1.12.07

Republicans Report Having Better Mental Health Than Democrats, Poll Finds (FOX News Angle)

Republicans Report Having Better Mental Health Than Democrats, Poll Finds

(Gallup article says

Republicans Report Much Better Mental Health Than Others

Relationship persists even when controlling for other variables

http://www.gallup.com/poll/102943/Republicans-Report-Much-Better-Mental-Health-Than-Others.aspx
)

Saturday, December 01, 2007

Don't worry, be happy: If you're a Republican, those words should be easy to follow.

A roundup of Gallup health polls over the past four years finds that Republicans are far more likely than Democrats to report having excellent mental health.

The survey found that 58 percent of Republicans polled reported having excellent mental health. Only 38 percent of Democrats and 43 percent of Independents reported the same.

The study concluded it was unclear why there was such a strong correlation, but the relationship between party affiliation and mental health was virtually constant even within categories of income, age, gender and other factors.

"The reason the relationship exists between being a Republican and more positive mental health is unknown, and one cannot say whether something about being a Republican causes a person to be more mentally healthy or whether something about being mentally healthy causes a person to choose to become a Republican," the study said.

The study speculated that the fact that Republicans have on average higher incomes than members of others parties could play a factor. But in the study, even Republicans making less than $50,000 a year reported having excellent health far more than Democrats earning the same.

The study was based on interviews with 4,014 American adults who were at least 18 years old, conducted from November 2004 through 2007. The margin of error was 2 percent.

(http://www.foxnews.com)

China's Zhang Zilin crowned Miss World 2007 (Not reported by CNN or FOX web sites in US yet)


/photo.cms?msid=2588070
Miss China Zhang Zilin won the Miss World 2007 title on Saturday (AFP Photo)

China's Zhang Zilin crowned Miss World 2007
1 Dec 2007, 2000 hrs IST,AFP

SANYA: Pre-contest favourite Miss China won the Miss World 2007 title in her own country on Saturday, much to the delight of the audience, in front of an estimated two billion viewers around the globe.

Twenty-three-year-old Zhang Zilin was crowned the winner in Sanya, China. Miss Angola came second and Miss Mexico third at the beauty pageant, held on the southern holiday island of Hainan, dubbed China's answer to Hawaii.

Two billion people in 200 countries were expected to tune in to watch the show, which saw Miss China take the crown ahead of 105 of the world's most beautiful and talented women.

The audience in the 2,000-capacity Beauty Crown Theatre, specially built for when Sanya first hosted the event in 2003, roared in delight as Zhang was crowned the winner.

The secretary from Beijing was the pre-contest favourite with British bookmakers, along with Miss Dominican Republic.

At 182 centimetres (six feet), Miss China was also the tallest contestant. "There are 1.3 billion people behind me," Miss China said during the 40-second interview stage of the contest, referring to her country's population.

"If I win I want to become a link between the Olympic Games (in Beijing next year) and the Miss World Organisation."

"I want to use the power and beauty of Miss World to support those in need," she said, speaking throughout in hesitant English, adding a few words in Chinese.

Fireworks exploded above the crown-shaped theatre, where visitors had paid up to 300 US dollars for tickets, after the popular decision was made.

Miss Mexico had also been strongly fancied, although Miss Angola was a surprise top-three finisher.

Contestants were rated on an array of disciplines including physical fitness, style, dress, personality and beauty.

The 106 was whittled down to 16, then five, with hotly tipped Miss Dominican Republic not making the final five.

The 57th edition of the contest was being held on World AIDS Day as organisers wanted the annual showcase of gloss and glitz, seen by critics as a sexist throwback, to help increase awareness of the fight against HIV/AIDS.

To underline their commitment to AIDS awareness, organisers invited former South African President Nelson Mandela's eldest daughter Maki to serve on the panel of nine judges.

The Nobel laureate's son Makgatho died of an AIDS-related illness in 2005, and the family has since been active in the global fight against HIV/AIDS.

While Miss World draws sniggers in many developed countries, it has been linked to deadly violence in the past.

In 2002, it was moved from Nigeria to Britain after more than 200 people died in clashes sparked when a newspaper suggested the Muslim prophet Mohammed would have chosen a wife from the contestants had he been alive.

But all was calm Saturday in Sanya, a tourist resort that boasts palm trees and sugar-white beaches and is largely separated from the more traditional and less affluent urban areas where the local population lives.

Increasingly popular with foreign tourists, particularly Russians, Sanya has hosted the contest for four of the past five years.

Among those countries not represented in Sanya were North Korea and Myanmar. Taiwan also did not have a contestant here, as Beijing considers Taiwan part of its territory.

As well as being held on World AIDS Day, Miss World 2007 came a week after Chinese state media reported hotels in Beijing have been ordered to stock condoms in every room in response to a spike in new HIV infections in the capital.



(http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com)

30.11.07

One in eight people living in the US is an immigrant

WASHINGTON: India is among the top three countries sending people to the US. Immigration to the US is now at an all time high, bringing 10.3 million people to the country since 2000, more than half of them without legal status.

One in eight people living in the US is an immigrant, adding up to 37.9 million - the highest since the 1920s - according to an analysis of census data released Thursday by the Centre for Immigration Studies here.

The number of legal immigrants from India has progressively risen from 222,000 in 1980 to 314,000 in 1989, 539,000 in 1999 and 629,000 in 2007, the survey said.

A little over two million immigrants to the US -- or 5.5 percent - come from South Asia. India accounts for about 1.7 million of them, with nearly 39 percent becoming US citizens.

Mexico is the largest sending country, accounting for almost six times as many immigrants as the next largest country, China, including Taiwan and Hong Kong. Latin American and Caribbean countries dominate the list of immigrant-sending countries, accounting for almost half of the top-25 countries.

Mexico accounts for 31 percent of all immigrants in 2007, up from 28 percent in 2000, 22 percent in 1990, and 16 percent in 1980. The top sending country in 1970 was Italy, which now accounts for only 10 percent of the foreign-born.

An estimated 11.3 million immigrants are illegal with 57 percent of them coming from Mexico and 11 percent from Central America. Asia as a whole accounts for at least nine percent of the illegal population in the US.

Since 2000, 10.3 million immigrants have arrived - the highest in any seven-year period in US history. More than half of post-2000 arrivals (5.6 million) are estimated to be illegal immigrants.

The largest increases in immigrants were in California, Florida, Texas, New Jersey, Illinois, Arizona, Virginia, Maryland, Washington, Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.

Among adult immigrants, 31 percent have not completed high school, compared to eight percent of local Americans.

Key findings include:

Immigrants account for one in eight US residents, the highest level in 80 years. In 1970 it was one in 21; in 1980 it was one in 16; and in 1990 it was one in 13. Also, immigrants and natives have similar rates of entrepreneurship - 13 percent of natives and 11 percent of immigrants are self-employed.

Recent immigration has had no significant impact on the age structure of the US population. Without the 10.3 million post-2000 immigrants, the average age in America would be virtually unchanged at 36.5 years. Overall, nearly one in three immigrants is an illegal entrant. Half of Mexican and Central American immigrants and one-third of South American immigrants are illegal.

Of adult immigrants, 31 percent have not completed high school, compared to eight percent of natives. Since 2000, immigration increased the number of workers without a high school diploma by 14 percent, and all other workers by three percent.

The share of immigrants and natives who are college graduates is about the same. Immigrants were once much more likely than natives to be college graduates.

The poverty rate for immigrants and their US-born children (under 18) is 17 percent, nearly 50 percent higher than the rate for natives and their children.

34 percent of immigrants lack health insurance, compared to 13 percent of natives. Immigrants and their US-born children account for 71 percent of the increase in the uninsured since 1989.

Immigrants make significant progress over time. But even those who have been in the US for 20 years are more likely to be in poverty, lack insurance or use welfare than natives.

The primary reason for the high rates of immigrant poverty, lack of health insurance and welfare use is their low education levels, not their legal status or an unwillingness to work. Of immigrant households, 82 percent have at least one worker compared to 73 percent of native households.

(http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com)

29.11.07

Exports help US economy in third quarter

By Daniel Pimlott in New York

Published: November 29 2007 16:16 | Last updated: November 29 2007 16:16

Soaring exports encouraged by a weak dollar helped boost the US economy over the summer to its second fastest quarterly growth rate since the dotcom boom, more than offsetting the impact of the deepening slump in housing, according to government figures out on Thursday.

Gross domestic product grew at 4.9 per cent in the three months until the end of September, higher than a previous estimate of 3.8 per cent, and the highest rate of growth since the US economy grew 7.5 per cent in the third quarter of 2003. Growth in the third quarter of this year was also higher than during any quarter before that up to the second quarter of 2000, at the height of the internet bubble.

28.11.07

Ex-rock star in Australia cabinet

Reported in my blog Sunday Nov 25th
Top 5 News Stories #5 on BBC Web Site at Thursday 29 November 2007, 04:57 GMT 04:57 UK

All along I have maintained 3E's as the 3 Main Issues to be addressed in America
- Education, Emergency Health Care and Energy

In this news story BBC reports

"In naming his ministry, it is clear that the "three Es" are his main priority - the economy, education and the environment."

ONE MORE ***** for the blogger !!!
What a progressive leader (Prime Minister Rudd)!!!

Ex-rock star in Australia cabinet
By Nick Bryant
BBC News, Sydney

Australia's prime minister-elect, Kevin Rudd, has announced the make-up of his new government.

He appointed his deputy leader, Julia Gillard, as education minister, and a former rock star, Midnight Oil singer Peter Garrett, as environment minister.

The Liberal Party has elected outgoing defence minister, Brendan Nelson as its new leader to replace John Howard, who was defeated in last week's election.

He beat the favourite, the outgoing environment minister Malcolm Turnbull.

Rock on

Kevin Rudd has not yet been sworn in as Australia's next prime minister, but he is impatient to tackle what he describes as the challenges of the future.

In naming his ministry, it is clear that the "three Es" are his main priority - the economy, education and the environment.

By far the most eye-catching appointment is that of Peter Garrett as environment minister.

Mr Garrett is best known as the former front man of rock group Midnight Oil, who had an international hit with the song Beds Are Burning. Mr Rudd has also created a new climate change portfolio.

Opposition changes

At the same time Mr Rudd announced his new ministry, the Liberal Party has elected a new leader to replace John Howard.

With the party's former deputy leader Peter Costello signalling his desire to pursue a career in the commercial sector, the Liberals opted for Brendan Nelson, the outgoing defence minister.

He beat the favourite, outgoing environment minister Malcolm Turnbull, by a narrow vote of 45 to 42 .

Mr Nelson likes electric guitars, fast motorbikes and used to wear an ear-ring. But his political persona is nowhere near as racy.

He is a former medical practitioner and the beleaguered Liberal Party will need all of his recuperative powers.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/7118265.stm

Published: 2007/11/29 03:33:39 GMT

(http://www.bbc.com)

Hillary names Indian-American as chief policy advisor

CHIDANAND RAJGHATTA,TNN

(old news - for the record) WASHINGTON: A female policy wonk who challenges the Indian-American prototype of a wealthy upper class background has been asked to head 2008 Presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton's think tank.

Neera Tanden grew up with a divorced mother who was on welfare for two years and received food stamps before she worked her way through school and graduated from Yale law school. Early this week, her already impressive policy career was topped by her appointment as Hillary Clinton's campaign policy director.

Tanden has worked with the Clintons on and off for nearly a decade and for the Democratic Party much before that. After graduating from Yale in 1996, she worked on the Clinton- Gore presidential campaign in California.

She then joined the White House press department and went on to become an aide in the domestic policy office. In the wake of the Columbine massacre, she worked closely with Mrs. Clinton on school safety issues, gaining recognition as a policy expert.

Tanden attributes her preference for policy to her difficult background. Her mother, an immigrant from India, was divorced after an arranged marriage when Neera was five ("It tells you something about arranged marriages," Tanden said in a New York Times profile some months back). She then went on welfare for a couple of years, before getting a job as travel agent and putting Neera and her brother through school.

"I know it sounds totally corny, but she really instilled in me a great deal of, y'know, sort of a desire to serve. The Democratic Party, the policies that the Clintons and Hillary believe in, I feel like a living example of someone who benefited," Tanden said.

Tanden too has two kids now after her marriage to artist Ben Edwards, who she met while working on the Dukakis campaign. The Clintons are known to be fond of the couple; the former First Lady herself mentioned Tanden's work to this correspondent in a 2004 interview when she was the New York Senators's legislative director. Another Indian-American staffer she mentioned, Anil Kakani, has since left to join Corning.

Recently, the former president and the senator dropped by at one of his Edwards' shows at New York's Greenberg Van Doren Gallery. Tanden says fondest memory of her decade with the Clintons is when Hillary threw a wedding shower for her in the White House.

"My mother was there," she told NYT. "She, as an immigrant, with me first- generation and working there, she was ecstatic to come to the White House."

Tanden is one of several Indian-Americans who now work as high-ranking political aides and public policy wonks with key US lawmakers and politicians, including one in Barack Obama's campaign. Kris Kolluri, an aide to former House Minority leader Dick Gephardt, went on to become chief of staff and now holds a cabinet appointment in New Jersey and even briefly served as the stand-in governor last month.

(http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com)


Wall Street Research, Made in India

Wall Street firms are cutting costs and tightening belts these days — just try ordering a new BlackBerry at Bank of America. This could accelerate a cost-cutting trend that was already gaining momentum: The outsourcing of junior research and investment banking activities to India, where analysis and pitchbooks come far more cheaply than in the United States.

“At the end of the day, it’s people like us who are going to be running Wall Street,” a vice president at Amba Research, which is based in New York but has half of its employees in Bangalore, told Bloomberg News in an article about the financial outsourcing phenomenon.

Amba’s clients are mostly hedge funds. Bloomberg also visited the offices of Pipal Research, a six-year-old firm in the Indian city of Gurgaon where analysts do research for investment banks including Goldman Sachs. Goldman publishes reports that are “co-branded” with Pipal but don’t indicate that the analysts are in India, Bloomberg said.

The economics behind the trend are simple. Firms such as Morgan Stanley or UBS can hire analysts in India for one-third or even one-quarter of the salaries they would have to pay in the United States or Europe.

But the relationships can get complicated. Investment banks worry that clients will eventually cut them out of the equation and go directly to India.

Goldman seems to be having second thoughts. A firm spokesman told Bloomberg that Goldman is cutting its ties with Pipal after two and a half years, because clients want more contact with the analysts who write its research.

(http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com)

Oil Producers See the World and Buy It Up

By STEVEN R. WEISMAN
Published: November 28, 2007

WASHINGTON, Nov. 27 — Flush with petrodollars, oil-producing countries have embarked on a global shopping spree.

With a bold outlay of $7.5 billion, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority is about to become one of the largest shareholders in Citigroup.

The bank had already experienced the petrodollar’s power this month when another major shareholder, Prince Walid bin Talal of Saudi Arabia, cleared the way for the ouster of its chief executive, Charles O. Prince III.

The Dubai stock exchange, meanwhile, is negotiating for 20 percent of a newly merged company that includes Nasdaq and the operator of stock markets in the Nordic region. Qatar, like Dubai a sheikdom in the Persian Gulf, might compete in that deal.

In late October, Dubai, which has little oil but is part of the region’s energy economy, bought part of Och-Ziff Capital Management, a hedge fund in New York. Abu Dhabi this month invested in Advanced Micro Devices, the chip maker, and in September bought into the Carlyle Group, a private equity giant.

Experts estimate that oil-rich nations have a $4 trillion cache of petrodollar investments around the world. And with oil prices likely to remain in the stratosphere, that number could increase rapidly.

In 2000, OPEC countries earned $243 billion from oil exports, according to Cambridge Energy Research Associates. For all of 2007 the estimate was more than $688 billion, but that did not include the last two months of price spikes.

“If you look at gulf countries, they have a total common economy that is about the size of the Netherlands,” said Edward L. Morse, chief energy economist of Lehman Brothers. “These are tiny countries, but they have to place collectively over $5 billion a week from their oil revenues. It’s not an easy thing to do.”

The explosion in investment has set up some of its own cross-currents. While the recent decline in the value of the dollar is making investment in the United States cheaper, many investors are holding back out of fear that the dollar will decline further, diminishing the worth of their dollar holdings.

Many oil investors are also worried about a potential political reaction in the United States similar to the furor of last year when Dubai tried to acquire a company that operates American ports. European leaders, at the same time, worry that Russia is using its oil revenues to snatch up pipelines and other energy infrastructure in their region.

Such concerns seem to be driving investments to other parts of the world, many analysts say.

“The investments are diversifying outside the United States, though the U.S. still has the bulk of it,” said Diana Farrell, director of the McKinsey Global Institute, a research arm of the McKinsey consulting firm, which calculated in October that petrodollar investments reached $3.4 trillion to $3.8 trillion at the end of 2006.

“Europe is a prime target,” she added, “but at least 25 percent of foreign investments from the Persian Gulf are in Asia, the Middle East and North Africa.”

Though oil-producing countries have been looking at investments in the West since the 1970s, their strategies back then were largely confined to safe assets with a low return, like United States Treasury debt.

By 2001, with the collapse in oil prices, many of the oil exporters had depleted their dollar reserves, economists say.

But the boom in oil prices in the last five years has changed all that. It has persuaded oil producers to set up or expand “sovereign wealth funds” as vehicles to invest far more aggressively in the West, in their own economies and in emerging markets.

Other petrodollar investments are made through government-owned corporations, corporations and individuals like Prince Walid, who owns stakes not only in Citigroup but also News Corporation, Procter & Gamble, Hewlett-Packard, PepsiCo, Time Warner and Walt Disney.

The oil-rich nations are also investing more in real estate, private equity funds and hedge funds, analysts say, and increasingly they are investing the money on their own, bypassing the major financial institutions of the United States and Europe.

“The oil-producing countries simply cannot absorb the amount of wealth they are generating,” said J. Robinson West, chairman of PFC Energy. “We are seeing a transfer of wealth of historic dimensions. It is not just Qatar and Abu Dhabi. Investment funds are being set up in places like Kazakhstan and Equatorial Guinea.”

Precise figures of the global picture in petrodollars are not easy to come by, in part because the big investors in the Persian Gulf and elsewhere are not obliged to disclose their portfolios or activities.

The lack of transparency is a problem to leaders of Western industrial economies. In October, Henry M. Paulson Jr., Treasury secretary of the United States, and the finance ministers of other major industrial democracies called for an international code of “best practices” by cross-border investors requiring greater disclosure of assets and actions.

The petrodollar era has benefited the world economy, economists say, notably by enhancing liquidity at a time when foreign currency reserves of export giants in Asia are also making the world flush with cash.

Recently Ben S. Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, has spoken of a “global savings glut” that has lowered interest rates worldwide. Ms. Farrell, of the McKinsey Institute, estimates that petrodollars may have kept American interest rates three-quarters of a percentage point lower than they would otherwise be, a direct benefit to American consumers.

But the flood of investments is also causing problems, like overheated economies and asset bubbles in oil-rich nations.

“The gulf countries are pouring credit into their economies, adding to excess liquidity,” said Charles H. Dallara, managing director of the International Institute of Finance, an organization of leading private financial companies. “It is eroding the earning power of local citizens and becoming a source of economic instability over time.”

Some investment deals have fallen through, to the embarrassment of all sides. This year Qatar sought to do a leveraged buyout of a retailer in Britain, the J Sainsbury supermarket chain.

After starting the bid in July, Qatar faced concerns from unions, the Sainsbury family and others over whether the Qataris wanted Britain’s third-largest grocery chain just for the underlying real estate and whether the company could survive the amount of debt being incurred. The deal fell through three weeks ago, , when Qatar said that the global credit squeeze made the borrowing costs too high.

The decline in the dollar has also introduced new uncertainties into predicting petrodollar investment patterns. C. Fred Bergsten, director of the Peterson Institute of International Economics, said that while some countries in the gulf were trying to diversify their investments away from the dollar and into euros and pounds sterling, the Saudis were trying to quell that trend out of fear that the dollar will decline further and diminishing the value of their assets.

A measure of discord over the dollar was apparent at the OPEC meeting in Saudi Arabia this month. Iran and Venezuela, the two biggest political foes of the United States among the oil producers, complained that oil was being sold in a currency whose value was eroding by the day.

(http://www.nytimes.com)

The 10 Best Books of 2007 (The New York Times)

Design by Paul Sahre; photograph by Tony Cenicola

Published: December 9, 2007


MAN GONE DOWN

By Michael Thomas. Black Cat/Grove/Atlantic, paper, $14.

OUT STEALING HORSES
By Per Petterson. Translated by Anne Born. Graywolf Press, $22.

THE SAVAGE DETECTIVES
By Roberto Bolaño. Translated by Natasha Wimmer. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $27.

THEN WE CAME TO THE END
By Joshua Ferris. Little, Brown & Company, $23.99.

TREE OF SMOKE
By Denis Johnson. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $27.


Nonfiction

IMPERIAL LIFE IN THE EMERALD CITY: Inside Iraq's Green Zone.
By Rajiv Chandrasekaran. Alfred A. Knopf, $25.95; Vintage, paper, $14.95.

LITTLE HEATHENS: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression.
By Mildred Armstrong Kalish. Bantam Books, $22.

THE NINE: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court.
By Jeffrey Toobin. Doubleday, $27.95.

THE ORDEAL OF ELIZABETH MARSH: A Woman in World History.
By Linda Colley. Pantheon Books, $27.50.

THE REST IS NOISE: Listening to the Twentieth Century.
By Alex Ross. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $30.

(http://www.nytimes.com)

Window-Shopping Foreclosures

Window-Shopping Foreclosures
by Jennifer Openshaw
Tuesday, November 20, 2007provided by

The foreclosure market continues to boom as no relief appears in sight for stretched subprime mortgage holders. As the economy shows more signs of a slowdown, this trend is likely to continue.

Although the real estate industry would prefer otherwise, foreclosures continue to make headlines. The latest data showed superficial relief, with September foreclosures down 8% from some 243,000 in August, but still more than double last year -- and still with more to come.

It may be a harsh analogy, but I often think of foreclosure buyers as the forest-floor ants consuming the dead wood to clean the forest.

That means three things. First, as I see it, the sooner we get through this credit mess, the better. Second, the faster properties get through the foreclosure process and find buyers, the sooner we'll get through the mess. So third, foreclosure buyers clean out the dead wood (I like) and get great bargains in the process (I also like).

I can save how much?
My recent column broadly covers the discount you can expect from market value if you buy a foreclosure. It varies by region, but using information published by real estate portal and foreclosure specialists RealtyTrac, I saw discounts ranging from 15% in Hawaii to 40% in Alabama, with 20% and 25% being a rule of thumb.

Not bad. So then the next question, incidentally raised by several readers, is "how do I find those bargains in my area?"

Finding the for sale signs
To locate specific foreclosures in your area, RealtyTrac is a good place to start. The site lists foreclosures by ZIP code and foreclosure stage, ranging from preforeclosure property to bank-owned real estate. It's a broad and fairly deep picture of foreclosure availability in your area.

Some have found RealtyTrac less than precise, as the task of keeping up with foreclosure listing activity across the company is large, to say the least. And to get specific information on the property, RealtyTrac requires a $49.95/month subscription after a seven-day free trial.

But realize that RealtyTrac sits behind other real estate sites, so sooner or later you'll probably run into RealtyTrac. If you're serious about foreclosure shopping, you might want to sign up.

Combining sources
If you aren't ready to make the financial commitment or "come out of the closet" as a registered foreclosure buyer, there are several other paths which work surprisingly well:

Bank sales. To their chagrin, banks and financial institutions are going into the real estate business in a big way. Too bad for them, but you can find a lot of bargains on their Web sites: Bank of America, Countrywide and U. S. Bank have good listings, to name a few. Countrywide, for example, has 300 listings in California alone priced under $170,000.

Agency sales. Banks sell their "REO" (Real Estate Owned) but often hire agencies to do the job. Such agencies include Keystone Asset Management, Lenders Asset Management Corporation and HomeEq Servicing. Some of these agencies may operate bank sites, so you may see a similarity.

Government and government-backed lender sales. Government agencies ranging from FHA and VA to HUD and the Department of Justice sell real estate, visible through a single portal. And government-backed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac also operate sites. The variety of properties available is, shall we say, wide, but Fannie Mae in particular lists a lot of solid mainstream real estate values.

Auctions and auction houses. Local and regional auctions are becoming bigger as banks and others pile up inventory. A real estate auction specialist will announce an auction of dozens, maybe hundreds of properties in a large region or metro area. Auctioneers include Real Estate Disposal Corporation (REDC) and Williams & Williams. Experience helps in playing this game, although the auctioneer sites walk you through the process.

Local real estate specialists. A lot of agents know about action in a particular area and can hook you up with the sellers. Good agents have their eyes and ears to the ground at all times, and get tips and hear about stuff coming on the market. You can often Google "foreclosures (area)" to get local listings.

Don't forget: reward comes with risk
Remember that, while foreclosure properties often sell at a healthy discount, you may run into poorly maintained properties. There may be other foreclosures in the immediate area, hurting the quality and value of your investment. Double check other adjacent listings and visit the area if you can.

Remember: Good value investors buy assets at the right time in the right place at the right price. Real estate is no different.

Copyrighted, MarketWatch. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of MarketWatch content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of MarketWatch. MarketWatch shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.

(http://www.marketwatch.com)

27.11.07

Research Request #3 (Reg. Muhammed Yunus)

Banker to the Poor
  • Publisher: PublicAffairs
  • Pub. Date: October 2003
  • ISBN-13: 9781586481988

Cover Image


Synopsis

The simple idea of micro-loans is revolutionizing developing economies. Instead of lending large sums of money to often corrupt bureaucracies, economist Muhammad Yunus founded Grameen Bank to offer tiny sums, as little as $5, to individual craftspeople, tenant farmers, and subsistence entrepreneurs so they could keep themselves afloat between buying and selling. That was in 1983. Sixteen years later, with $2.5 billion being dispersed annually to more than two million families in rural Bangladesh and repayment rates close to 100 percent, Yunus is being hailed as the father of a new economic model that is bringing people out of poverty. In Banker to the Poor, Yunus explains why his program works.

Creating a World Without Poverty
  • Publisher: Perseus Publishing
  • Pub. Date: December 31, 2007
  • ISBN-13: 9781586484934
  • Sales Rank: 108,360
  • 256pp


Cover Image

Synopsis

The winner of the Nobel Peace Prize outlines his vision for a new business model that combines the power of free markets with the quest for a more humane world-and tells the inspiring stories of companies that are doing this work today.

In the last two decades, free markets have swept the globe, bringing with them enormous potential for positive change. But traditional capitalism cannot solve problems like inequality and poverty, because it is hampered by a narrow view of human nature in which people are one-dimensional beings concerned only with profit.

In fact, human beings have many other drives and passions, including the spiritual, the social, and the altruistic. Welcome to the world of social business, where the creative vision of the entrepreneur is applied to today's most serious problems: feeding the poor, housing the homeless, healing the sick, and protecting the planet.

Creating a World Without Poverty tells the stories of some of the earliest examples of social businesses, including Yunus's own Grameen Bank. It reveals the next phase in a hopeful economic and social revolution that is already under way-and in the worldwide effort to eliminate poverty by unleashing the productive energy of ever human being.

(http://www.bn.com)




26.11.07

Blogged Sept 25, 2007 Reported by CNN on Nov 26, 2007

First reported in this blog Sept 25, 2007
(http://asia.news.yahoo.com/070925/afp/070925094617asiapacificnews.html)

Souped up version reported by CNN

China's ambitious plans in space
updated 11:18 a.m. EST, Mon November 26, 2007

By John Vause
CNN

(CNN)
-- When China's lunar orbiter blasted off last month, there was not a cheer or smile or a "whoo-haaa" to be had in mission control.

Taikonaut Fei Junlong exits the re-entry capsule of China's second manned spacecraft on October 17, 2005.

Perhaps because for the government scientists, it was just another small step in an ambitious space program which could ultimately see a Chinese space station orbiting the Earth, a Chinese moon colony and a joint China-Russia explorer on Mars.

If all goes well, and so far it has, the Chang'e 1 will spend the next year orbiting the moon, mapping the surface and looking for resources. Next, the Chinese hope to send an unmanned rover to the moon by 2012, with a robotic mission to bring back samples by 2017. Officials have recently backpedaled from goals of putting a taikonaut (the Chinese version of an astronaut or cosmonaut) on the moon by 2020, but analysts believe that is still a pressing ambition.

"If China can go to the moon, eventually with a manned program, it will represent the ultimate achievement for China in making itself essentially the second most important space power, accomplishing what even the Soviets had not," says Dean Cheng, a China military analyst for CNA, a private research corporation.

According to Cheng, the Chinese are now embarking on a systematic space program the world has not seen since the 1960's and for the first time since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States is facing real competition. That may explain why the head of NASA, Michael Griffin, recently warned that "China will be back on the moon before we are . . . I think when that happens Americans will not like it."

But there could be a lot more at stake than just lunar boasting rights. It's unlikely the Chinese will land at Tranquility Base and pull down the Stars and Stripes. But the goal could be mining resources. One powerful, potential fuel source is helium-3. Helium-3 originated from the sun and was deposited in the moon's soil by the solar wind. It is estimated there are up to two million tons on the moon, and virtually none on Earth.
"If we can ever get helium-3 and helium-3 to fuse together it is what we call nuclear power without nuclear waste -- there is no radioactivity associated with that reactor," says Professor Gerald Kulcinski, an expert in helium from the University of Wisconsin.

The key though, says Kulcinski, will be developing a fusion reactor, which he says could be done within 15 to 20 years, in tandem with a program to establish a permanent human presence on the moon. Just four tons of helium-3 would be enough to supply all the power needs for the United States for a year, two shuttle payloads according to Kulcinski.

Analysts believe the lure of such potent resources is one of the reasons behind China's exploration of space. State media reported last month details of a new rocket with enough thrust to put a space station into orbit. When it's developed, the Long March 5 will have almost three times the power of existing rockets.

China has long wanted to be part of the international space station, but has always been denied, partly it's believed because of U.S. concerns. But that may not be a problem for the Chinese if they can send their own space station into orbit, reportedly by 2020. But again the Chinese are sending mixed messages, saying no firm date has been decided. More immediately, there are plans a for televised space walk by three taikonauts next year, according to the Shanghai Daily.

At a recent news conference Pei Zhaoyu from China's space administration repeated at least three times that "China has always adhered to the principle of peaceful use of outer space." But he made no mention of China's satellite killer missile which was tested earlier this year, destroying an aging Chinese weather satellite in low Earth orbit.

That and the fact that China's space administration is controlled by the military has many in Washington worried about where the Chinese are heading. Technologically, the Chinese are still behind the United States, but analysts warn that might not be the case for much longer. "The Chinese have the advantage of a centralized decision-making authority where they can say we will do that and we will apply those funds," says Cheng, while pointing out that NASA is at the mercy of Congress, politics and a new president in 2009 who may have new goals and ambitions.

China has always insisted that it's not in a space race with any country, especially the United States -- but it is on a slow, relentless march to the moon, and beyond.

Now thats a leader (Australian PM Mr.Rudd)

(Authors comment - You will never see this in US Media)

Kevin Rudd orders MPs to school

John Ferguson and Gerard McManus

November 27, 2007 12:00am

KEVIN Rudd's MPs have been ordered back to school to learn about classroom problems and tell the nation of plans for his so-called education revolution.

Mr Rudd has written to his MPs, ordering them to visit one public and one private school in their electorates before caucus meets for the first time this week.

Seven seats remain in doubt, but at least 83 MHRs, plus senators, are expected to attend Thursday's caucus.

And the Prime Minister-elect has told the nation's most senior public servant to pave the way for his $1 billion plan to provide computers for all students in years 9 to 12.

Mr Rudd was expected to arrive in Canberra as early as today to begin work on his new Government.

And he has warned high-profile new MPs they may have to wait their turn for a place on the front bench.

Mr Rudd said new MPs would benefit from some parliamentary experience, a possible hint that former union heavyweights Bill Shorten and Greg Combet might have to cool their ambitions for a while.

As the Liberal and National parties descended into chaos, former Howard government staffers were shredding documents and cleaning out offices to make way for the new Labor administration.

Outgoing treasurer Peter Costello made a lightning visit to Canberra yesterday to clear out his office.

(http://www.news.com.au An article from Herald Sun)

25.11.07

Australian election results as reported by BBC and FOX News

PM Howard concedes Australia poll

"The plans we put forward for the future are detailed if you look at what we've advanced in terms of education, hospitals and climate change and water as well as our proposals on industrial relations" Mr Rudd Prime Minster Elect

(http://www.news.com.au)

Mr Rudd praised Mr Howard's dignity in defeat Rudd victory speech Australian Prime Minister John Howard has admitted defeat in the country's general election, and looks set to lose his parliamentary seat.

Mr Howard said he had telephoned Labor leader Kevin Rudd "to congratulate him on an emphatic victory".

Mr Rudd said the country had "looked to the future" and he pledged to be a prime minister "for all Australians". With 70% of votes counted, Labor were on course to win the 76 seats needed to form a government. More than 20 constituencies from a total of 150 are still to produce a result, but Labor already has 72 seats compared with 48 for Mr Howard's Liberal-National coalition.

Rare fate
Amid cheers from Liberal Party faithful, Mr Howard said it had been a privilege to have served as prime minister since 1996.

AUSTRALIAN ELECTION
More than 13.5m of Australia's roughly 21m people are registered to vote Electors will choose candidates for all 150 seats in the lower House of Representatives and 40 of the 76 seats in the upper house, the Senate PM John Howard has led the conservative Liberal-National party coalition to four election wins since 1996 and is seeking a final term.

Kevin Rudd is taking the centre-left Labor Party to the polls for the first time as leader Election issues are the economy, environment and war in Iraq.

"We've bequeathed to [Mr Rudd] a nation that is stronger and prouder and more prosperous than it was 11 and a half years ago," he said. Mr Howard, who had been bidding for a fifth term in office, conceded the national election and accepted it was "very likely" he would also be defeated in his Bennelong constituency.

If unseated, the 68-year-old would be only the second prime minister in Australia's history to suffer such a fate.

Voters in Bennelong had elected Mr Howard in 13 consecutive elections over 33 years. But with more than 50% of the votes counted in the constituency, figures from the electoral commission suggested he had lost the seat to Maxine McKew, a former TV journalist.

An exit poll conducted by Sky News and Channel 7 suggested a similar result.

Anti-government backlash Labor leader Mr Rudd, a 50-year-old former diplomat, had led in opinion polls throughout the election campaign. In his victory speech, he thanked Mr Howard for his "dignity" in defeat and for his "extensive contribution to public service".


He promised to "forge a new consensus" by ending the "old battles of the past" between business and unions, and between economic growth and environmental concerns.

HAVE YOUR SAY After too many years I can finally hold my head up and be proud to call myself Australian again Anne, Brisbane

During the campaign, Labor sought to capitalise on the Howard administration's refusal to sign the Kyoto protocol on climate change. Mr Howard campaigned on his record of sound economic management. The BBC's Nick Bryant, in Sydney, said Labor had swept back into power by harnessing an anti-government backlash.

Mr Howard had found himself on the wrong side of public opinion on the Kyoto protocol and the war in Iraq, our correspondent said. Many people also seemed to be simply tired of Mr Howard after 11 years of his rule. Participating in elections is compulsory under Australian law and more than 13.5 million people were expected to vote.
2007/11/24 13:13:16 GMT

We Report. You Decide. Updated 11/24 10:43 PM ET

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Bush Ally Howard Set to Lose Australian Elections

Australian Opposition Party Claims Election Victory Over Top Bush Ally John Howard
Saturday, November 24, 2007

SYDNEY, Australia — Labor Party leader Kevin Rudd swept to power in Australian elections Saturday, ending an 11-year conservative era and promising major changes to policies on global warming and the Iraq war.
"Today Australia has looked to the future," Rudd, a Chinese-speaking former diplomat, said in a nationally televised victory speech, to wild cheers from hundreds of supporters. "Today the Australian people have decided that we as a nation will move forward ... to embrace the future, together to write a new page in our nation's history," he said.

The win brought a humiliating end to the career of outgoing Prime Minister John Howard of the Liberal Party, Australia's second-longest serving leader who, as little as a year ago, had appeared almost unassailable.

Howard faced further potential embarrassment. The voting results in his own district were on a knife edge, and he was in real danger of becoming only the second sitting prime minister in 106 years of federal government to lose his seat in Parliament.

Howard said he was likely to lose it, and took full blame for the drubbing handed to his center-right coalition. "I accept full responsibility for the Liberal Party campaign, and I therefore accept full responsibility for the coalition's defeat in this election campaign," Howard said in his concession speech in Sydney.

Official figures from the Australian Electoral Commission showed Labor far in front after more than 70 percent of the ballots had been counted — with 53 percent of the vote compared to 46.7 percent for Howard's coalition. Using those figures, an Australian Broadcasting Corp. analysis showed that Labor would get at least 81 places in the 150-seat lower house of Parliament — a clear majority.

The change in government also marks a generational shift for Australia.
Rudd, 50, had urged voters to support him because he said Howard was out of touch with modern Australia and ill-equipped to deal with new-age issues such as climate change.

Howard campaigned on his economic management, arguing that his government was mostly responsible for 17 years of unbroken growth, fueled by China's and India's hunger for Australian coal and other minerals, and that Rudd could not be trusted to maintain prosperous times.
A new government is unlikely to mean a large-scale change in Australia's foreign relations, including with the United States — it's most important security partner — or with Asia, which is increasingly important for the economy.
One of the biggest differences will probably be in Australia's approach to climate change. Rudd has nominated the issue as his top priority, and promised to immediately sign the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas emissions. When he does, the United States will stand alone as the only industrialized country not to have signed the pact.

Rudd said he would withdraw Australia's 550 combat troops from Iraq, leaving twice that number in mostly security roles. Howard had said all the troops will stay as long as needed. At home, Rudd has pledged to govern as an "economic conservative," while pouring money into schools and universities. He will curtail sweeping industrial reforms laws that were perceived to hand bosses too much power, turning many working voters against Howard.
Labor has been out of power for more than a decade, and few in Rudd's team — including him — has any government experience at the federal level. His team includes a former rock star, one-time Midnight Oil singer Peter Garrett, and a number of former union officials.
But analysts say that Rudd's foreign policy credentials are impeccable, and that he has shown discipline and political skill since his election as Labor leader 11 months ago.

Rudd's election as Labor leader marked the start of Howard's decline in opinion polls, from which he never recovered. Howard's four straight election victories since 1996 made him one of Australia's most successful politicians. But his refusal to stand down before this election, even after being urged to do by some party colleagues, mean his legacy will be tarnished by the hubris of staying too long.

Mark Apthorpe, a 24-year-old information technology worker who lives in Howard's district of Bennelong, voted for Rudd even though he was happy with the way the economy was being managed.
Like many voters, he said it was time for a change.
"Johnnie's said a few things that he has gone back on," Apthorpe said of Howard. "He's been around a long time, and he'll be gone in 18 months anyway."
Howard earlier this year announced plans to retire within about two years if he won the election, sparking claims of arrogance.

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