Republicans eye a return to gold standard - Aug. 24, 2012

Republicans eye a return to gold standard - Aug. 24, 2012 ;.. Related: Professor Bernanke rails against gold standard

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has repeatedly expressed concerns about the idea, sometimes even sparring with Paul in Congressional hearings. Research has shown the rigid constraints of the gold standard worsened the Great Depression, he said. Gold prices can also be volatile.

Plus, there's not enough gold in the world to support such a system, as Bernanke noted in a lecture earlier this year.

"To have a gold standard, you have to go to South Africa or someplace and dig up tons of gold and move it to New York and put it in the basement of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and that's a lot of effort and work," he said.

It's an "awful big waste of resources," he added.

Check today's gold prices

But just in case the idea does gain more traction, here are some rough calculations of what would happen to gold prices, courtesy of Julian Jessop, chief global economist for Capital Economics.

UNIQUE ONENESS

 

Bain documents offer details on Romney holdings - Yahoo! News

Bain documents offer details on Romney holdings - Yahoo! News ;.. Another Bain investment fund, Sankaty High Yield Partners II, based in Delaware, held nearly $3 million in loans to Adelson's Las Vegas Sands. Adelson is the largest public donor in this year's presidential race, giving more than $45 million to super political action committees benefiting Romney and other GOP candidates.

General Motors Is Headed For Bankruptcy -- Again - Forbes

General Motors Is Headed For Bankruptcy -- Again - Forbes ;..  Right now, the federal government owns 500,000,000 shares of GM, or about 26% of the company.  It would need to get about $53.00/share for these to break even on the bailout, but the stock closed at only $20.21/share on Tuesday.  This left the government holding $10.1 billion worth of stock, and sitting on an unrealized loss of $16.4 billion.

Leadership, Not Another Bailout, Will Fix GM (And No, It Is Not Going Bankrupt)Joann MullerForbes Staff

For GM, Bankruptcy Talk Is Its Own FaultMicheline MaynardContributor

Chicken Little's Second GM Bankruptcy: The Gold Medal For Silly Op-Ed PiecesBob LutzContributor

Play That Tax Hike Music, Euro BoyLouis WoodhillContributor

Right now, the government’s GM stock is worth about 39% less than it was on November 17, 2010, when the company went public at $33.00/share.  However, during the intervening time, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has risen by almost 20%, so GM shares have lost 49% of their value relative to the Dow.

It’s doubtful that the Obama administration would attempt to sell off the government’s massive position in GM while the stock price is falling.  It would be too embarrassing politically.  Accordingly, if GM shares continue to decline, it is likely that Obama would ride the stock down to zero.

3 Things You Can Do To Change People's Behavior - Part II; Real Examples - Forbes

3 Things You Can Do To Change People's Behavior - Part II; Real Examples - Forbes ;.. Change Your Brain, Change Your Life

Our personalities, thought patterns and emotional responses are wired into our brains, says Richard Davidson, Ph.D., author of The Emotional Life of Your Brain, but you can change your brain. Here are several exercises that will help rewire the neural pathways to help you think more positively, become more self-aware, focus better, understand social cues, ease your emotional triggers and grow more resilient.

BE CREATIVE is very unlike Creative Accounts that goes VIRAL, REALLY !

BELIEF ..

picasa album 2012 Aug 21

BE CREATIVE is very unlike Creative Accounts that goes VIRAL, REALLY !

Internet Evolution - Robert McGarvey - Google's Security 'Fix' Complicates Life for Users

Internet Evolution - Robert McGarvey - Google's Security 'Fix' Complicates Life for Users ;.. Except it does not work that easily -- trust me. Hours into this I still don't have my calendar syncing on a Kindle Fire, for instance, and that may be just one of many apps that worked fine yesterday but this morning are mired in thick cyber frustration.

The apparent problem: iOS apps do not support the two-factor authentication invoked by Google, and neither, apparently, do at least some apps on the Android-powered HTC One S (running Ice Cream Sandwich) and a Kindle Fire (running an Amazon-tweaked version of Android).

Google knows this is frustrating. It's even put up a video about it on YouTube.

Google's workaround is "application specific passwords" -- onetime codes that Google advises users not to bother memorizing or writing down -- even though for email on an iPad to sync up it needs that unique password entered (and remembered by the device). Frankly, it's maddening. So far I have set up six of these, and it's not getting easier.

Getting the code is a multi-step process and the first step is clicking on an app that used to work and now does not. Step two: Find the password that's associated with the app. Fairly straightforward with iOS, not always so on Android, where sometimes passwords appear to be hidden.

Netvibes – Social Media Monitoring, Analytics and Alerts Dashboard

Netvibes – Social Media Monitoring, Analytics and Alerts Dashboard: Netvibes is the all-in-one dashboard intelligence platform for real-time social media monitoring, social analytics, brand sentiment, reputation management, team management, company intranets and community portals. The #1 dashboard solution for Fortune 500 brands, agencies and enterprises."

USA TODAY - News, Travel, Weather, Entertainment, Sports, Technology, U.S. & World

USA TODAY - News, Travel, Weather, Entertainment, Sports, Technology, U.S. & World ;..The video culture?

A: Video at peak times is greater than 50% of our traffic. Remember, a lot of our peak times are around unique events, Mother's Day, Christmas.

Video has become a powerful way to interact socially, interact with business.

We deliver that notion of (sharing) some of the most amazing moments — when you can't be together, whether it's a baby being born, people getting married, seeing your kids go off to school.

Q: Talk about mobile.

A: What we think really separates us at the top level is the power of the network. The thing that makes communications so powerful is you can go to the device you want to, it works the way you want it to work and it works that way across different devices, whether it's a smart TV running a Skype application or an iPhone or a Windows Phone or Windows PC. I think in social apps we're No. 2 on the iPad, I think on the iPhone we'rerunning No. 5 overall, and we've been very, very successful on other platforms. When it comes to the world

USA TODAY - News, Travel, Weather, Entertainment, Sports, Technology, U.S. & World

USA TODAY - News, Travel, Weather, Entertainment, Sports, Technology, U.S. & World ;..  "Despite the economy, this is the first generation of people passing away with substantial wealth," said Avi Kestenbaum, a trust and estate specialist with the New York-based law firm Meltzer Lippe Goldstein & Breistone. He estimated he's set up 10 travel-related trusts in the past 15 years, while other clients have given instructions verbally or in a non-legal written "wish list."

The trend has even prompted a travel agency and a law firm to partner together this summer to start offering one-stop-shopping for trust creation and travel planning.

USA TODAY - News, Travel, Weather, Entertainment, Sports, Technology, U.S. & World

USA TODAY - News, Travel, Weather, Entertainment, Sports, Technology, U.S. & World '.. What now to expect

The annual fee-disclosure statement will not be simple. "It's lengthy, wordy, and there is a bit of complexity," says Dave Gray, vice president of client experience for Charles Schwab. Typically the annual disclosure statements will range from seven to 12 pages, he says.

Not all plans will provide a total dollar amount of a participant's plan costs in the new quarterly statement. Expenses that are subtracted from the total investment fund's revenue do not have to added into the cost statements. So if a portion of a mutual fund's management fees is shared with a record keeper of the plan, it can be built into the cost of the fund, the DOL says. That would reduce the returns that fund investors receive.

Those types of fees will show up in the annual report because they are included in the expense ratio of the investment options. Even if they are not added into the cost total, the quarterly statement is supposed to explain those types of fees to consumers, the DOL says.

USA TODAY - News, Travel, Weather, Entertainment, Sports, Technology, U.S. & World

USA TODAY - News, Travel, Weather, Entertainment, Sports, Technology, U.S. & World ;..  The groups stand together in opposing abortion, same-sex marriage, and a provision in Obama's health care law. It requires employers, including faith-based institutions, to provide or facilitate employee insurance coverage for contraception. When the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops called the rule an affront to religious liberty, Mormons were right with them, Millet says.

The Bishop John Wester of the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City says "we have a healthy relationship and work closely on issues of compassion."

Ultimately, the symbolism of the Romney-Ryan ticket may be that it doesn't matter any more which religion a candidate claims as long as he claims one, says Grant Wacker, professor of Christian history at Duke Divinity School. "It would be much more significant if the candidates had no faith or called themselves agnostics or unbelievers. That is still unimaginable in the USA today," Wacker says.

Assange: The WikiLeaks 'witch-hunt' must end | Politics and Law - CNET News

Assange: The WikiLeaks 'witch-hunt' must end | Politics and Law - CNET News ;..  Assange said the U.S. must "dissolve its FBI investigation" and pledge not to act against journalists who are "shining the light on the rich and powerful."

"There is unity in the oppression, there must be absolute unity and determination in the response," he added. (WikiLeaks has now posted the full transcript of Assange's address.)

Around 100 U.K. police officers remain stationed outside the embassy, surrounding the building should the WikiLeaks founder attempt an escape or venture carelessly beyond diplomatic boundaries.