellness a life focus.

If you feel like you need help in these areas, do some online research and get the answers you’re looking for. And by the way, there are lots of other people doing the same thing. If you had an automated marketing system that could produce a residual income providing this information, perhaps you too could take advantage of the new recession.

With the world economy in meltdown, each person is asking one question: “How is this going to affect me?” (Or affect us, if you have a family to feed.) Redundancies are already a global fact of life.

In December 2008, the US unemployment rate rose to 7.2 per cent, with more than 11 million people unemployed. In the United Kingdom, redundancies are hitting “white collar” workers – those in consultancies and management. Between June and November 2008, more than 22,000 people working in these areas lost their job. There have also been significant cutbacks in the leisure industries – tourism, hospitality, amusement and sports – largely because of the drop in the amount of discretionary spending available in most homes.

Who will survive?During an economic downturn, businesses are at risk. Turnover is less and cashflow is tighter. Profitability is reduced, because business activity slows and there is more competition between firms for the small amount of business available.

If you are a small or medium business owner, you will already be taking steps to minimize the potential impact of the recession by attending to debt consolidation or reduction; taking a proactive approach to business management; reviewing costs; and ensuring asset protection is in place.

Employees can take similar steps to protect their personal assets and their wellbeing against the threat of redundancy.

Reduce debtMake sure you know exactly how much you owe, and to whom. Now is the time to pay off your credit cards if you can and to dispose of all but the most important ones – three is possibly enough to ensure you maintain your good credit rating. Once you have paid consumer debt, accumulate as much cash as you can.

Become proactiveRather than waiting for the worst to happen, take control of your life by looking realistically at your assets and thinking laterally. Do you have a hobby that you can use to make money? Are you prepared to work at times when others prefer not to – nights, or holidays? Not afraid of “dirty work” that others won’t touch? If you work in an industry where staff numbers are dwindling, are you able to re-train and embrace another career?

Review costsTaking control means knowing exactly how you spend the money you have. Are there things you can do without? What does that daily cappuccino really cost? Are you spending too much on the power bill? On “toys” like a pleasure boat, or a TV in the bathroom? What other overheads do you and your family have? Most people can simplify their lives if they try, especially if they develop a taste for things that are free – hiking, visiting the library, gardening. By saving, you can often accumulate as much money as by taking on extra work.

Protect your assets

This is where you focus on the positive aspects of your life. Since you are your greatest asset, it makes sense to protect your health. Get sufficient exercise, eat healthy food, cut back on alcohol and tobacco, sleep soundly. Attend to the maintenance of your home – your second biggest asset.And take good care of your family and friends, because we all need each other. Developing excellent communication skills will always stand you in good stead, whatever the economic climate!

President Barack Obama will need to act fast to begin his plans for a set of more drastic measures to extricate the United States from its present weakening economic condition. This is what Newsweek International Editor Fareed Zakaria wrote in his February 2 Newsweek essay entitled “I Got It Bad (And That Ain’t Good)”. “The American financial system is effectively broken. Major banks are moving toward insolvency, and credit activity remains extremely weak. As long as the financial sector remains moribund, American consumers and companies — who collectively make up 80 percent of GDP — will not have access to credit, and economic activity cannot really resume on any significant scale. We have not turned the corner. In fact, we can’t even see the corner right now,” Zakaria writes.No relief in sight – yetUnder normal conditions, the presidency of Barack Obama would bring a lot of great benefits for your billfold. During his campaign, he promised to transfer the tax load toward the moneyed sector, provide the uninsured with health coverage and subject financial products to more stringent rules.The country, however, is not under normal conditions, not by a long stretch of the imagination. The big financial establishments have virtually vanished overnight. American carmakers are just about ready to follow suit. Retirement funds are nearly depleted and last year alone, job losses have run into the millions. There is no relief in sight as yet for the current economic crunch which is getting worse by the day.Runaway trainObama’s “change you can believe in” should more likely be “change we hope that Obama can sustain”. President Obama and a Congress controlled by the Democrats will have to roll up their sleeves as they have more to do, and more taxpayer money to spend, than anyone would have foreseen several months back.Former International Monetary Fund chief economist Kenneth Rogoff in a statement said that the current recession is like a runaway train and Obama’s effort is all about preventing it from running off a cliff. According to Zakaria, President Obama “faces a terrible dilemma. He needs to act quickly and on a massive scale.”Massive scale action neededLarge scale action is needed to keep the financial system from bleeding to death. The general American public, however, believes that far too much money have already been spent on bailing out the ailing banks. Zakaria believes that the U.S. has not spent enough. According to him, the present economic crisis has caused an extreme degradation of American power. Even during the Iraq war, when much of the global community was infuriated by ex-President Bush’s unilateral stance, it was highly held that America possessed the world’s most advanced economy and its financial system were the most advanced and developed. That system is now perceived globally as a fraud, and the reactions of political and business sector range from utter disbelief to rage at the image the U.S. now projects.Senior Editor Daniel Gross writes of how an alarming number of firms and companies are giving up their finance-restructuring work and instead sell off their inventory and shut down. “Rather than soldier on, many operators have opted to simply fold, returning money to investors. Companies, homeowners and money managers willing to quit rather than fight is both a symptom of the nation’s deep economic woes and emblematic of the challenge the Obama administration faces,” Gross writes. “Our ‘Yes, We Can’ president is going to have to fix a ‘No, We Can’t’ economy.”

Most of the news surrounding the nation’s economy has been shrouded in gloom and doom tones as companies announce massive layoffs and the stock market keeps dropping. Businesses are having trouble staying open and it looks like unemployment is at an all time high everywhere. Still the news out of Maine isn’t all bad. In fact there is one place that seems to be thriving in spite of all of the economic woe.

Northern Maine Community College report that the student population has only increased as the economy has gone down the tubes. Officials told the Bangor Daily News that the student population this year is thirteen percent higher than the size of the student population last year. Spring Semester admissions rose more than fourteen percent than the admissions last year.

This is exciting news to Tim Crowley and the other administrators over Northern Maine Community College. Crowley told the Bangor Daily News that a lot of the new students are adults who have lost their jobs in manufacturing and mills who want to learn new skills and trades. These misplaced workers are not getting discouraged. They are using their newly found “free time” to start over—something that national news does not report often.

Another factor in the rise in admissions is the new Wind Power Technology program being offered at Northern Maine Community College. This is the first wind power tech program in all of New England and its focus is to train people to be technicians for wind power machines. So far the Maine school has received more than thirty admission applications for the program and at least forty two students have signed up for the introductory class.

More and more individuals are asking the Northern Maine Community College to extend its non-credit programs as well.

Maine residents are letting themselves get bogged down in difficulty. Instead of complaining and simply cashing an unemployment check once a week, these adults are using their time and money to educate themselves and make themselves more marketable to a twenty first century market. It is inspiring to see so many people who thought they were simply “one trick ponies” turn over new leaves and go in new directions. The students themselves are proud and are excited to be in school and learning new things.

This is the kind of story that the rest of the nation needs to see: people taking a hard situation and turning it around and making something positive happen. Stories of woe and anguish pervade the news. The rest of the country could stand to take a lesson from Maine and instead of whining and complaining about losing a job, standing up and saying “okay, what’s next?” and learning something new.

The residents of Maine are hardy folks—they have to be to deal with the cold winters—and they are proving themselves to be optimistic and innovative as well. If only everyone could be as inspiring as the residents of Maine!

For more information on a college education, visit http://www.collegemicroblog.com and http://www.mainemicroblog.com.

ECONOMY: Consumer Confidence inches up in August
NEW YORK — Americans’ confidence in the economy improved slightly in August, but the mood is still gloomy amid job worries, according to a monthly survey.

Read more on The Daily Times