TORONTO, May 26, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Stans Energy Corp. (otcqx:HREEF) ("Stans" or "the Company") has completed its $5,500,000 USD transaction for 100% ownership of the Kyrgyz Chemical Metallurgical Plant (KCMP) Rare Earth Processing Complex and Private Rail Terminal, pursuant to the agreement signed on January 13th, 2011, and further approved by the KCMP shareholders on February 18th, 2011. TSX-V approval for this acquisition was obtained on April 29, 2011. The Complex has been legally renamed, "Kashka REE Plant Ltd. (KRP)".
Stans has hired Mr. Leonid A. Bulyonkov as a Director General of KRP. Mr. Bulyonkov started his engineering career at KCMP. During his career, Mr. Bulyonkov worked closely with the Russian Institutes VNIIHT, VIMS, GIREDMET, and IHHT. He has coordinated large scale rare metal processing operations, while supervising up to 1000 people. From 2008 to 2010, Mr. Bulyonkov worked at the Karabalta Ore Mining Complex OJSC in Kyrgyzstan, acting as Chief Engineer -- Deputy Director General. Amongst his peers, Mr. Bulyonkov is recognized as a rare metals and radioactive processing specialist.
Robert Mackay, President and CEO of Stans Energy stated, "The completion of this transaction is a crucial step towards achieving our goal of becoming a near term producer of Heavy Rare Earth Elements (HREEs). We are very fortunate to add Mr. L. Bulyonkov to our team as our Head of Operations at KRP and we are confident that he will be able to use his extensive experience to efficiently reestablish a rare earth production line at the Facility. Mr. L Bulyonkov has already initiated plans for design and capacity upgrades to KRP."
KRP Details and Historical Production Flow Sheet
For almost three decades the KCMP Rare Earth Processing Complex produced 80% of the former Soviet Union's RE products. The facilities and the rail terminal were used to produce and transport materials, equipment, chemicals and final product to and from markets when the Kutessay II RE mine was last in production. The Kutessay II mine is now 100% owned by Stans Energy. When the KCMP Rare Earth Processing Plant was last in operation the processing facilities comprised of four individual plants that were part of a much larger industrial complex.
Plant 1
Plant 1 has been decommissioned and will not be used in Stans' new design. This is because much of the past technology used in Plant 1 would not be used today, as newer Sorption technology has proved to be more efficient and less damaging to the environment when removing radioactive materials.
Historically, RE feed from the Kutessay II mine was brought to Plant 1 to be refined into a new, higher grade concentrate. At this stage, the radioactivity was removed through roasting. Modern technologies have made this step redundant.
Plant 2
Plant 2 separated the mixed rare earth solution from Plant 1 and produced light rare earth (LRE) concentrate (La, Ce, Pr, Nd), middle rare earth (MRE) concentrate (Sm, Eu, Gd), heavy rare earth (HRE) concentrate (Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, Lu) and Yttrium Oxide (Y2O3). The equipment in Plant 2 is intact, but has been removed from the building and stored at a location 4 km away for security purposes. Stans intends to refurbish and reassemble Plant 2.
Plant 3
Plant 3 separated the MRE and HRE concentrates into final oxides, metals, alloys, nitrate solutions, and final oxides and metals of the LREEs Lanthanum (La) and Cerium (Ce). This Plant was where the various complexing, elutriation, and regeneration solutions were prepared. The process was carried out on a batch system where the conditions in the ion exchange columns (linear flow, solution, complexing, elutriating solution concentration solution, etc.) were specific for each REE. The Rare Earths were then precipitated as the oxalate (carbonate), filtered and washed and then dried and calcined to rare earth oxide (REO). The RE metal section involved the production of metals from the REOs through various electrical, induction and arc furnaces.
The Soviets never used Plant 3 to its full capacity as uses for HREEs were limited between 1965 and 1990. In the late 80s, the Soviets initiated plans for the Plant's expansion to process 3 to 4 times the amount at which it had previously operated. The industrial building expansion was completed when the Plant ended operations in 1991. Some new equipment was delivered to and stored on site but this equipment has not yet been installed.
The Plant continued to process small amounts of remaining HRE concentrate into final metals up until 2009. The last of its HREE concentrate and final products were sold in 2010. Plant 3 is in good working condition.
Plant 4
Plant 4 separated light rare earth concentrate from Plant 2 into individual rare earth oxides. Like Plant 2, much of the equipment from Plant 4 was removed and stored at a secure location. A feasibility study will determine whether Stans Energy will produce and sell light rare earth concentrate derived from Plant 2, or reassemble Plant 4 to produce final oxides.
Rail Terminal
The newly purchased rail terminal connects to the Central Asian Rail Network, which connects to Russia and all countries in Asia including China, Korea, and by ferry to Japan. The purchase of the Rail Terminal includes a gantry crane, two warehouses, two offices, and a weigh station. The land purchased with the rail terminal amounts to 143,500 m(2). The rail terminal is roughly 15 km from the KMCP Processing Plants by paved road, and is roughly 35 km away from the Kutessay II mine by paved road.
Equipment Inventory and Industrial Space
In an independent assessment of the equipment, it was determined that 97% of the equipment purchased which had been previously used for processing rare earths were in either good, or satisfactory operating condition, and only 3% required repair. Stans has published a full list of the inventory included in the purchase and can be found at www.stansenergy.com/rare-earth-processing/ . The total industrial space in Plants 2 and 3 totals 21,812 m(2).
Capacity Old & New
Previously, the entire REE processing facility operated at approximately 500 mt/annum of final rare earth product. During its time in operation, its capacity varied depending on which products were needed and at what purities. 120 different final rare earth products were produced, including oxides, metals and alloys of all lanthanides with purities up to 99.99%. In the late 80s, the Soviets initiated plans to expand the operating capacity to 1500 mt, but never finished the expansion. A feasibility study will determine the optimal scale at which to bring Kutessay II back into production.
Stans Energy has engaged the Russian Institutes that initially designed and built KCMP to help redesign and refurbish the Facilities to create a new and more efficient source of rare earth supply. New technologies and solvents that were unavailable during the Soviet era will be tested in an effort to further improve the Plant's efficiency.
SOURCE: Stans Energy Corp.
Follow Research on the Only Active Rare Earth Mine and Processing Facility Outside of China
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Sunday, June 5, 2011
EZ Wealth Solution Pays Out 1 Million Dollars In Commissions!
On Aug. 20, 2009 we witnessed a very rare accomplishment in this industry! EZWealthSolution.com has just reached the One Million Dollar Mark in Sales, and it also means they hit the One Million Dollar Mark in Commissions Paid because EZ Wealth Solution pays out a full 100% on all sales.
Less than 1% of Home Based Business Opportunities ever reach this milestone because as most of us know they never seem to ever stick around long enough
or their compensation plan is not geared towards their Associates but rather towards lining the pockets of the company owners! With a 100% payout, there
is no guessing who the EZ Wealth Solution Compensation Plan is geared towards!
When asked why he was paying out a full 100%, Ron Walsh the CEO & Founder
of EZ Wealth Solution was quoted as saying;
"I just want to see people make money. I have been in this industry for
over 15 years and I know from experience, that most programs/pay plans
are not designed with the average person in mind. They are
designed to fill the pockets of the program owners."
"I got so tired of working programs that would last no more than 6 months
or the pay plan was just another cookie-cutter script that we’ve all seen
fail time and time again. That’s why I stopped working every program I was involved with, and in May of 2007 I started putting EZ Wealth Solution
together."
"I knew that I did not want to be like everyone else out there and use
one of those cookie-cutter scripts that was destined for failure in 6
months to a year down the road, so I developed my own proprietary pay
plan, and I did it with my future Associates in mind."
"A lot of program owners say they want their people to make money, but
until they put their money where their mouth is, it’s just more hot air,
and people are getting tired of this. People just want a way to make
money online, and I just want to see people make money! This is why
EZ Wealth Solution with a 100% payout is the perfect match for
anyone wanting to make money online!"
"We have many Associates who are making $1,000 or more a month
starting their very first month! We have Associates who are making
$5,000 a month! We also have many hard working Associates who have
already or are on pace to make over $100,000 their first year in the
business, and all they ever have to pay in Admin Fees to the company
is $10 a month!"
"That’s all great, but what gives me the most satisfaction is when I
hear from someone who has lost thousands of dollars online, and they
are close to tears when they thank me for putting EZ Wealth Solution
together because this is the first time they have ever made any money
online. I have all I can do not to shed a few tears myself when I hear
such heart warming stories. It just makes me feel good inside."
"I want everyone to know the first Million Dollars in pay outs is just
the beginning for EZ Wealth Solution because now I have set my sights
on 2 Million Dollars, and the second Million will come faster that the
first!"
"Back when I first launched EZ Wealth Solution in December of 2007,
I did a video telling people about my background in the industry, and
how I built websites and wrote conference calls for several different
online business opportunities that combined went on to do millions of
dollars in sales, and how I had taken all that knowledge and all that
experience and poured it into EZ Wealth Solution, and I said that the
Millions of dollars in sales that we will do will be paid to our
EZ Wealth Associates!"
"When I first did that video I’m sure there were people who said:
"Ya ya, I heard that story before." Well,I wonder what they are saying
today! But that’s alright, with all the false promises they’ve been
fed by other people in the past, they may have had good reason to doubt
this seemingly "New Kid on the Block" promising to pay out Millions.
I harbor no ill feelings towards anyone who doubted me, they may have
missed out on the first Million, but they are more than welcome to join
us as we go for the second Million in payouts, and the third, and
the fourth!"
"I know there will be Millions more paid out because we have the pay
plan to do it, and we have one of the lowest start up costs in the
industry if not the lowest start up cost for a "Top Tier Program".
As I just finished saying; the Admin Fee is just $10 a month, and
with our "Pay It Forward System" at Package Level # 1, your sponsor is
going to pay your way into Package Level # 1 (a $47 value), if you agree
to Pay It Forward for one other person."
"So technically, someone can get started for as little as $10, and only
after they find their first person will they have to Pay It Forward $47.
This really opens us up to a global market. We have Associates from
just about every country there is, some I’ve never heard of before,
and they can leverage their way through our 5 Package Levels ranging
in price from; $47, $97, $247, $497, & $997."
"Our 5 Product Packages consists of Digital and Software Products. We
have over 700 of them divided into 5 Packages, and they come with complete
Resale Rights, and some even have Master Resale Rights where you can
re-brand them with your name as though you were the person who created
product. People can sell the products individually on their own or they
can sell them in Packages through the EZ Wealth Pay Plan (that’s where
the money is)!"
"We have made it really easy for people to sell the 5 Product Packages
through the EZ Wealth Pay Plan because when they pay their $10 monthly
Admin Fee we provide them with 3 professionally built websites to market,
a Member Center full of Advertising Tools and Marketing Tips, Ad Tracking
Software to track their online advertising, a How It Works Video Presentation where I close their sales for them, and we also have State-of-the-Art
Tracking Software to keep track of all their sales."
"Oh, did I mention that when someone makes a sale the company does
not handle the money! When a sale is made we simply connect the Reseller
with the Purchaser, and they work out a payment method between themselves!
This allows our Associates to get paid the very same day they make a sale, and they get to keep 100% of the money! How cool is that!"
Ron Walsh
CEO & Founder
EZ Wealth Solution
WOW! What else can I say that Mr. Walsh has not already said? EZ Wealth
Solution has been around now for 20 months (as of Aug. 2009), and it
looks like they are going to be around for many years to come as they
head for the 2 Million Dollar Mark in commissions paid.
After seeing their one-of-a-kind pay plan I have no doubt that the
EZ Wealth Solution pay plan is geared towards their Associates,
and the second Million in payouts will come even faster than the first
as the word starts to spread about this incredible Home Based Business
Opportunity!
If EZ Wealth Solution was not already on your radar, then it definitely
should be if you want to make money online, and you like the idea of a
100% payout that’s paid daily!
For more information about the
EZ Wealth Solution business opportunity visit
their website http://EZWealthSolution.com/?WebSuccess4U
to register for the "Free Tour", and they will
open their entire Member Center for you to see exactly what they have
to offer, and be sure to watch the How It Works Video Presentation
when you’re in there because EZ Wealth Solution is quickly emerging as
one of the best Home Based Business Opportunities on the Internet today!
System Tracking Corporate Directors Buying Shares of Their Own Stock
We Just Decrypted "Instant Messages"
on This U.S. Gov't Website...
And Now They Could Make
You Extraordinarily Wealthy...
Dear Reader,
Wall Street executives – those same fat cats that pulled in a record $20.8 billion in bonuses last year – are using an official U.S. government computer network to get even richer.
Their “scheme” involves a little-known Federal website... A place where officials and Wall Street executives can post special “instant messages” that often affect stock prices almost immediately.
Hedge fund managers, high net-worth individuals and Wall Street’s biggest players are using this intelligence to collect huge windfalls... before most of the general public has any clue what’s going on.
For instance...
February 10, 2010: Duncan Niederauer, a slick executive at a big financial firm, posts a new message on the website – indicating that a certain stock is likely to go on a big run. Seventy-five days later, he had personally made $251,000 thanks to this stock.
September 8, 2010: Thomas Mark, a director at a technology company, puts up a series of instant messages on the website, a signal that his company is poised to take off. Over the next five months, he raked in a total of $137,898.
And since 2009, Doug Bergeron, a very wealthy telecom executive, has posted no fewer than 15 personal messages on the site indicating moves in his company’s stock. In 2009 alone, he averaged a remarkable $2,785 per day thanks to this secret technique. That’s over $1 million for the year!
In fact, there are thousands of rich Wall Street executives making an extra six, seven, even eight figures per year thanks to the messages posted on this government website.
But here’s why I’m telling you about this today:
In the following presentation, I’m going to explain how we successfully decoded the “chatter” on this U.S. Federal website...
And why this intelligence could make you $2,374 in extra income each month, just like the Wall Street executives.
Harvard and Yale Study: Deciphering These Messages is “Extremely Profitable”
First, let me be very clear. There’s absolutely nothing illegal or even unethical about our accessing this Federal website.
In fact, recently-passed Public Law 107-204 and the Freedom of Information Act sanction it. The specific details are laid out in Section 403 of the 107-204 rule, as I’ll explain in a moment.
Last year alone, we decoded the messages from this website to give investors realistic shots at literally dozens of double and triple bagger gains.
That includes oversize returns of 256% in 28 days... 447% in 48 days... and a stunning 549% in just 65 days.
And experts agree... our success was no fluke.
According to one Wharton finance professor, using the messages on this website, investors could see “abnormal profits.”
A Harvard and Yale joint study confirmed it can be “extremely profitable” each time you decipher a message on this server.
Other financial publications have reported comparable findings, including The Journal of Finance... The Journal of Portfolio Management... and a Ph.D. study conducted at the London School of Economics.
Surprisingly, most people aren’t aware this government website even exists, let alone its full internet address or how to interpret the “instant messages.”
But don’t worry about that.
Because just moments from now we’ll send you the first round of fully decoded information. You’ll only need to make a simple transaction, then sit back and watch your portfolio grow.
If you’d followed this plan last year, you could have seen overall gains of up to 2,849%! That’s enough to turn a stake of just $2,500 into a $71,225 windfall.
However I must emphasize: This opportunity is time-sensitive.
Several executives have just posted new messages on the website that could make them – and you – rich. So if you decide to take advantage of the secret I’m about to reveal, you’ll want to move quickly.
Here’s the full story, so you can decide for yourself...
Accurate Stock “Forecasts” From the U.S. Gov’t
There’s nothing particularly odd about the wall of concrete barricades or the armed guards protecting the entrance to 100 F Street.
SECAfter all, security’s tight all over Washington, D.C., and especially at U.S. government buildings.
But what’s held inside that building is quite unusual...
A specialized computer network where business executives and government officials post hundreds of messages naming stocks that are highly likely to rise in the next few weeks.
You’ll find information posted by rich Wall Street executives from all types of industries... From tech and pharma stars... to beaten-down transportation companies... and, of course, the top financial firms.
And here’s the thing...
With the correct “ciphers” – which we’ve developed – you can crack the sensitive information on the computers inside that building wide open.
And with the right information, you can start making easy money – perhaps even thousands of dollars per month – just like these business executives. Let me show you how...
Instant Message #1:
High-Tech Firm Spills the Beans for 134% Gain
In the summer of 2010, executives from a small tech company, Akamai Technologies, began posting a series of unusual messages on the government server.
First it was Director David Kenny. He posted a brief message on August 4. An officer at Akamai, Paul Sagan, posted another message just two days later.
And a third Akamai employee, Director Peter Kight, sent another message on August 11.
Obviously something was going on.
So we set to work decoding the messages. And sure enough, they indicated that Akamai’s stock was about to go on a big move.
We immediately sent out the decoded information to our subscribers. And here’s what happened next:
Like clockwork, between August 17 and September 14, Akamai Technologies absolutely exploded – just as we expected.
Investors could have seen an easy 134% gain in just 28 days thanks to the special play we recommended. That would have more than doubled your money.
And those three executives who all posted messages in a couple days? Well, David Kenny made $330,500 dollars, Paul Sagan made $197,700 dollars and Peter Kight made $527,450 dollars – all in about a month.
I can show you how to do exactly what they’re doing. And while you may not make $500,000 a month, you could end up making at least $2,374 per month. All you need is the decoded information they’re sharing on this Federal website.
I’ll tell you how to get it in just a moment. But first let me give you a couple more examples.
Because executives from flashy internet companies like Akamai aren’t the only ones tipping off coming stock jumps...
Instant Message #2:
133% Return From “Bank Shares”
Banking stocks weren’t exactly a “hot commodity” in 2009. Investors were still scared stiff by the financial crisis.
Yet that’s just when we noticed an especially odd message posted on the government website by Stephen Steinour, the Chairman of Huntington Bancshares (HBAN).
Steinour’s message indicated that the company was likely to report some fantastic news.
It was a clear signal that, contrary to the mood of the day, this stock was about to skyrocket. And we shared that information with our readers on April 27.
Sure enough, the chart shows what happened next...
Stephen Steinour, the executive whose message we decoded, made an astounding $691,860 after posting his information.
But because we had the information, as well, we were able to hand our readers an easy 266% gain in just 14 days with our special play. That’s more than tripling your money – in two weeks!
No wonder our readers flooded us with emails...
"I bought 1,000 HBAN at $2.79 on 28 April and sold them today at $6.02” said Jeff Kramer. “I look forward to continuingthe fun!"
Bob Geary added, "Last Tuesday I bought HBAN for $3.Today I sold half of it for $6.02, so now I own free shares.Life is beautiful! Keep up the great work."
Pretty impressive, I think you’ll agree. Yet decoding these instant messages can return even bigger gains...
Instant Message #3:
No Gambling Required for 273% Gain
Around the same time we made a killing on Huntington Bancshares, we decrypted some more instant messages on the government website.
These were about Las Vegas Sands – the owner of The Venetian Hotel and Casino and the Sands Convention Center in Nevada.
And what really got our attention was the fellow who posted them. He was a real big wig ... billionaire Sheldon Adelson.
Obviously if a billionaire was getting involved, we knew this was going to be important.
It was late March when we first noticed his messages appearing on the government site. A flurry of more messages from other Las Vegas Sands executives quickly followed suit.
Look what happened almost immediately after we decoded the messages:
From April 6 to May 4, subscribers could have captured a 273% gain in less than 1 month on this Las Vegas hospitality company.
No wonder reader Pete Bataglia wrote in to tell us, “I made a hefty profit on the Las Vegas Sands recommendation. Thank you for your insight.”
And there were even bigger gains after that...
Adelson made an astounding$269 million dollars in a little over a year. That averages out to $689,309 a day.
Now I’m not saying you could make that much from these messages. Obviously, a billionaire has a leg up over the average investor.
But based on our experience using the information we’ve decoded, you could make an extra $2,374 every month.
How to Pull in a Six Figure “Salary” This Year
Why do I believe you can make $2,374 a month? Or even more?
Because that's how much you would have made by simply putting a flat $1,000 in every one of the special “instant message” plays we told our readers about last year.
It's that simple. All you do is follow these weekly moves and collect the cash.
But let’s say you wanted to step it up a bit... and put in $5,000 per recommendation.
You then would have banked, on average, $11,870 per month last year. That's the equivalent of a six-figure "salary" of $142,440 for the year.
And remember, you don’t have to do it by yourself...
We decode the message, send you all the important information and show you exactly how to profit.
So... what exactly are these “instant messages?”
And how can they predict safe returns of hundreds of percents in just a few months... sometimes even weeks?
Here’s the full story...
Why Try to Predict the Market,
When Insiders Can Do it for Us
Most people don’t know this, but it’s perfectly legal for insiders to buy their own company’s stock.
In fact, officers, directors and owners of publicly traded companies can buy and sell as much of their own company’s stock as they want.
After all, why would a high-level exec start or join a public company if they couldn’t share in its success?
There is, however, one catch. And it’s a big one...
They have to post their trade publicly with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) within 48 hours.
Once these big shots reveal their plans to buy up mass quantities of stock, investors usually start piling in over the following weeks and months.
After all, nobody knows the prospects of a company better than the people who run it. So if insiders are buying, it’s probably a good bet the stock is about to go up substantially.
But what we’ve uncovered – and decoded – is the website where these executives first post messages revealing when and where they are buying shares.
We can access these messages the instant they’re posted.
That way, we can get a crack at the biggest returns before any other investors have a clue what is going on...
Secure Only the Most Valuable Information
By decoding these messages, we can quietly “listen in” on the plans of insiders to see exactly what they are up to.
But turning that information into big winning stock picks, over and over again? That’s where the going can get tough...
For starters, there’s a massive amount of information posted on this website – as many as 57,000 “instant messages” a month.
That’s a whole lot of data for an average person to sift through. And to act quickly on? That would be nearly impossible – even in this digital age.
To make matters worse, a good portion of these messages are irrelevant, misleading, or just plain useless.
But that’s why what I’m going to share with you today is so valuable.
It’s a way to get only the important information – the kind that can hand you thousands of dollars a month... And a way to get it quickly – so you can take advantage before any other investors get the chance.
So how do you filter out the noise? How do you pinpoint the handful of messages with the greatest potential? The ones that could hand you huge immediate gains?
There’s really only way that makes sense.
You need an expert to guide you. An expert who can analyze the thousands of messages and select only the best picks and the highest-performing plays.
An expert such as my colleague Alexander Green.
Alex’s Secret Way to Beat the Market
My name is Jeff Yastine.
I’ve been in business journalism for over 17 years now, most recently as an anchor with “Nightly Business Report” on PBS.
I’ve had the privilege of interviewing leading business executives such as Sir Richard Branson, Michael Dell, Bill Gross and Herb Kelleher, founder of Southwest Airlines.
Today I’m the Editorial Director of The Oxford Club, one of the world’s most powerful fellowships of private wealth seekers.
One of the reasons I joined The Oxford Club Group was the chance to work with experts like Alexander Green. He’s the Investment Director here at The Oxford Club.
You won’t find many men or women of Alexander’s talent or integrity on Wall Street. He walked away from a prestigious position with one of the country’s leading brokerage firms – retiring from Wall Street at only 43.
Since then, Alex has been featured on Oprah & Friends, CNBC, National Public Radio (NPR), Fox News and “The O'Reilly Factor.”
He’s authored three bestselling books, and he’s been written about in The Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, Forbes and MarketWatch recently wrote that Alex “has developed a dramatically successful record, expressed through several portfolios, since arriving (to The Oxford Club) in 2001.”
Dramatically successful indeed. Over that period – the past 10 years – Alex has led The Oxford Club to beat the total return on the Wilshire 5000 by 30-fold.
But here’s why I’m writing you today...
Alex is perhaps most proud of his remarkable Insider Alert service.
The Insider Alert is a VIP research service tailored to help regular people like you and me use the same moneymaking techniques of Wall Street insiders.
Because what Alex has discovered in more than 25 years as a professional money manager, advisor and editor is simply this...
There is no better way to beat the market than by tracking insider buying – and legally riding their coattails.
Experts Know It... History Proves It
Insider buying is easily one of the best indications that a stock is about to go up.
Peter Lynch, the most successful mutual fund manager of all time, agrees.
“There is no better tip-off to the probable success of a stock,” says Lynch.
Mark Hulbert, independent analyst and editor of the highly regarded Hulbert Financial Digest, says, “Investors can safely ignore [analyst] consensus and rely on [insider buying] alone.”
And Wall Street legend Marty Zweig, author of Winning on Wall Street, says, “you’ve got an edge” by following insiders.
The only problem is... Most people already know this. When insiders buy, stocks can go up very quickly and it can be easy to miss the big money.
But that’s why Alex felt it was so important to demystify this government website.
By finding out first exactly what insiders are doing – before the average investor has a clue – we have a distinct advantage over anybody else in the market.
And to make the most of this short window of opportunity, Alex often recommends both a stock and an options play.
With options, you can make far greater returns than what you'd see on the regular stock trade – often in just a fraction of the time.
In other words, if you chose to, you can make even more money using options – much faster than the regular stock play.
And if you’re not already familiar with options, don’t worry.
With The Insider Alert, we’ll tell you exactly how to buy and sell each of Alex’s recommendations... what to say to your broker... how to make the most money... and much more.
It’s all paying off in spades for current subscribers. Just take a look at some Alex’s recent insider plays...
* 235% gain in two months on Crown Castle...
* 410% gain in three-and-a-half months in Motorola...
* 244% gain in 67 days on 99 Cents Only...
* 145% gain in four months in Republic Services...
* 105% gain in one week on Inspire Pharmaceuticals...
* 147% gain in 37 days on Southern Copper...
* 221% gain in less than two months in Valeant Pharmaceuticals...
* 680% gain in 90 days on Seagate Technology...
* 646% gain in three months on The Hain Celestial Group...
* 652% gain in 70 days on Lorillard...
* And many MANY more.
Alex recommended each of these triple-digit winners to readers of his elite Insider Alert service.
He spent 16 years in the trenches on Wall Street, and another 11 years doing nothing but analyzing stocks and the businesses behind them.
He’s looked at literally tens of thousands of insider’s messages.
He knows what’s going to pan out. And, just as importantly, what won’t.
And the results, well... they speak for themselves.
Just look at the returns you could have seen from Alex’s recent “insider” calls...
Booked 163% in 43 Days
You probably already know that Barnes & Noble owns the nation's largest chain of bookstores. It also owns one of the web's most-visited websites, bn.com.
But you’re probably not aware of the insider activity that Alex noticed after it was posted on the secret government website last year...
What Alex told readers: In February of 2010, Alex wrote, “The real news concerning Barnes & Noble now is Ron Burkle. The billionaire loves the brand and has been a heavy buyer of the stock in recent weeks. He now owns over 19% of the company but has announced he intends to accumulate 37%, the same amount owned by Founder and CEO Leonard Riggio.”
What happened next: Alex issued a buy alert for Barnes & Noble on February 8. Just seven weeks later, on March 23, he told his readers to exit the play.
Fast “insider” gains: 163% in just 43 days.
And Alex was just getting started...
242% Returns in 28 Days
The proprietary analysis from Alex can hand you gains in all kinds of stocks. Oil... biotech... gold... even cigarettes.
Based in Greensboro, NC, Lorillard is America’s third-largest tobacco company. Their best known brands include Newport, Kent and Maverick.
And while Alex doesn’t advocate smoking, he won’t ignore a stock about to go through the roof...
What Alex told readers: In March of 2011, Alex wrote, “CEO Murray Kessler is certainly a fan of the company. He recently purchased 12,500 shares, an investment of almost $1 million, at just over $79 a share. He now owns 92,657 shares.”
What happened next: Alex issued a buy alert for Lorillard on March 1. Less than a month later, on March 29, he told his readers to exit the play.
Fast “insider” gains: 242% in 4 weeks.
You could have turned $2000 into $6840 with that one play.
Yet Alex has called even more impressive winners...
Stellar 256% Jump in 4 Weeks
Based in San Antonio, energy company NuStar has 8,417 miles of pipeline, 82 terminal facilities, four crude oil storage tank facilities and two asphalt refineries with a combined capacity of 104,000 barrels per day.
On December 22, 2009, Alex decoded a message about NuStar Director William Greehey. He immediately passed on the information to subscribers and gave the green light...
What Alex told readers: “Is NuStar about to shoot up? Director William Greehey thinks so. He recently invested over $5.2 million in the stock at just under $53 a share.”
What happened next: Alex issued his NuStar buy recommendation on December 22. Just 4 weeks later, on January 19, he told his readers to exit the play.
Fast “insider” gains: 256% in 28 days!
If you had placed just $1,000 in each of those three examples, you’d be sitting on $9,610 – all in less than two months.
If you had put $5,000 in each, you’d have $48,050. $10,000... $96,100!
With Alex guiding you every step of the way, raking in big gain after big gain from insider signals becomes almost... easy.
In fact, looking at these impressive results, you might even be wondering...
“Can’t I Just Do This Myself?”
Fact is, you probably could pick some “insider” winners if you really put your nose to the grindstone...
And if you spent about 10 hours per day analyzing the market, like Alex does – every day...
And if you’d done that for the past 25 years, as Alex has.
Then there’s the access to thousands of dollars in proprietary financial analysis programs, not to mention a full-time research staff.
How else would you wade through the more than 770 insider filings a day, or more than 16,950 filings a month, to find the one or two poised to soar?
But here’s the real problem...
By the time you’d found a winner... well... you’d be working with the same stale information that every other investor out there has.
With Alex’s proprietary system for decoding the messages posted on this website, it’s the only real way to get a leg up and make your move ahead of the crowd.
In other words: It’s the only way to make the big money usually reserved for those “in-the-know.”
I think you get the picture...
Why not leave the hard work to Alex... and simply enjoy the fruits of his research and experience?
And don’t worry. That doesn’t mean we’re going to keep you in the dark on Alex’s expert techniques for tracking down explosive insider plays.
Quite the opposite...
Inside Alex’s Proprietary Screening Program
Let’s go behind the curtain to see exactly how Alex interprets the insider messages – so you can take them to the bank.
Key Insider “Tip Off” #1 – Alex is looking for large six or seven figure transactions. He doesn’t put much weight in someone investing $30,000 or $50,000.
After all, top industry executives commonly make so much money, tens of thousands of dollars is simply not that big of a deal.
So Alex looks for insiders buying hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars worth of the stock. That’s a reliable sign that they’ve got plenty of their own “skin in the game.”
Key Insider “Tip Off” #2 – Alex keeps a keen eye out for what he calls “buying clusters.” Rather than just one “Lone Ranger” insider, he wants to see not only the top executives but also lower level officers and employees buying – and the more the merrier!
Alex knows that when you see a broad spectrum of people at the same company buying – including the lower level employees – it means a lot of insiders realize the stock is selling far below its intrinsic worth.
Key Insider “Tip Off” #3 – Another factor Alex weighs is the track record of the insider. Some have a great history... and others don’t.
For example, John Sculley drove Apple into the ground in 1993– and his insider shares plummeted, too. Meanwhile, guys such as Doug Bergeron, CEO of Veriphone, just keep making winning calls over and over again.
Key Insider “Tip Off” #4 – Perhaps the most critical factor Alex looks at is what he calls “the divergence indicator.”
It’s pretty typical to see insider buyers rush out of the woodwork when some bad (but not TOO bad) news comes out. The stock price plummets and the insiders gobble it up. And sometimes that’s even enough for the stock to head upward again.
But Alex is scanning for exactly the opposite situation.
Let’s say a stock’s hitting new HIGHS... yet there’s STILL insider buying. That turns out to be an even better signal. Just think about it...
If they are buying at $20 when they could have bought at $15 a few months ago...
Well, basically the insiders are saying, “Sure, the market realizes we are good – but they don’t know HOW good we really are.”
Those factors – and many many more – go into Alex’s decision on if, and when, to get into a play.
And remember, with Alex guiding you, successful recommendations and breathtaking gains could be yours for the taking just moments from now... for example...
Multiple Triple Baggers in Just Weeks
On November 16, 2009 Alex noticed L-3 Communications Director Robert Millard had recently purchased 10,000 shares, an investment of $731,400, and issued a “Buy” recommendation.
On January 11, Alex recommended his readers exit this play. They could have taken a 305% gain in 56 days.
Insider Alert reader, Owen Ulnis, didn’t seem disappointed to tell us: “I made 230% on L-3.Thank you.”
Subscriber Dr. Bob Wyatt did even better. “On L3 I’m up +411% (closed as you recommended with 411% gain today),” he wrote us.
Then there was Alex’s Bank of America play. Directors Robert Scully and Charles Holliday bought $491,000 – and $378,000 - worth of the stock in early November.
On the 15, Alex told his readers to get onboard. When Alex recommended his readers exit this play on January 17, they could have taken a 318% gain in just 63 days.
Insider Alert reader Rick Santos from Austin TX wrote to thank Alex: “Your recommendations are almost always right... your strategy has worked consistently well for me. For example with BKS, who can complain about a 125% gain or a 300% gain. Thanks for the GREAT work!”
And Alex was just getting started...
His next play was a company you certainly patronize – NYSE Euronext – better known as the New York Stock Exchange.
In mid-February, Alex saw that CEO Duncan Niederauer had just purchased 25,000 shares, an investment of more than $600,000. Alex’s additional filters indicated the time to get in was now, and he alerted his readers on February 22.
The company almost immediately began a relentless march upwards. When Alex issued his “Sell” recommendation on April 13, his Insider Alert readers could have booked a 447% gain in 50 days.
As you can see, Alex’s proven techniques rack up winner after winner, over and over again.
“Up about $3,200 today. Thanks,” writes Insider Alert reader, Jim Summers.
Elliot McNamara told us: “Sold HTE on October 23rd for $9.31 for a $666 profit, or 31% profit in two days.”
But Insider Alert reader, Joseph Kilwin, may have put it best: “Fantastic call on STX!! I made over 70%. You are right so much of the time I have all but stopped researching stocks on my own,” he said.
And now it’s time for YOU to get in on the action.
Here’s What You Get As a New Member...
When you sign up for the Insider Alert, you could begin booking windfall gains almost immediately. Here’s what you can expect:
52 weeks of Alex's insider alerts.
A password to access members-only Insider Alert information online.
Profit protection with trailing stops.
An investment research service with an extraordinary track record.
Since 2005, a $1,000 investment in each Insider Alert recommendation would have netted $153,000, not including principal! That's an extra income of over $24,171 each year.
This should give you everything you need to make thousands of dollars to supplement your income, grow your retirement portfolio, or just enjoy some extra spending cash.
So how much could such a profit-generating service cost?
One year of Alex’s high-end research regularly costs $4,995... a terrific value when you consider the thousands of hours of research and analysis that go into producing these big winners...
Not to mention the oversized returns this service has produced year after year.
But you’re not going to pay even close to that.
If you accept this offer today, you can get an entire year of The Insider Alert for just $995.
That’s not a typo or misprint. If you decide to join right now, you'll save a whopping $4,000 off the regular price.
But please keep in mind, this limited time offer ends at midnight on Tuesday, June 7th.
Once the deadline passes, this offer goes off the table. In fact, you may never again have the chance to get Alex’s VIP research for under $1,000.
And when you join his Insider Alert service today, he has something very special for you.
An Advanced Session With Alex
Even with his specific recommendations leading you to winner after big winner, Alex believes an informed investor is a more successful investor.
That’s why at an exclusive resort in Florida, Alex recently met with an elite group of his readers.
The purpose? To brief them on the most advanced techniques of his Insider Alert strategy.
Few have ever been privy to this information. But fortunately, his hour-long session was recorded by a professional video production team.
Attendees paid thousands to travel to and attend this exclusive event.
Yet when you join The Insider Alert within 24 hours of reading this letter, you’ll get instant access to this priceless intelligence from Alex – as his gift to you.
And to remove any possible doubt about whether this research service is right for you...
Our Promise to You
Explosive short-term profits aren't for everyone. We understand that.
That's why The Oxford Club has agreed to give you 60 days to try out The Insider Alert.
Use this time to test out his service... paper trade each move if you like... and see if you aren’t completely blown away by the results.
If, after 60 days, you feel for any reason this isn’t for you... You can simply cancel your subscription for an immediate refund (less our customary 10% processing fee.)
There's absolutely no additional risk in trying it. Think about it...
If you’d joined Alex’s Insider Alert last year, you could have seen overall gains of up to 2,849% – enough to turn a stake of just $2,500 into a $71,225 windfall.
And you could have been among Insider Alert readers like Patrick Brown, who told us: “Thank you very much for your recent recommendation on Huntington Bancshares. I sold my position for a PROFIT of 396%.”
Yet Alex is planning on doing even better in the coming months.
And if for any reason The Insider Alert is not right for you in the end, you'll get your money back less the customary 10% processing fee.
I really can't imagine a better or fairer deal.
Simply click here to save $4,000 off the regular price of this VIP service... and get in on the coming wave of triple-digit winners.
Or if you'd prefer, call our Member Services Department at 888.570.9830 or 410.454.0498 and mention Priority Code: M786M602 and we'll process your order in person.
Sincerely,
Jeff Yastine
Editorial Director, The Oxford Club
May 2011
For further Investment Insights go to and share you research.
on This U.S. Gov't Website...
And Now They Could Make
You Extraordinarily Wealthy...
Dear Reader,
Wall Street executives – those same fat cats that pulled in a record $20.8 billion in bonuses last year – are using an official U.S. government computer network to get even richer.
Their “scheme” involves a little-known Federal website... A place where officials and Wall Street executives can post special “instant messages” that often affect stock prices almost immediately.
Hedge fund managers, high net-worth individuals and Wall Street’s biggest players are using this intelligence to collect huge windfalls... before most of the general public has any clue what’s going on.
For instance...
February 10, 2010: Duncan Niederauer, a slick executive at a big financial firm, posts a new message on the website – indicating that a certain stock is likely to go on a big run. Seventy-five days later, he had personally made $251,000 thanks to this stock.
September 8, 2010: Thomas Mark, a director at a technology company, puts up a series of instant messages on the website, a signal that his company is poised to take off. Over the next five months, he raked in a total of $137,898.
And since 2009, Doug Bergeron, a very wealthy telecom executive, has posted no fewer than 15 personal messages on the site indicating moves in his company’s stock. In 2009 alone, he averaged a remarkable $2,785 per day thanks to this secret technique. That’s over $1 million for the year!
In fact, there are thousands of rich Wall Street executives making an extra six, seven, even eight figures per year thanks to the messages posted on this government website.
But here’s why I’m telling you about this today:
In the following presentation, I’m going to explain how we successfully decoded the “chatter” on this U.S. Federal website...
And why this intelligence could make you $2,374 in extra income each month, just like the Wall Street executives.
Harvard and Yale Study: Deciphering These Messages is “Extremely Profitable”
First, let me be very clear. There’s absolutely nothing illegal or even unethical about our accessing this Federal website.
In fact, recently-passed Public Law 107-204 and the Freedom of Information Act sanction it. The specific details are laid out in Section 403 of the 107-204 rule, as I’ll explain in a moment.
Last year alone, we decoded the messages from this website to give investors realistic shots at literally dozens of double and triple bagger gains.
That includes oversize returns of 256% in 28 days... 447% in 48 days... and a stunning 549% in just 65 days.
And experts agree... our success was no fluke.
According to one Wharton finance professor, using the messages on this website, investors could see “abnormal profits.”
A Harvard and Yale joint study confirmed it can be “extremely profitable” each time you decipher a message on this server.
Other financial publications have reported comparable findings, including The Journal of Finance... The Journal of Portfolio Management... and a Ph.D. study conducted at the London School of Economics.
Surprisingly, most people aren’t aware this government website even exists, let alone its full internet address or how to interpret the “instant messages.”
But don’t worry about that.
Because just moments from now we’ll send you the first round of fully decoded information. You’ll only need to make a simple transaction, then sit back and watch your portfolio grow.
If you’d followed this plan last year, you could have seen overall gains of up to 2,849%! That’s enough to turn a stake of just $2,500 into a $71,225 windfall.
However I must emphasize: This opportunity is time-sensitive.
Several executives have just posted new messages on the website that could make them – and you – rich. So if you decide to take advantage of the secret I’m about to reveal, you’ll want to move quickly.
Here’s the full story, so you can decide for yourself...
Accurate Stock “Forecasts” From the U.S. Gov’t
There’s nothing particularly odd about the wall of concrete barricades or the armed guards protecting the entrance to 100 F Street.
SECAfter all, security’s tight all over Washington, D.C., and especially at U.S. government buildings.
But what’s held inside that building is quite unusual...
A specialized computer network where business executives and government officials post hundreds of messages naming stocks that are highly likely to rise in the next few weeks.
You’ll find information posted by rich Wall Street executives from all types of industries... From tech and pharma stars... to beaten-down transportation companies... and, of course, the top financial firms.
And here’s the thing...
With the correct “ciphers” – which we’ve developed – you can crack the sensitive information on the computers inside that building wide open.
And with the right information, you can start making easy money – perhaps even thousands of dollars per month – just like these business executives. Let me show you how...
Instant Message #1:
High-Tech Firm Spills the Beans for 134% Gain
In the summer of 2010, executives from a small tech company, Akamai Technologies, began posting a series of unusual messages on the government server.
First it was Director David Kenny. He posted a brief message on August 4. An officer at Akamai, Paul Sagan, posted another message just two days later.
And a third Akamai employee, Director Peter Kight, sent another message on August 11.
Obviously something was going on.
So we set to work decoding the messages. And sure enough, they indicated that Akamai’s stock was about to go on a big move.
We immediately sent out the decoded information to our subscribers. And here’s what happened next:
Like clockwork, between August 17 and September 14, Akamai Technologies absolutely exploded – just as we expected.
Investors could have seen an easy 134% gain in just 28 days thanks to the special play we recommended. That would have more than doubled your money.
And those three executives who all posted messages in a couple days? Well, David Kenny made $330,500 dollars, Paul Sagan made $197,700 dollars and Peter Kight made $527,450 dollars – all in about a month.
I can show you how to do exactly what they’re doing. And while you may not make $500,000 a month, you could end up making at least $2,374 per month. All you need is the decoded information they’re sharing on this Federal website.
I’ll tell you how to get it in just a moment. But first let me give you a couple more examples.
Because executives from flashy internet companies like Akamai aren’t the only ones tipping off coming stock jumps...
Instant Message #2:
133% Return From “Bank Shares”
Banking stocks weren’t exactly a “hot commodity” in 2009. Investors were still scared stiff by the financial crisis.
Yet that’s just when we noticed an especially odd message posted on the government website by Stephen Steinour, the Chairman of Huntington Bancshares (HBAN).
Steinour’s message indicated that the company was likely to report some fantastic news.
It was a clear signal that, contrary to the mood of the day, this stock was about to skyrocket. And we shared that information with our readers on April 27.
Sure enough, the chart shows what happened next...
Stephen Steinour, the executive whose message we decoded, made an astounding $691,860 after posting his information.
But because we had the information, as well, we were able to hand our readers an easy 266% gain in just 14 days with our special play. That’s more than tripling your money – in two weeks!
No wonder our readers flooded us with emails...
"I bought 1,000 HBAN at $2.79 on 28 April and sold them today at $6.02” said Jeff Kramer. “I look forward to continuingthe fun!"
Bob Geary added, "Last Tuesday I bought HBAN for $3.Today I sold half of it for $6.02, so now I own free shares.Life is beautiful! Keep up the great work."
Pretty impressive, I think you’ll agree. Yet decoding these instant messages can return even bigger gains...
Instant Message #3:
No Gambling Required for 273% Gain
Around the same time we made a killing on Huntington Bancshares, we decrypted some more instant messages on the government website.
These were about Las Vegas Sands – the owner of The Venetian Hotel and Casino and the Sands Convention Center in Nevada.
And what really got our attention was the fellow who posted them. He was a real big wig ... billionaire Sheldon Adelson.
Obviously if a billionaire was getting involved, we knew this was going to be important.
It was late March when we first noticed his messages appearing on the government site. A flurry of more messages from other Las Vegas Sands executives quickly followed suit.
Look what happened almost immediately after we decoded the messages:
From April 6 to May 4, subscribers could have captured a 273% gain in less than 1 month on this Las Vegas hospitality company.
No wonder reader Pete Bataglia wrote in to tell us, “I made a hefty profit on the Las Vegas Sands recommendation. Thank you for your insight.”
And there were even bigger gains after that...
Adelson made an astounding$269 million dollars in a little over a year. That averages out to $689,309 a day.
Now I’m not saying you could make that much from these messages. Obviously, a billionaire has a leg up over the average investor.
But based on our experience using the information we’ve decoded, you could make an extra $2,374 every month.
How to Pull in a Six Figure “Salary” This Year
Why do I believe you can make $2,374 a month? Or even more?
Because that's how much you would have made by simply putting a flat $1,000 in every one of the special “instant message” plays we told our readers about last year.
It's that simple. All you do is follow these weekly moves and collect the cash.
But let’s say you wanted to step it up a bit... and put in $5,000 per recommendation.
You then would have banked, on average, $11,870 per month last year. That's the equivalent of a six-figure "salary" of $142,440 for the year.
And remember, you don’t have to do it by yourself...
We decode the message, send you all the important information and show you exactly how to profit.
So... what exactly are these “instant messages?”
And how can they predict safe returns of hundreds of percents in just a few months... sometimes even weeks?
Here’s the full story...
Why Try to Predict the Market,
When Insiders Can Do it for Us
Most people don’t know this, but it’s perfectly legal for insiders to buy their own company’s stock.
In fact, officers, directors and owners of publicly traded companies can buy and sell as much of their own company’s stock as they want.
After all, why would a high-level exec start or join a public company if they couldn’t share in its success?
There is, however, one catch. And it’s a big one...
They have to post their trade publicly with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) within 48 hours.
Once these big shots reveal their plans to buy up mass quantities of stock, investors usually start piling in over the following weeks and months.
After all, nobody knows the prospects of a company better than the people who run it. So if insiders are buying, it’s probably a good bet the stock is about to go up substantially.
But what we’ve uncovered – and decoded – is the website where these executives first post messages revealing when and where they are buying shares.
We can access these messages the instant they’re posted.
That way, we can get a crack at the biggest returns before any other investors have a clue what is going on...
Secure Only the Most Valuable Information
By decoding these messages, we can quietly “listen in” on the plans of insiders to see exactly what they are up to.
But turning that information into big winning stock picks, over and over again? That’s where the going can get tough...
For starters, there’s a massive amount of information posted on this website – as many as 57,000 “instant messages” a month.
That’s a whole lot of data for an average person to sift through. And to act quickly on? That would be nearly impossible – even in this digital age.
To make matters worse, a good portion of these messages are irrelevant, misleading, or just plain useless.
But that’s why what I’m going to share with you today is so valuable.
It’s a way to get only the important information – the kind that can hand you thousands of dollars a month... And a way to get it quickly – so you can take advantage before any other investors get the chance.
So how do you filter out the noise? How do you pinpoint the handful of messages with the greatest potential? The ones that could hand you huge immediate gains?
There’s really only way that makes sense.
You need an expert to guide you. An expert who can analyze the thousands of messages and select only the best picks and the highest-performing plays.
An expert such as my colleague Alexander Green.
Alex’s Secret Way to Beat the Market
My name is Jeff Yastine.
I’ve been in business journalism for over 17 years now, most recently as an anchor with “Nightly Business Report” on PBS.
I’ve had the privilege of interviewing leading business executives such as Sir Richard Branson, Michael Dell, Bill Gross and Herb Kelleher, founder of Southwest Airlines.
Today I’m the Editorial Director of The Oxford Club, one of the world’s most powerful fellowships of private wealth seekers.
One of the reasons I joined The Oxford Club Group was the chance to work with experts like Alexander Green. He’s the Investment Director here at The Oxford Club.
You won’t find many men or women of Alexander’s talent or integrity on Wall Street. He walked away from a prestigious position with one of the country’s leading brokerage firms – retiring from Wall Street at only 43.
Since then, Alex has been featured on Oprah & Friends, CNBC, National Public Radio (NPR), Fox News and “The O'Reilly Factor.”
He’s authored three bestselling books, and he’s been written about in The Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, Forbes and MarketWatch recently wrote that Alex “has developed a dramatically successful record, expressed through several portfolios, since arriving (to The Oxford Club) in 2001.”
Dramatically successful indeed. Over that period – the past 10 years – Alex has led The Oxford Club to beat the total return on the Wilshire 5000 by 30-fold.
But here’s why I’m writing you today...
Alex is perhaps most proud of his remarkable Insider Alert service.
The Insider Alert is a VIP research service tailored to help regular people like you and me use the same moneymaking techniques of Wall Street insiders.
Because what Alex has discovered in more than 25 years as a professional money manager, advisor and editor is simply this...
There is no better way to beat the market than by tracking insider buying – and legally riding their coattails.
Experts Know It... History Proves It
Insider buying is easily one of the best indications that a stock is about to go up.
Peter Lynch, the most successful mutual fund manager of all time, agrees.
“There is no better tip-off to the probable success of a stock,” says Lynch.
Mark Hulbert, independent analyst and editor of the highly regarded Hulbert Financial Digest, says, “Investors can safely ignore [analyst] consensus and rely on [insider buying] alone.”
And Wall Street legend Marty Zweig, author of Winning on Wall Street, says, “you’ve got an edge” by following insiders.
The only problem is... Most people already know this. When insiders buy, stocks can go up very quickly and it can be easy to miss the big money.
But that’s why Alex felt it was so important to demystify this government website.
By finding out first exactly what insiders are doing – before the average investor has a clue – we have a distinct advantage over anybody else in the market.
And to make the most of this short window of opportunity, Alex often recommends both a stock and an options play.
With options, you can make far greater returns than what you'd see on the regular stock trade – often in just a fraction of the time.
In other words, if you chose to, you can make even more money using options – much faster than the regular stock play.
And if you’re not already familiar with options, don’t worry.
With The Insider Alert, we’ll tell you exactly how to buy and sell each of Alex’s recommendations... what to say to your broker... how to make the most money... and much more.
It’s all paying off in spades for current subscribers. Just take a look at some Alex’s recent insider plays...
* 235% gain in two months on Crown Castle...
* 410% gain in three-and-a-half months in Motorola...
* 244% gain in 67 days on 99 Cents Only...
* 145% gain in four months in Republic Services...
* 105% gain in one week on Inspire Pharmaceuticals...
* 147% gain in 37 days on Southern Copper...
* 221% gain in less than two months in Valeant Pharmaceuticals...
* 680% gain in 90 days on Seagate Technology...
* 646% gain in three months on The Hain Celestial Group...
* 652% gain in 70 days on Lorillard...
* And many MANY more.
Alex recommended each of these triple-digit winners to readers of his elite Insider Alert service.
He spent 16 years in the trenches on Wall Street, and another 11 years doing nothing but analyzing stocks and the businesses behind them.
He’s looked at literally tens of thousands of insider’s messages.
He knows what’s going to pan out. And, just as importantly, what won’t.
And the results, well... they speak for themselves.
Just look at the returns you could have seen from Alex’s recent “insider” calls...
Booked 163% in 43 Days
You probably already know that Barnes & Noble owns the nation's largest chain of bookstores. It also owns one of the web's most-visited websites, bn.com.
But you’re probably not aware of the insider activity that Alex noticed after it was posted on the secret government website last year...
What Alex told readers: In February of 2010, Alex wrote, “The real news concerning Barnes & Noble now is Ron Burkle. The billionaire loves the brand and has been a heavy buyer of the stock in recent weeks. He now owns over 19% of the company but has announced he intends to accumulate 37%, the same amount owned by Founder and CEO Leonard Riggio.”
What happened next: Alex issued a buy alert for Barnes & Noble on February 8. Just seven weeks later, on March 23, he told his readers to exit the play.
Fast “insider” gains: 163% in just 43 days.
And Alex was just getting started...
242% Returns in 28 Days
The proprietary analysis from Alex can hand you gains in all kinds of stocks. Oil... biotech... gold... even cigarettes.
Based in Greensboro, NC, Lorillard is America’s third-largest tobacco company. Their best known brands include Newport, Kent and Maverick.
And while Alex doesn’t advocate smoking, he won’t ignore a stock about to go through the roof...
What Alex told readers: In March of 2011, Alex wrote, “CEO Murray Kessler is certainly a fan of the company. He recently purchased 12,500 shares, an investment of almost $1 million, at just over $79 a share. He now owns 92,657 shares.”
What happened next: Alex issued a buy alert for Lorillard on March 1. Less than a month later, on March 29, he told his readers to exit the play.
Fast “insider” gains: 242% in 4 weeks.
You could have turned $2000 into $6840 with that one play.
Yet Alex has called even more impressive winners...
Stellar 256% Jump in 4 Weeks
Based in San Antonio, energy company NuStar has 8,417 miles of pipeline, 82 terminal facilities, four crude oil storage tank facilities and two asphalt refineries with a combined capacity of 104,000 barrels per day.
On December 22, 2009, Alex decoded a message about NuStar Director William Greehey. He immediately passed on the information to subscribers and gave the green light...
What Alex told readers: “Is NuStar about to shoot up? Director William Greehey thinks so. He recently invested over $5.2 million in the stock at just under $53 a share.”
What happened next: Alex issued his NuStar buy recommendation on December 22. Just 4 weeks later, on January 19, he told his readers to exit the play.
Fast “insider” gains: 256% in 28 days!
If you had placed just $1,000 in each of those three examples, you’d be sitting on $9,610 – all in less than two months.
If you had put $5,000 in each, you’d have $48,050. $10,000... $96,100!
With Alex guiding you every step of the way, raking in big gain after big gain from insider signals becomes almost... easy.
In fact, looking at these impressive results, you might even be wondering...
“Can’t I Just Do This Myself?”
Fact is, you probably could pick some “insider” winners if you really put your nose to the grindstone...
And if you spent about 10 hours per day analyzing the market, like Alex does – every day...
And if you’d done that for the past 25 years, as Alex has.
Then there’s the access to thousands of dollars in proprietary financial analysis programs, not to mention a full-time research staff.
How else would you wade through the more than 770 insider filings a day, or more than 16,950 filings a month, to find the one or two poised to soar?
But here’s the real problem...
By the time you’d found a winner... well... you’d be working with the same stale information that every other investor out there has.
With Alex’s proprietary system for decoding the messages posted on this website, it’s the only real way to get a leg up and make your move ahead of the crowd.
In other words: It’s the only way to make the big money usually reserved for those “in-the-know.”
I think you get the picture...
Why not leave the hard work to Alex... and simply enjoy the fruits of his research and experience?
And don’t worry. That doesn’t mean we’re going to keep you in the dark on Alex’s expert techniques for tracking down explosive insider plays.
Quite the opposite...
Inside Alex’s Proprietary Screening Program
Let’s go behind the curtain to see exactly how Alex interprets the insider messages – so you can take them to the bank.
Key Insider “Tip Off” #1 – Alex is looking for large six or seven figure transactions. He doesn’t put much weight in someone investing $30,000 or $50,000.
After all, top industry executives commonly make so much money, tens of thousands of dollars is simply not that big of a deal.
So Alex looks for insiders buying hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars worth of the stock. That’s a reliable sign that they’ve got plenty of their own “skin in the game.”
Key Insider “Tip Off” #2 – Alex keeps a keen eye out for what he calls “buying clusters.” Rather than just one “Lone Ranger” insider, he wants to see not only the top executives but also lower level officers and employees buying – and the more the merrier!
Alex knows that when you see a broad spectrum of people at the same company buying – including the lower level employees – it means a lot of insiders realize the stock is selling far below its intrinsic worth.
Key Insider “Tip Off” #3 – Another factor Alex weighs is the track record of the insider. Some have a great history... and others don’t.
For example, John Sculley drove Apple into the ground in 1993– and his insider shares plummeted, too. Meanwhile, guys such as Doug Bergeron, CEO of Veriphone, just keep making winning calls over and over again.
Key Insider “Tip Off” #4 – Perhaps the most critical factor Alex looks at is what he calls “the divergence indicator.”
It’s pretty typical to see insider buyers rush out of the woodwork when some bad (but not TOO bad) news comes out. The stock price plummets and the insiders gobble it up. And sometimes that’s even enough for the stock to head upward again.
But Alex is scanning for exactly the opposite situation.
Let’s say a stock’s hitting new HIGHS... yet there’s STILL insider buying. That turns out to be an even better signal. Just think about it...
If they are buying at $20 when they could have bought at $15 a few months ago...
Well, basically the insiders are saying, “Sure, the market realizes we are good – but they don’t know HOW good we really are.”
Those factors – and many many more – go into Alex’s decision on if, and when, to get into a play.
And remember, with Alex guiding you, successful recommendations and breathtaking gains could be yours for the taking just moments from now... for example...
Multiple Triple Baggers in Just Weeks
On November 16, 2009 Alex noticed L-3 Communications Director Robert Millard had recently purchased 10,000 shares, an investment of $731,400, and issued a “Buy” recommendation.
On January 11, Alex recommended his readers exit this play. They could have taken a 305% gain in 56 days.
Insider Alert reader, Owen Ulnis, didn’t seem disappointed to tell us: “I made 230% on L-3.Thank you.”
Subscriber Dr. Bob Wyatt did even better. “On L3 I’m up +411% (closed as you recommended with 411% gain today),” he wrote us.
Then there was Alex’s Bank of America play. Directors Robert Scully and Charles Holliday bought $491,000 – and $378,000 - worth of the stock in early November.
On the 15, Alex told his readers to get onboard. When Alex recommended his readers exit this play on January 17, they could have taken a 318% gain in just 63 days.
Insider Alert reader Rick Santos from Austin TX wrote to thank Alex: “Your recommendations are almost always right... your strategy has worked consistently well for me. For example with BKS, who can complain about a 125% gain or a 300% gain. Thanks for the GREAT work!”
And Alex was just getting started...
His next play was a company you certainly patronize – NYSE Euronext – better known as the New York Stock Exchange.
In mid-February, Alex saw that CEO Duncan Niederauer had just purchased 25,000 shares, an investment of more than $600,000. Alex’s additional filters indicated the time to get in was now, and he alerted his readers on February 22.
The company almost immediately began a relentless march upwards. When Alex issued his “Sell” recommendation on April 13, his Insider Alert readers could have booked a 447% gain in 50 days.
As you can see, Alex’s proven techniques rack up winner after winner, over and over again.
“Up about $3,200 today. Thanks,” writes Insider Alert reader, Jim Summers.
Elliot McNamara told us: “Sold HTE on October 23rd for $9.31 for a $666 profit, or 31% profit in two days.”
But Insider Alert reader, Joseph Kilwin, may have put it best: “Fantastic call on STX!! I made over 70%. You are right so much of the time I have all but stopped researching stocks on my own,” he said.
And now it’s time for YOU to get in on the action.
Here’s What You Get As a New Member...
When you sign up for the Insider Alert, you could begin booking windfall gains almost immediately. Here’s what you can expect:
52 weeks of Alex's insider alerts.
A password to access members-only Insider Alert information online.
Profit protection with trailing stops.
An investment research service with an extraordinary track record.
Since 2005, a $1,000 investment in each Insider Alert recommendation would have netted $153,000, not including principal! That's an extra income of over $24,171 each year.
This should give you everything you need to make thousands of dollars to supplement your income, grow your retirement portfolio, or just enjoy some extra spending cash.
So how much could such a profit-generating service cost?
One year of Alex’s high-end research regularly costs $4,995... a terrific value when you consider the thousands of hours of research and analysis that go into producing these big winners...
Not to mention the oversized returns this service has produced year after year.
But you’re not going to pay even close to that.
If you accept this offer today, you can get an entire year of The Insider Alert for just $995.
That’s not a typo or misprint. If you decide to join right now, you'll save a whopping $4,000 off the regular price.
But please keep in mind, this limited time offer ends at midnight on Tuesday, June 7th.
Once the deadline passes, this offer goes off the table. In fact, you may never again have the chance to get Alex’s VIP research for under $1,000.
And when you join his Insider Alert service today, he has something very special for you.
An Advanced Session With Alex
Even with his specific recommendations leading you to winner after big winner, Alex believes an informed investor is a more successful investor.
That’s why at an exclusive resort in Florida, Alex recently met with an elite group of his readers.
The purpose? To brief them on the most advanced techniques of his Insider Alert strategy.
Few have ever been privy to this information. But fortunately, his hour-long session was recorded by a professional video production team.
Attendees paid thousands to travel to and attend this exclusive event.
Yet when you join The Insider Alert within 24 hours of reading this letter, you’ll get instant access to this priceless intelligence from Alex – as his gift to you.
And to remove any possible doubt about whether this research service is right for you...
Our Promise to You
Explosive short-term profits aren't for everyone. We understand that.
That's why The Oxford Club has agreed to give you 60 days to try out The Insider Alert.
Use this time to test out his service... paper trade each move if you like... and see if you aren’t completely blown away by the results.
If, after 60 days, you feel for any reason this isn’t for you... You can simply cancel your subscription for an immediate refund (less our customary 10% processing fee.)
There's absolutely no additional risk in trying it. Think about it...
If you’d joined Alex’s Insider Alert last year, you could have seen overall gains of up to 2,849% – enough to turn a stake of just $2,500 into a $71,225 windfall.
And you could have been among Insider Alert readers like Patrick Brown, who told us: “Thank you very much for your recent recommendation on Huntington Bancshares. I sold my position for a PROFIT of 396%.”
Yet Alex is planning on doing even better in the coming months.
And if for any reason The Insider Alert is not right for you in the end, you'll get your money back less the customary 10% processing fee.
I really can't imagine a better or fairer deal.
Simply click here to save $4,000 off the regular price of this VIP service... and get in on the coming wave of triple-digit winners.
Or if you'd prefer, call our Member Services Department at 888.570.9830 or 410.454.0498 and mention Priority Code: M786M602 and we'll process your order in person.
Sincerely,
Jeff Yastine
Editorial Director, The Oxford Club
May 2011
For further Investment Insights go to and share you research.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Let Me Pay Your Way Into EZWealthSolution so You Can Get Daily Payments of $47,$97 & $249
Are you tried of all these fly-by-night programs
that keep ripping us off?
I know I am, and that's why I decided to join a
rock solid 3 year old company that pays daily
Member-To-Member!
Member-To-Member means the company never
touches your money. Your commissions are sent
directly to your favorite online account by the
purchaser on a daily basis! So there's no waiting
to get paid!
Their one-of-a-kind pay plan has already paid out
well over 1.6 Million Dollars.
I'm so confident you will make m-o-n-e-y with this
system, I'll give you a FR-EE Level # 1 Position
to help get you started!
Just go to my site and register for the FR-EE Tour!
Let Me Pay Your Way Into EZWealthSolution so You Can Get Daily Payments of $47,$97 & $249
User Id: WebSuccess4U
It's just too EZ!
William Stewart
willswebservice@comcast.net
that keep ripping us off?
I know I am, and that's why I decided to join a
rock solid 3 year old company that pays daily
Member-To-Member!
Member-To-Member means the company never
touches your money. Your commissions are sent
directly to your favorite online account by the
purchaser on a daily basis! So there's no waiting
to get paid!
Their one-of-a-kind pay plan has already paid out
well over 1.6 Million Dollars.
I'm so confident you will make m-o-n-e-y with this
system, I'll give you a FR-EE Level # 1 Position
to help get you started!
Just go to my site and register for the FR-EE Tour!
Let Me Pay Your Way Into EZWealthSolution so You Can Get Daily Payments of $47,$97 & $249
User Id: WebSuccess4U
It's just too EZ!
William Stewart
willswebservice@comcast.net
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Free 110K Auto Surf Credits, 35K Manual Surf Credits & 600K Banner Credits Every Month
How Would You Like to GET 110K Auto Surf Credits, 35K Manual Surf Credits Over 600,000 Banner Credits Per Month For Free ?
and A Free Autoresponder and FREE LEADS?
350,000 Auto Surf Credits at 31,000 a Month from
50K Auto Surf Credits After AutoSurfing 500 & 7,500 Manual Surf Credits When You Manual Surf 50 in Random Referrals! AutoSurf Ratio 1.75 Timer 10 sec. from
AND
Diamond $50 For 1 Lifetime Membership
which includes# 100% Downline Earnings ,# $0.01 PTP CPM
# 10% Bonus Of Referral's Purchases, # 10% Bonus When Referrals Upgrade
# 10 Guaranteed Signups Weekly , 5000 Link Credits Weekly
# 5000 PTR Credits Weekly, # 5000 X-Credits Weekly
# 150000 Banner Credits Weekly, # 150000 F. Banner Credits Weekly
AND
..Level 1 Upgrade
$2.5 Value For 1 Month Membership for FREE
10% Downline Earnings ,$0.01 PTP CPM ,2% Bonus Of Referral's Purchases
2% Bonus When Referrals Upgrade ,500 Link Credits Upon Joining
5000 F. Banner Credits Upon Joining,5000 X-Credits Upon Joining
20000 Banner Credits Upon Joining
Click Here To Catch on Fire with Your Own Home Business Referred by William Stewart
and A Free Autoresponder and FREE LEADS?
350,000 Auto Surf Credits at 31,000 a Month from
50K Auto Surf Credits After AutoSurfing 500 & 7,500 Manual Surf Credits When You Manual Surf 50 in Random Referrals! AutoSurf Ratio 1.75 Timer 10 sec. from
AND
Diamond $50 For 1 Lifetime Membership
which includes# 100% Downline Earnings ,# $0.01 PTP CPM
# 10% Bonus Of Referral's Purchases, # 10% Bonus When Referrals Upgrade
# 10 Guaranteed Signups Weekly , 5000 Link Credits Weekly
# 5000 PTR Credits Weekly, # 5000 X-Credits Weekly
# 150000 Banner Credits Weekly, # 150000 F. Banner Credits Weekly
AND
..Level 1 Upgrade$2.5 Value For 1 Month Membership for FREE
10% Downline Earnings ,$0.01 PTP CPM ,2% Bonus Of Referral's Purchases
2% Bonus When Referrals Upgrade ,500 Link Credits Upon Joining
5000 F. Banner Credits Upon Joining,5000 X-Credits Upon Joining
20000 Banner Credits Upon Joining
Click Here To Catch on Fire with Your Own Home Business Referred by William Stewart
Thursday, May 19, 2011
How to Get Over 1000+ Fans and Make Money on Facebook Autopilot!
How to Get Over 1000+ Fans and Make Money on Facebook Autopilot!
WITHOUT even LOGGING IN to Your Facebook Account!
"Hi,
My name is Georgina Lany, and I am going to show you How a 25 years old girl with No experience or knowledge could make 35,743 per Month online
Connect with 100s of thousands of people
Dominate Facebook with Unique Money Making Strategies completely AUTOPILOT!"
Georgina Lany with No Experience makes $35,743 per Month on Facebook Completely Autopilot!
* - How to Grow a MASSIVE Fan Base on Facebook?
* - How to Make Money with Facebook Events?
* - How to Create the ULTIMATE Email Lists in Any Niche?
* - How to Secure any Facebook Domain name in a minute (Live Demo) ?
On the Very Next Page you will get DIRECT ACCESS to 1.5 hours long videos,full of content (valued up to to $997.-)
Be the First One who Gets to know about this
Most Guarded, Controversial Report Now!
Make Money on FaceBook on Autopilot!
WITHOUT even LOGGING IN to Your Facebook Account!
"Hi,
My name is Georgina Lany, and I am going to show you How a 25 years old girl with No experience or knowledge could make 35,743 per Month online
Connect with 100s of thousands of people
Dominate Facebook with Unique Money Making Strategies completely AUTOPILOT!"
Georgina Lany with No Experience makes $35,743 per Month on Facebook Completely Autopilot!
* - How to Grow a MASSIVE Fan Base on Facebook?
* - How to Make Money with Facebook Events?
* - How to Create the ULTIMATE Email Lists in Any Niche?
* - How to Secure any Facebook Domain name in a minute (Live Demo) ?
On the Very Next Page you will get DIRECT ACCESS to 1.5 hours long videos,full of content (valued up to to $997.-)
Be the First One who Gets to know about this
Most Guarded, Controversial Report Now!
Make Money on FaceBook on Autopilot!
Monday, May 16, 2011
Are you on Facebook? Because....
If you are like me and 600 million other people you are spending an average of 55 minutes a day on Facebook and many other social media platforms.
Did you know there is a way to do everything you need to do in order to profit with social media in just 17 minutes per day?
Recently , I have been using this check list that my friend and Facebook mentor Austin Walsh created and I am able to do everything, if not more, in less time than I used to.
I trust him implicitly with my social media strategy and recommend you do to. Click the link below now, as this powerful and proven tool may not be available for much longer. If I were him I would charge a pretty penny for it. But if you go now, you can get it at no cost.
Maybe you keep the facebook tab open all day and
spend more time on there than doing anything else.
Well it is time for that to change. There is no
need to literally be wasting all that time.
I want you to take back 38 minutes of you day that
you used to have before social media came along.
Why 38 minutes?
A good friend of mine who has made
thousands of dollars with Social Media for himself
and others such as Mark Victor Hansen, Gary Goldstein,
Stephen Pierce and many others just like you has
come up with a powerful and proven checklist that
allows you to get done all you need to do to make
money with social media, in just 17 minutes a day.
The best part is, that you can get it right now
for absolutely no cost. Take 30 seconds and click
the link below to get your checklist but do this
now so you can spend an extra 38 minutes today
doing something you really love like exercising,
visiting with a loved one or whatever else you
enjoy doing.
To Your Success,
William Stewart
Did you know there is a way to do everything you need to do in order to profit with social media in just 17 minutes per day?
Recently , I have been using this check list that my friend and Facebook mentor Austin Walsh created and I am able to do everything, if not more, in less time than I used to.
I trust him implicitly with my social media strategy and recommend you do to. Click the link below now, as this powerful and proven tool may not be available for much longer. If I were him I would charge a pretty penny for it. But if you go now, you can get it at no cost.
Maybe you keep the facebook tab open all day and
spend more time on there than doing anything else.
Well it is time for that to change. There is no
need to literally be wasting all that time.
I want you to take back 38 minutes of you day that
you used to have before social media came along.
Why 38 minutes?
A good friend of mine who has made
thousands of dollars with Social Media for himself
and others such as Mark Victor Hansen, Gary Goldstein,
Stephen Pierce and many others just like you has
come up with a powerful and proven checklist that
allows you to get done all you need to do to make
money with social media, in just 17 minutes a day.
The best part is, that you can get it right now
for absolutely no cost. Take 30 seconds and click
the link below to get your checklist but do this
now so you can spend an extra 38 minutes today
doing something you really love like exercising,
visiting with a loved one or whatever else you
enjoy doing.
To Your Success,
William Stewart
Congress to vote any day on OIL SUBSIDIES !
The Senate is likely to vote Wednesday on the Democrats’ bill to eliminate $20 billion in unnecessary tax perks for the five largest oil companies.
That’s why Public Citizen and its allies are delivering the End Dirty Energy Subsidies Petition to Congress tomorrow.
This past Friday, Congress listened to the five largest oil companies — which have reaped nearly $1 trillion in profits in the past decade — whine about their need to remain on corporate welfare.
Now it’s time they hear loud and clear from the American people that corporate profiteering must end.
Lend your voice to the outcry against Big Oil handouts..
While Americans struggle with rising gas prices, the major oil companies continue to profit from them. What’s worse, Big Oil is not only taking our money at the pump, it is being rewarded to the tune of $4 billion a year in tax credits and subsidies.
But that wrong has a chance to be righted this week!
Over the past two years, President Obama has attempted to repeal the massive giveaways to Big Oil, but the companies and their lackeys in Congress have successfully lobbied to kill the proposals every time. However, rising gas prices, budget woes and outrageous oil company profits are making it harder for policymakers to defend continued handouts to the oil industry.
Sustained pressure to crush Big Oil handouts is needed now more than ever. If you would like to join us for the delivery event at Capitol Hill, click here for details.
Ending dirty energy handouts and transitioning to a clean energy economy is long overdue.
The moment for change is now!
photograph of Allison Fisher
Thank you for all you do,
Allison Fisher
Outreach Director
Public Citizen’s Climate & Energy Program
Go to http://action.citizen.org/subscribe.jsp if you want to receive future emails from Public Citizen.
© 2011 Public Citizen • 1600 20th Street, NW / Washington, D.C. 20009 • www.citizen.org
That’s why Public Citizen and its allies are delivering the End Dirty Energy Subsidies Petition to Congress tomorrow.
This past Friday, Congress listened to the five largest oil companies — which have reaped nearly $1 trillion in profits in the past decade — whine about their need to remain on corporate welfare.
Now it’s time they hear loud and clear from the American people that corporate profiteering must end.
Lend your voice to the outcry against Big Oil handouts..
While Americans struggle with rising gas prices, the major oil companies continue to profit from them. What’s worse, Big Oil is not only taking our money at the pump, it is being rewarded to the tune of $4 billion a year in tax credits and subsidies.
But that wrong has a chance to be righted this week!
Over the past two years, President Obama has attempted to repeal the massive giveaways to Big Oil, but the companies and their lackeys in Congress have successfully lobbied to kill the proposals every time. However, rising gas prices, budget woes and outrageous oil company profits are making it harder for policymakers to defend continued handouts to the oil industry.
Sustained pressure to crush Big Oil handouts is needed now more than ever. If you would like to join us for the delivery event at Capitol Hill, click here for details.
Ending dirty energy handouts and transitioning to a clean energy economy is long overdue.
The moment for change is now!
photograph of Allison Fisher
Thank you for all you do,
Allison Fisher
Outreach Director
Public Citizen’s Climate & Energy Program
Go to http://action.citizen.org/subscribe.jsp if you want to receive future emails from Public Citizen.
© 2011 Public Citizen • 1600 20th Street, NW / Washington, D.C. 20009 • www.citizen.org
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Tell Congress to Stop the Big Oil Bailout
Last year thousands of USAction/TrueMajority members told the Senate to stop sending subsidies and tax breaks to Big Oil in the wake of the BP oil spill. This week, your work is finally paying off as the Senate prepares to vote on a bill that would end $21 billion in oil industry subsidies.1
That's right. As a direct result of your efforts, the Senate is about to vote to cut off subsidies to the oil industry. Our old ally, Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey, is again leading the charge, and this time he's got support from the White House and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.2
But it's not all good news - the heads of the Big Oil companies were on Capitol hill yesterday making the case that they need to keep their bailout.3 One of them even called it "un-American" to end tax-payer subsidies for oil companies that already make billions in profits every quarter.4
We can't let that stand. We need to tell the Senate that it's time to end the Big Oil Bailout -- email your Senators now asking them to stop the Big Oil bailout.
Oil companies are already making record profits.5 With gas prices at $4 a gallon and higher, there's no excuse to give them billions more in taxpayer subsidies and bailouts.
Big Oil gives big money to senators, and that cash buys a lot of friends on Capitol Hill. But thanks to your signatures and the tireless work of Sen. Menendez and others, we're close to breaking the log jam and shutting down big oil's taxpayer spigot.
Help make it happen -- tell your Senators to stop the big oil bailout.
Ross Wallen
USAction/TrueMajoirty
1 -- http://www.npr.org/2011/05/13/136266531/oil-company-executives-defend-tax-breaks
2 -- http://reid.senate.gov/newsroom/pr_050411_oil.cfm
3 -- http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2011/05/12/136245735/senate-oil-hearing-political-posturing-and-a-menagerie-of-animal-images
4 -- http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/senate-committee-puts-big-oil-execs-in-the-hot-seat/2011/05/12/AFDcD6zG_story.html
5 -- http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/06/obama-calls-for-end-of-oil-subsidies/
Donate.
Facebook
Twitter
That's right. As a direct result of your efforts, the Senate is about to vote to cut off subsidies to the oil industry. Our old ally, Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey, is again leading the charge, and this time he's got support from the White House and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.2
But it's not all good news - the heads of the Big Oil companies were on Capitol hill yesterday making the case that they need to keep their bailout.3 One of them even called it "un-American" to end tax-payer subsidies for oil companies that already make billions in profits every quarter.4
We can't let that stand. We need to tell the Senate that it's time to end the Big Oil Bailout -- email your Senators now asking them to stop the Big Oil bailout.
Oil companies are already making record profits.5 With gas prices at $4 a gallon and higher, there's no excuse to give them billions more in taxpayer subsidies and bailouts.
Big Oil gives big money to senators, and that cash buys a lot of friends on Capitol Hill. But thanks to your signatures and the tireless work of Sen. Menendez and others, we're close to breaking the log jam and shutting down big oil's taxpayer spigot.
Help make it happen -- tell your Senators to stop the big oil bailout.
Ross Wallen
USAction/TrueMajoirty
1 -- http://www.npr.org/2011/05/13/136266531/oil-company-executives-defend-tax-breaks
2 -- http://reid.senate.gov/newsroom/pr_050411_oil.cfm
3 -- http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2011/05/12/136245735/senate-oil-hearing-political-posturing-and-a-menagerie-of-animal-images
4 -- http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/senate-committee-puts-big-oil-execs-in-the-hot-seat/2011/05/12/AFDcD6zG_story.html
5 -- http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/06/obama-calls-for-end-of-oil-subsidies/
Donate.
Friday, May 13, 2011
Meredith Attwell Baker Has Stunning Conflict of Interest - FCC & Comcast
Wonder why so many people are fed up with bureaucrats in Washington?
Meredith Attwell Baker, a Federal Communications Commission official who just four months ago voted to approve a mega-merger between Comcast and NBC, is resigning from the FCC to become a lobbyist for ... wait for it ... Comcast.
Our friends at the media reform organization Free Press are on the case.
Add your name to Free Press’s petition calling on Congress to immediately launch an investigation of this seemingly stunning conflict of interest.
This is the latest example of the “revolving door” phenomenon, in which public officials go to work for Big Business, exploiting connections and information they gained as public servants to then push the corporate agenda in Congress and the White House.
Baker’s jump to Comcast is particularly egregious. As recently as March, she was giving speeches complaining that the Comcast-NBC deal “took too long.”
Outside of Washington, people of every political persuasion feel frustrated and betrayed by policies and politicians that favor giant corporations over ordinary Americans.
Sadly, the complete capture of government by industry barely raises an eyebrow inside the Beltway anymore. That’s why Congress needs to hear from you.
Stop the revolving door! Demand that Congress investigate Baker’s actions.
If we don't act now, business as usual in Washington will continue to undermine our democracy.
photograph of Glenn Simpson Thank you for taking action!
Glenn Simpson
Public Citizen’s Online Action Team
Meredith Attwell Baker, a Federal Communications Commission official who just four months ago voted to approve a mega-merger between Comcast and NBC, is resigning from the FCC to become a lobbyist for ... wait for it ... Comcast.
Our friends at the media reform organization Free Press are on the case.
Add your name to Free Press’s petition calling on Congress to immediately launch an investigation of this seemingly stunning conflict of interest.
This is the latest example of the “revolving door” phenomenon, in which public officials go to work for Big Business, exploiting connections and information they gained as public servants to then push the corporate agenda in Congress and the White House.
Baker’s jump to Comcast is particularly egregious. As recently as March, she was giving speeches complaining that the Comcast-NBC deal “took too long.”
Outside of Washington, people of every political persuasion feel frustrated and betrayed by policies and politicians that favor giant corporations over ordinary Americans.
Sadly, the complete capture of government by industry barely raises an eyebrow inside the Beltway anymore. That’s why Congress needs to hear from you.
Stop the revolving door! Demand that Congress investigate Baker’s actions.
If we don't act now, business as usual in Washington will continue to undermine our democracy.
photograph of Glenn Simpson Thank you for taking action!
Glenn Simpson
Public Citizen’s Online Action Team
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Oppose attempts to weaken the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Senate Republicans have given up their fight against consumer advocate Elizabeth Warren.
That's the good news. But the bad news is now they say they’ll oppose any nominee to run the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau unless the agency is watered down first.*
Republicans in the House are fighting the new consumer bureau too, with bills to weaken the agency. It’s time to send a clear message that Americans want to end the financial tricks and traps.
Tell your representative: Oppose attempts to weaken the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Warren recently explained to Jon Stewart on the Daily Show that opponents of Wall Street reform in the House are still attempting to “stick a knife in the ribs” of the new agency.
These enemies of Wall Street reform are working to make the bureau into a weak, ineffective agency without the will or ability to curb the kind of financial abuses that caused the nation’s worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.
Go to: Learn more about the bills attacking the consumer bureau and take action.
Thanks for all you do,
Rick Claypool
Public Citizen’s Online Action Team
action@citizen.org
Donate to Public Citizen to fight anti-Wall Street Reform efforts
* Read more about the politics surrounding the nomination of Elizabeth Warren to run the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and why we think we're in a position to win.
Visit our Financial Reform page to learn more about Public Citizen's work to hold big banks accountable. To get regular e-alerts about opportunities for activism and other ways to help with Public Citizen's work, sign up for the Public Citizen Action Network. If you do not want to receive future emails from Public Citizen, go to http://action.citizen.org
That's the good news. But the bad news is now they say they’ll oppose any nominee to run the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau unless the agency is watered down first.*
Republicans in the House are fighting the new consumer bureau too, with bills to weaken the agency. It’s time to send a clear message that Americans want to end the financial tricks and traps.
Tell your representative: Oppose attempts to weaken the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Warren recently explained to Jon Stewart on the Daily Show that opponents of Wall Street reform in the House are still attempting to “stick a knife in the ribs” of the new agency.
These enemies of Wall Street reform are working to make the bureau into a weak, ineffective agency without the will or ability to curb the kind of financial abuses that caused the nation’s worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.
Go to: Learn more about the bills attacking the consumer bureau and take action.
Thanks for all you do,
Rick Claypool
Public Citizen’s Online Action Team
action@citizen.org
Donate to Public Citizen to fight anti-Wall Street Reform efforts
* Read more about the politics surrounding the nomination of Elizabeth Warren to run the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and why we think we're in a position to win.
Visit our Financial Reform page to learn more about Public Citizen's work to hold big banks accountable. To get regular e-alerts about opportunities for activism and other ways to help with Public Citizen's work, sign up for the Public Citizen Action Network. If you do not want to receive future emails from Public Citizen, go to http://action.citizen.org
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Soaking the Rich And Why They'll Never Pay Anyway
Bill Bonner
Dow down 83 points yesterday. Gold down $25.
We're waiting for a sell-off...either at the end of QE 2...or in anticipation of it. When will it come? We don't know, but it won't keep us waiting forever.
Meanwhile, we are seeing more and more rich-bashing in the press.
Most people hate the rich. And why shouldn't they?
The rich are good at hogging the good things in life. That's why they're rich, after all.
They get the fancy digs. The fancy cars. The fancy girlfriends.
You see them enjoying life in business class seats, while you ache in economy. You see them pulling their Mercedes and Audis into their big garages, while you make do with a humble split-level on the wrong side of time. And their wives always look like they just came out of a beauty spa....
Their stocks are going up...while you can't find a job!
The rich learn how to manipulate the system for their own benefit. That's the way it always works. Money likes power. Power likes money. Usually, they find a way to work together.
The rich howl about how much in taxes they pay. They whine about 'soak the rich' proposals. They kvetch about 'giveaways' to the zombies. But, they are probably more in control than they appear.
Take Mark Zuckerberg for example. Please. Here's a guy who says he would be "cool" if they raised his income taxes. In this refrain, he joins the sanctimonious choir headed by Warren Buffett, Ted Turner, and other do-gooders.
Well, guess what. You know why they don't mind an increase in the income tax rate? It's because
1) they are so rich that the marginal utility of money for them is close to zero. They won't even notice an income tax hike. Money hardly counts when you have as much of it as they have. It is like an extra snowball to an Eskimo. It just doesn't make any difference.
2) They don't pay much in income taxes anyway. They tend to have their wealth in stocks. And they make most of their money from stock market gains, which aren't taxed as regular income; they're taxed as capital gains.
Here's Newsweek with the story:
It's easy for Mark Zuckerberg to say he's 'cool' with raising income-tax rates. Because it won't affect him.
It drives economist Bruce Bartlett crazy every time he hears another bazillionaire announce he's in favor of paying higher taxes. Most recently it was Mark Zuckerberg who got Bartlett's blood boiling when the Facebook founder declared himself "cool" with paying more in federal taxes, joining such tycoons as Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Ted Turner, and even a stray hedge-fund manager or two.
Bartlett, a former member of the Reagan White House, isn't against the wealthy paying higher taxes. He's that rare conservative who thinks higher taxes need to be part of the deficit debate. His beef? It's a hollow gesture to say the federal government should raise the tax rate on the country's top wage earners when the likes of Zuckerberg have most of their wealth tied up in stock. Many of the super-rich see virtually all their income as capital gains, and capital gains are taxed at a much lower rate -- 15 percent -- than ordinary income. When Warren Buffett talks about paying a lower tax rate than his secretary, that's because she sees most of her pay through a paycheck, while the bulk of his compensation comes in the form of capital gains and dividends. In 2006, for instance, Buffett paid 17.7 percent in taxes on the $46 million he booked that year, while his secretary lost 30 percent of her $60,000 salary to the government.
"It's easy to say 'Raise taxes' when you know you're not going to have to pay those taxes," Bartlett says. "What I don't hear is 'Let's raise the capital-gains tax.'
And more thoughts...
We published an item from Vanity Fair a few weeks ago. It explained how the top 1% of US households now earns nearly a quarter of all the income...and controls 40% of the nation's wealth. The richest people have increased their incomes 18% over the past decade. At the middle and lower income levels, on the other hand, earnings have actually gone down. Many of the good jobs have gone overseas...while cost of living continue to rise.
The rich are getting richer than ever. The middle classes are having trouble making ends meet. Think about gasoline at $4 a gallon. To a rich s.o.b. in New York or San Francisco, it hardly matters. But it's a big deal to a truck-driving cracker from Alabama or Georgia.
But, if you're rich, watch out. Because sooner or later the mobs are going to figure out what has happened to them. Then, they're going rise up and go after you. It won't be pretty.
Eventually, people will figure out how it works. They'll see how the 'rich' -- or at least some of them -- colluded with the government to rip off the middle and lower classes. Not exactly intentionally. It involved more stupidity than cunning. But here's what happened.
The feds created the dollar-based monetary system in 1971. Wage gains ended three years later.
The Fed held interest rates artificially low...and undermined the purchasing power of the dollar. It made more sense to spend than to save.
This eroded the benefits of building capital -- either in the form of machinery or worker training. EZ money devalued the hard work, patience, and savings needed to create high value-added industry. Americans became good consumers, not good producers. And since they were not producing high quality products, they couldn't command high salaries. More and more, the labor force moved to low-paying service jobs that required little training and little capital investment...and shopped for cheap goods at discount stores.
Meanwhile capital gains tax rates were lowered, and business profits increased as jobs were outsourced to lower-wage economies.
The middle and lower classes were snagged in debt, particularly through federally subsidized mortgage lending. Then, the feds turned the financial industry into a vast hedge fund.
The genius of the hedge fund is in a trick of mathematics. If I invest your money and take 20% of the gains, it sounds like a decent deal. I only make money if you do. And you get the lion's share. But over time, I will eventually get all your money. Because you will take all the losses while I chip away at the gains, year in and year out.
When the financial industry's credits went bad, the feds stepped in to bail them out. Now, Wall Street is enjoying the "heads I win, tails you lose" life of a hedge fund. The dollar -- along with the yen -- has become the funding currency for speculations all over the world. If the speculations go well, the industry collects huge performance fees. If they go badly, the feds lend the failed speculators more money -- at zero cost.
Of course, here at the Daily Reckoning, we always take the part of the under-dog. Besides, we've been rich and we've been poor. Being rich isn't necessarily any more fun, but at least when you're a rich underdog, you don't have to worry about money.
*** Osama bin Laden....
Most of the world heaved a sigh of relief when the world's most wanted man was gunned down. Apparently unarmed.
But here at the Daily Reckoning, we were neither relieved nor revenged. We were uneasy. It did not particularly concern us that another world improver was dead; what bothered us was that there were so many left alive. Many of them -- terrorists and terrorist-fighters -- may now be throbbing to commit even larger acts of improvement.
*** Our old friend Doug Casey has more thoughts on Osama bin Laden's killing.
"The whole thing stinks, from top to bottom. You'd think that if they knew where he was, they would have gone out of their way to take him alive -- at almost any cost. Think of the information he would have had! But instead they seemed to go out of their way to kill him, which impresses me as incredibly stupid and counterproductive... Unless they don't want him talking.
"After all, Osama said several times that he had nothing to do with the events of 9/11. But Bush used him, and 9/11, as the casus belli for Afghanistan. It would have been interesting to know who Osama thought was actually behind 9/11.
"Then, after killing him, they dump his body in the Arabian Sea, using the excuse that he had to be interred within 24 hours as a Muslim, and it wasn't possible to bury him because they didn't want to create a shrine. As if they go out of their way to bury every Muslim they kill within 24 hours... I suspect that, in fact, they leave most bodies as a treat for the dogs and the crows. We'll now never know whose body that was. Or exactly how he was killed.
"So now, in any event, all the physical evidence has been disposed of. It's unclear to me if they also executed everyone else in the house -- excuse me, "compound," as any house government agents attack automatically becomes a compound -- where they took him. I suspect everyone was executed. Witnesses are never convenient.
"I have a question: Quis custodiet ipsos custodies -- Who watches the watchers? I thought it was ironic that Putin of Russia -- who's undoubtedly put out quite a few orders for hits in his day -- evidenced outrage at the way the U.S. government is trying to kill Gaddafi, now that it seems expedient. I have it here -- Putin said: "Who permitted this, was there any trial? Who took on the right to execute this man, no matter who he is?"
"And he's right. I find it shocking that the U.S. government just takes it upon itself to kill people now, without even a show trial like Saddam got. Of course the government has always had professional killers in its employ -- but it at least had the decency to deny their existence. Now it brags about them, and parades them. It's always had secret prisons too -- but now it's quite overt about Gitmo and renditions and torture.
"Don't get me wrong. I believe Osama is dead -- whenever he died. And I'm glad he's dead. I don't like the things he believed in, especially his especially puritanical version of Islam. But this is not the way these things should be handled. At least not by a supposedly free country."
Regards,
Bill Bonner,
for The Daily Reckoning
Dow down 83 points yesterday. Gold down $25.
We're waiting for a sell-off...either at the end of QE 2...or in anticipation of it. When will it come? We don't know, but it won't keep us waiting forever.
Meanwhile, we are seeing more and more rich-bashing in the press.
Most people hate the rich. And why shouldn't they?
The rich are good at hogging the good things in life. That's why they're rich, after all.
They get the fancy digs. The fancy cars. The fancy girlfriends.
You see them enjoying life in business class seats, while you ache in economy. You see them pulling their Mercedes and Audis into their big garages, while you make do with a humble split-level on the wrong side of time. And their wives always look like they just came out of a beauty spa....
Their stocks are going up...while you can't find a job!
The rich learn how to manipulate the system for their own benefit. That's the way it always works. Money likes power. Power likes money. Usually, they find a way to work together.
The rich howl about how much in taxes they pay. They whine about 'soak the rich' proposals. They kvetch about 'giveaways' to the zombies. But, they are probably more in control than they appear.
Take Mark Zuckerberg for example. Please. Here's a guy who says he would be "cool" if they raised his income taxes. In this refrain, he joins the sanctimonious choir headed by Warren Buffett, Ted Turner, and other do-gooders.
Well, guess what. You know why they don't mind an increase in the income tax rate? It's because
1) they are so rich that the marginal utility of money for them is close to zero. They won't even notice an income tax hike. Money hardly counts when you have as much of it as they have. It is like an extra snowball to an Eskimo. It just doesn't make any difference.
2) They don't pay much in income taxes anyway. They tend to have their wealth in stocks. And they make most of their money from stock market gains, which aren't taxed as regular income; they're taxed as capital gains.
Here's Newsweek with the story:
It's easy for Mark Zuckerberg to say he's 'cool' with raising income-tax rates. Because it won't affect him.
It drives economist Bruce Bartlett crazy every time he hears another bazillionaire announce he's in favor of paying higher taxes. Most recently it was Mark Zuckerberg who got Bartlett's blood boiling when the Facebook founder declared himself "cool" with paying more in federal taxes, joining such tycoons as Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Ted Turner, and even a stray hedge-fund manager or two.
Bartlett, a former member of the Reagan White House, isn't against the wealthy paying higher taxes. He's that rare conservative who thinks higher taxes need to be part of the deficit debate. His beef? It's a hollow gesture to say the federal government should raise the tax rate on the country's top wage earners when the likes of Zuckerberg have most of their wealth tied up in stock. Many of the super-rich see virtually all their income as capital gains, and capital gains are taxed at a much lower rate -- 15 percent -- than ordinary income. When Warren Buffett talks about paying a lower tax rate than his secretary, that's because she sees most of her pay through a paycheck, while the bulk of his compensation comes in the form of capital gains and dividends. In 2006, for instance, Buffett paid 17.7 percent in taxes on the $46 million he booked that year, while his secretary lost 30 percent of her $60,000 salary to the government.
"It's easy to say 'Raise taxes' when you know you're not going to have to pay those taxes," Bartlett says. "What I don't hear is 'Let's raise the capital-gains tax.'
And more thoughts...
We published an item from Vanity Fair a few weeks ago. It explained how the top 1% of US households now earns nearly a quarter of all the income...and controls 40% of the nation's wealth. The richest people have increased their incomes 18% over the past decade. At the middle and lower income levels, on the other hand, earnings have actually gone down. Many of the good jobs have gone overseas...while cost of living continue to rise.
The rich are getting richer than ever. The middle classes are having trouble making ends meet. Think about gasoline at $4 a gallon. To a rich s.o.b. in New York or San Francisco, it hardly matters. But it's a big deal to a truck-driving cracker from Alabama or Georgia.
But, if you're rich, watch out. Because sooner or later the mobs are going to figure out what has happened to them. Then, they're going rise up and go after you. It won't be pretty.
Eventually, people will figure out how it works. They'll see how the 'rich' -- or at least some of them -- colluded with the government to rip off the middle and lower classes. Not exactly intentionally. It involved more stupidity than cunning. But here's what happened.
The feds created the dollar-based monetary system in 1971. Wage gains ended three years later.
The Fed held interest rates artificially low...and undermined the purchasing power of the dollar. It made more sense to spend than to save.
This eroded the benefits of building capital -- either in the form of machinery or worker training. EZ money devalued the hard work, patience, and savings needed to create high value-added industry. Americans became good consumers, not good producers. And since they were not producing high quality products, they couldn't command high salaries. More and more, the labor force moved to low-paying service jobs that required little training and little capital investment...and shopped for cheap goods at discount stores.
Meanwhile capital gains tax rates were lowered, and business profits increased as jobs were outsourced to lower-wage economies.
The middle and lower classes were snagged in debt, particularly through federally subsidized mortgage lending. Then, the feds turned the financial industry into a vast hedge fund.
The genius of the hedge fund is in a trick of mathematics. If I invest your money and take 20% of the gains, it sounds like a decent deal. I only make money if you do. And you get the lion's share. But over time, I will eventually get all your money. Because you will take all the losses while I chip away at the gains, year in and year out.
When the financial industry's credits went bad, the feds stepped in to bail them out. Now, Wall Street is enjoying the "heads I win, tails you lose" life of a hedge fund. The dollar -- along with the yen -- has become the funding currency for speculations all over the world. If the speculations go well, the industry collects huge performance fees. If they go badly, the feds lend the failed speculators more money -- at zero cost.
Of course, here at the Daily Reckoning, we always take the part of the under-dog. Besides, we've been rich and we've been poor. Being rich isn't necessarily any more fun, but at least when you're a rich underdog, you don't have to worry about money.
*** Osama bin Laden....
Most of the world heaved a sigh of relief when the world's most wanted man was gunned down. Apparently unarmed.
But here at the Daily Reckoning, we were neither relieved nor revenged. We were uneasy. It did not particularly concern us that another world improver was dead; what bothered us was that there were so many left alive. Many of them -- terrorists and terrorist-fighters -- may now be throbbing to commit even larger acts of improvement.
*** Our old friend Doug Casey has more thoughts on Osama bin Laden's killing.
"The whole thing stinks, from top to bottom. You'd think that if they knew where he was, they would have gone out of their way to take him alive -- at almost any cost. Think of the information he would have had! But instead they seemed to go out of their way to kill him, which impresses me as incredibly stupid and counterproductive... Unless they don't want him talking.
"After all, Osama said several times that he had nothing to do with the events of 9/11. But Bush used him, and 9/11, as the casus belli for Afghanistan. It would have been interesting to know who Osama thought was actually behind 9/11.
"Then, after killing him, they dump his body in the Arabian Sea, using the excuse that he had to be interred within 24 hours as a Muslim, and it wasn't possible to bury him because they didn't want to create a shrine. As if they go out of their way to bury every Muslim they kill within 24 hours... I suspect that, in fact, they leave most bodies as a treat for the dogs and the crows. We'll now never know whose body that was. Or exactly how he was killed.
"So now, in any event, all the physical evidence has been disposed of. It's unclear to me if they also executed everyone else in the house -- excuse me, "compound," as any house government agents attack automatically becomes a compound -- where they took him. I suspect everyone was executed. Witnesses are never convenient.
"I have a question: Quis custodiet ipsos custodies -- Who watches the watchers? I thought it was ironic that Putin of Russia -- who's undoubtedly put out quite a few orders for hits in his day -- evidenced outrage at the way the U.S. government is trying to kill Gaddafi, now that it seems expedient. I have it here -- Putin said: "Who permitted this, was there any trial? Who took on the right to execute this man, no matter who he is?"
"And he's right. I find it shocking that the U.S. government just takes it upon itself to kill people now, without even a show trial like Saddam got. Of course the government has always had professional killers in its employ -- but it at least had the decency to deny their existence. Now it brags about them, and parades them. It's always had secret prisons too -- but now it's quite overt about Gitmo and renditions and torture.
"Don't get me wrong. I believe Osama is dead -- whenever he died. And I'm glad he's dead. I don't like the things he believed in, especially his especially puritanical version of Islam. But this is not the way these things should be handled. At least not by a supposedly free country."
Regards,
Bill Bonner,
for The Daily Reckoning
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
President Obama, Stand Up to the U.S. Chamber and Fight for Disclosure
Sign the Petition to Support the President’s Executive Order
“We will fight it through all available means […] To quote what they say every day on Libya, all options are on the table.”
That’s what the chief lobbyist for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce told the New York Times after hearing the White House may issue an executive order requiring corporations that do business with the government to disclose their political spending.
The Chamber’s pledge to fight tooth and nail to keep the American people in the dark about conflicts of interest in government is appalling, but not surprising.
If corporations and their executives are spending on politicians in an effort to “win” government contracts, the American people should know.
Urge President Obama to stand up to the U.S. Chamber and fight for disclosure. Sign the petition today!
“We will fight it through all available means […] To quote what they say every day on Libya, all options are on the table.”
That’s what the chief lobbyist for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce told the New York Times after hearing the White House may issue an executive order requiring corporations that do business with the government to disclose their political spending.
The Chamber’s pledge to fight tooth and nail to keep the American people in the dark about conflicts of interest in government is appalling, but not surprising.
If corporations and their executives are spending on politicians in an effort to “win” government contracts, the American people should know.
Urge President Obama to stand up to the U.S. Chamber and fight for disclosure. Sign the petition today!
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Tell the EPA to Stop Air Toxics From Harming Our Communities :Mercury
Mercury pollution is poison and 300,000 babies are born every year at risk.1
It might as well be Russian Roulette: At least 1 in 12 and as many as 1 in 6 American women of childbearing age have enough mercury in their bodies to put a baby at risk. Mercury and other dangerous air pollutants are connected to extreme health problems: brain damage, learning disabilities, birth defects, heart disease, cancer and even premature death.2 And we finally have a chance to end the cycle.
Please send a message to the EPA today to stop air toxics like mercury from harming our communities.
After 20 years of delay, the EPA has finally proposed strong mercury and air toxics standards for power plants.
Our nation's biggest polluters want to block these standards, but if enacted we'll be preventing 17,000 premature deaths and 120,000 cases of childhood asthma symptoms a year.3 The stakes are too high to let dirty polluters ramrod the process.
There has never been a clearer need for massive public involvement. We must lead the charge to make sure the EPA has the support it needs to clean up this dangerous pollution and protect our health. Together, we will send hundreds of thousands of comments and ensure the best possible standards for our health.
Send your message to the EPA today in support of life saving protections that can keep mercury pollution out of our communities.
All 50 states, the District of Columbia, 5 tribes and two U.S. territories have issued fish advisories, many of them due to the risks of mercury poisoning.4
Other air toxics are just as dangerous to our public health. Arsenic, dioxins and acid gases are also spewing from the nation's power plants, putting people at risk across the country. Enough is enough
Whether you live in Denver, Chicago, or Philadelphia or anyway in between -- we are all at risk. And finally after years of delays, court orders, and your support, the EPA is making a strong stand for public health, requiring big polluters to stop spewing mercury, arsenic, acid gases, dioxins and other air toxics from their smokestacks.
Stand with us now and tell the EPA to get the job done!
Thanks for all that you do to protect our health and the environment.
Sarah Hodgdon
Sierra Club Conservation Director
It might as well be Russian Roulette: At least 1 in 12 and as many as 1 in 6 American women of childbearing age have enough mercury in their bodies to put a baby at risk. Mercury and other dangerous air pollutants are connected to extreme health problems: brain damage, learning disabilities, birth defects, heart disease, cancer and even premature death.2 And we finally have a chance to end the cycle.
Please send a message to the EPA today to stop air toxics like mercury from harming our communities.
After 20 years of delay, the EPA has finally proposed strong mercury and air toxics standards for power plants.
Our nation's biggest polluters want to block these standards, but if enacted we'll be preventing 17,000 premature deaths and 120,000 cases of childhood asthma symptoms a year.3 The stakes are too high to let dirty polluters ramrod the process.
There has never been a clearer need for massive public involvement. We must lead the charge to make sure the EPA has the support it needs to clean up this dangerous pollution and protect our health. Together, we will send hundreds of thousands of comments and ensure the best possible standards for our health.
Send your message to the EPA today in support of life saving protections that can keep mercury pollution out of our communities.
All 50 states, the District of Columbia, 5 tribes and two U.S. territories have issued fish advisories, many of them due to the risks of mercury poisoning.4
Other air toxics are just as dangerous to our public health. Arsenic, dioxins and acid gases are also spewing from the nation's power plants, putting people at risk across the country. Enough is enough
Whether you live in Denver, Chicago, or Philadelphia or anyway in between -- we are all at risk. And finally after years of delays, court orders, and your support, the EPA is making a strong stand for public health, requiring big polluters to stop spewing mercury, arsenic, acid gases, dioxins and other air toxics from their smokestacks.
Stand with us now and tell the EPA to get the job done!
Thanks for all that you do to protect our health and the environment.
Sarah Hodgdon
Sierra Club Conservation Director
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Who wants to be a billionaire? Public Citiizen's Proposal to Control Hedge Fund Managers
Hello Concerned Citizens,
The average pay for the top 25 hedge fund managers was $1 billion each in 2009.(1)
So one year after Wall Street crashed the economy and plunged the middle class into its worst crisis since the Great Depression, some of the people who created the crisis became newly made billionaires.
Help us show public support for ending Wall Street’s outrageous pay practices.
Sign the petition: Wall Street must be stopped from rewarding itself for making more trouble.
These 25 hedge fund managers made $25 billion. Now, what else costs $25 billion?
How about NASA? You know, the federal agency that employs thousands and thousands of scientists and engineers? NASA’s budget in 2010 was less than $19 billion.(2)
Guess what else is close? Wisconsin. Gov. Scott Walker’s budget cuts that put corporations before people make that state’s full year budget come to $29.3 billion.(3)
Why, with just a few more cuts, Walker could just sell the whole state to these 25 hedge fund managers. How’s that for “fiscal responsibility” and “free enterprise”?
It’s simply obscene that Wall Street gamblers are raking in such vast sums of wealth. And what is our society getting out of the deal? Increased economic instability and unemployment for 1 out of every 10 American workers.
Sign the petition to end Wall Street’s outrageous pay practices:
Thanks for all you do,
Rick Claypool
Public Citizen’s Online Action Team
action@citizen.org
1. Gilbert, Lisa and Bartlett Naylor. “The Unified Pay Theory,” Huffington Post. March 7, 2011.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lisa-gilbert/the-unified-pay-theory_b_830165.html
2. News Release. “NASA Announces Fiscal Year 2010 Budget,” May 7, 2009
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2009/may/HQ_09-102_FY2010Budget.html
3. State of Wisconsin – Department of Administration. March 1, 2011
http://www.doa.state.wi.us/debf/execbudget.asp
Visit our Financial Reform page to learn more about Public Citizen's work to hold big banks accountable. To get regular e-alerts about opportunities for activism and other ways to help with Public Citizen's work, sign up for the Public Citizen Action Network. If you do want to receive future emails from Public Citizen, go to http://action.citizen.org/subscribe.jsp.
Contribute | © 2011 Public Citizen | Take Action
The average pay for the top 25 hedge fund managers was $1 billion each in 2009.(1)
So one year after Wall Street crashed the economy and plunged the middle class into its worst crisis since the Great Depression, some of the people who created the crisis became newly made billionaires.
Help us show public support for ending Wall Street’s outrageous pay practices.
Sign the petition: Wall Street must be stopped from rewarding itself for making more trouble.
These 25 hedge fund managers made $25 billion. Now, what else costs $25 billion?
How about NASA? You know, the federal agency that employs thousands and thousands of scientists and engineers? NASA’s budget in 2010 was less than $19 billion.(2)
Guess what else is close? Wisconsin. Gov. Scott Walker’s budget cuts that put corporations before people make that state’s full year budget come to $29.3 billion.(3)
Why, with just a few more cuts, Walker could just sell the whole state to these 25 hedge fund managers. How’s that for “fiscal responsibility” and “free enterprise”?
It’s simply obscene that Wall Street gamblers are raking in such vast sums of wealth. And what is our society getting out of the deal? Increased economic instability and unemployment for 1 out of every 10 American workers.
Sign the petition to end Wall Street’s outrageous pay practices:
Thanks for all you do,
Rick Claypool
Public Citizen’s Online Action Team
action@citizen.org
1. Gilbert, Lisa and Bartlett Naylor. “The Unified Pay Theory,” Huffington Post. March 7, 2011.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lisa-gilbert/the-unified-pay-theory_b_830165.html
2. News Release. “NASA Announces Fiscal Year 2010 Budget,” May 7, 2009
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2009/may/HQ_09-102_FY2010Budget.html
3. State of Wisconsin – Department of Administration. March 1, 2011
http://www.doa.state.wi.us/debf/execbudget.asp
Visit our Financial Reform page to learn more about Public Citizen's work to hold big banks accountable. To get regular e-alerts about opportunities for activism and other ways to help with Public Citizen's work, sign up for the Public Citizen Action Network. If you do want to receive future emails from Public Citizen, go to http://action.citizen.org/subscribe.jsp.
Contribute | © 2011 Public Citizen | Take Action
Friday, March 11, 2011
Boone Pickens On Oil and Solution to Egypt's Energy & Unemployment Problem
From the Wall St. Cheat Sheet, here are some thoughts from T. Boone Pickens on oil.
On whether Sauda Arabia is capable of producing 10 million barrels a day:
“Well, they’re about nine now and I don’t think it’s easy for them to do. They can’t produce 12. They may get it up to 10. I’m not sure they can hold 10 very long.”
On whether the Environmental Protection Agency and the Obama administration in general is at war with fossil fuels:
“I think probably so. But I can tell you what, you’re going to run the cost of gasoline, diesel, electricity, and power. You’re going to run it through the ceiling and I can tell you that people that cause that to happen, and the consumer that has to experience those increases. That consumer is the same guy that votes. And I can tell you when he figures out who ran all these costs up on him, he’s going to vote against him.”
On what country has the best plan for oil:
“China has got the plan. They’ve loaned money and they’re going to be paid back with oil; probably $50 or $60 a barrel. They have a huge advantage. And they have purchased a lot of oil. The Chinese always have a plan.”
Pickens doesn’t rule out $130 oil and he sees gas at $4 a gallon this summer.
I believe that the spike in gas prices had much more to do with the Great Recession than is generally conceded (post here). If Pickens is anywhere near the mark, we could easily see growth substantially curtailed and another recession is not by any means out of the equation.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Solar Cell Manufacturing Grant to Evergreen Solar & other US Solar Cell Companies for Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries to Offset Oil Production Decline
“The untold story behind Egypt's revolution is that oil production
in Egypt has drastically declined in the past decade. As of 2010 Egypt began consuming all the oil that it extracts. Egypt no longer exports oil.
So for the past 15 years or so, Egypt's government has been raising less and less income with which to offer food and fuel subsidies to the teeming masses in the country's expansive slums. Today, Egypt is reportedly the world's largest wheat importer. In the past year or so, as net oil exports shifted down to zero,the food-problem became even worse for Egypt. So the Egyptian government has fewer funds from oil with which to pay higher prices for food imports and subsidies.
Their need for energy has grown,so I propose: Gov.Deval Patrick should contact the Energy Dept. and propose to DOE that Evergreen Solar ,Spire Corp. & XSunX be given a grant to manufacture solar panels that can be installed on Cairo rooftops.
Instead of the Defense Dept. giving money to Egypt to buy more tanks and helicopters that might conceivably be used against Israelis, have the US State Dept. contract companies to teach Egyptians how to install these panels to increase employment. A Chinese MIT graduate student has started One Earth Designs; Scot Frank President & CEO that does something similar in China & Mongolia. It could be incorporated into the American Recovery Act legislation :
http://www.oe.energy.gov/american_recovery_reinvestment_act.htm
Solution Provided by International Computers & Technology LLC which has no financial interest in any of the companies mentioned.”
On whether Sauda Arabia is capable of producing 10 million barrels a day:
“Well, they’re about nine now and I don’t think it’s easy for them to do. They can’t produce 12. They may get it up to 10. I’m not sure they can hold 10 very long.”
On whether the Environmental Protection Agency and the Obama administration in general is at war with fossil fuels:
“I think probably so. But I can tell you what, you’re going to run the cost of gasoline, diesel, electricity, and power. You’re going to run it through the ceiling and I can tell you that people that cause that to happen, and the consumer that has to experience those increases. That consumer is the same guy that votes. And I can tell you when he figures out who ran all these costs up on him, he’s going to vote against him.”
On what country has the best plan for oil:
“China has got the plan. They’ve loaned money and they’re going to be paid back with oil; probably $50 or $60 a barrel. They have a huge advantage. And they have purchased a lot of oil. The Chinese always have a plan.”
Pickens doesn’t rule out $130 oil and he sees gas at $4 a gallon this summer.
I believe that the spike in gas prices had much more to do with the Great Recession than is generally conceded (post here). If Pickens is anywhere near the mark, we could easily see growth substantially curtailed and another recession is not by any means out of the equation.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Solar Cell Manufacturing Grant to Evergreen Solar & other US Solar Cell Companies for Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries to Offset Oil Production Decline
“The untold story behind Egypt's revolution is that oil production
in Egypt has drastically declined in the past decade. As of 2010 Egypt began consuming all the oil that it extracts. Egypt no longer exports oil.
So for the past 15 years or so, Egypt's government has been raising less and less income with which to offer food and fuel subsidies to the teeming masses in the country's expansive slums. Today, Egypt is reportedly the world's largest wheat importer. In the past year or so, as net oil exports shifted down to zero,the food-problem became even worse for Egypt. So the Egyptian government has fewer funds from oil with which to pay higher prices for food imports and subsidies.
Their need for energy has grown,so I propose: Gov.Deval Patrick should contact the Energy Dept. and propose to DOE that Evergreen Solar ,Spire Corp. & XSunX be given a grant to manufacture solar panels that can be installed on Cairo rooftops.
Instead of the Defense Dept. giving money to Egypt to buy more tanks and helicopters that might conceivably be used against Israelis, have the US State Dept. contract companies to teach Egyptians how to install these panels to increase employment. A Chinese MIT graduate student has started One Earth Designs; Scot Frank President & CEO that does something similar in China & Mongolia. It could be incorporated into the American Recovery Act legislation :
http://www.oe.energy.gov/american_recovery_reinvestment_act.htm
Solution Provided by International Computers & Technology LLC which has no financial interest in any of the companies mentioned.”
Saturday, March 5, 2011
How Public Employee Unions Are Bankrupting the Nation
Whiskey & Gunpowder By Gary Gibson March 5, 2011
Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A.
You might have noticed that there’s been a little turmoil in Madison, Wisconsin, of late. With the public employee unions making themselves heard in a fight against Governor Scott Walker, we thought this would be a great time to talk to Steven Greenhut.
Steven is the author of Plunder: How Public Employee Unions Are Raiding Treasuries, Controlling Our Lives, and Bankrupting the Nation.
Here’s how our interview went…
Gary Gibson: Are public employees really bankrupting states and local municipalities? Are they getting paid that much and are the pensions that good?
Steven Greenhut: We’ll start with the easy one. Yes, the pensions are amazingly good. In California, there are 50,000 members of the “$100,000 pension club”, cost of living adjusted, and these are guaranteed pensions, often in the six figure region and higher in certain categories, especially for public safety workers, such as police, fire, prison guards, milk inspectors. It’s an ever-growing category of employees that get 3 percent net 50. That’s 3 percent of the final year’s pay times the number of years worked. Which means a 90 percent final year’s pay retirement forever. And that’s before all the many pension spiking gimmicks. For example 82 percent of California Highway Patrol managers retire with disabilities, which further enhances this.
They purchase something called “air time”, where they can buy additional service credits on their pension at 50 cents on the dollar. So we have, in many cases, public employees making $150,000, $200,000 a year in retirement. And it’s not just the managers. These are regular police and firefighters, different sorts of mid-level managers, making enormous pensions. And they get paid quite a bit of money. The old deal used to be that public employees were paid less and they got somewhat better benefits and protection from firing and things that we didn’t get in the private sector. Now they get more money, in many cases, much more money, and they get an enormously higher level of pension benefit.
Nobody I know in the private sector gets these guaranteed defined benefit retirement plans anymore. And they’ve been being increased retroactively, which means going back to the day that the employee started. So to answer your question: yes, pensions are that good. They are getting paid that much.
The union studies, the reports show that public employees are not getting paid as much as their private sector employees. I’ve looked at those. They’re full of holes. They adjust for things like education, and they leave out categories that they don’t want to have included in there. They don’t count the overtime, even though public employees abuse the overtime system through planned overtime and other ways to build in higher salaries.
So are they really bankrupting states and local municipalities? For instance, in the City of San Diego, which has not been the only city that’s struggled throughout California. I mean Los Angeles, they’re talking about bankruptcy, and the City of Vallejo in California went bankrupt, largely because of the pay and benefit packages of public employees. But in the City of San Diego, 70 percent of their payroll budget goes to retired workers for pensions and healthcare benefits. I mean you just do the math on that.
There’s a new report from the Little Hoover Commission, which is a government agency, an oversight agency in California. It’s a nonpartisan, “good government” commission. Here’s its conclusion: “Pension costs will crush government. Government budgets are being cut while pension costs continue to rise and squeeze other government priorities.” So yes, they are going to push the cities and states to the brink, and it is that serious.
Gary: Now before we get to just how serious that is and how we can’t afford it, what about the argument that the things that public employees do are vital? We can’t do without them, right? People have told you, “Pay them whatever they want.”
Steven: It’s a crazy argument. At what point did our country start to value government work, non-entrepreneurial, protected from firing? I mean there are certain jobs that are needed. We need certain public sector jobs. But at what point did we start believing that bureaucracy is so highly valued, that we should pay people who work in the bureaucracies whatever they want? Usually when people make that argument, they’re talking about police and firefighters and teachers sometimes too. But now we’ve created a bureaucratic system that doesn’t always result in having the best teachers, firefighters, or police because this is not a free market.
This is not a market system. Here’s a good example. 72 percent of the firefighters in the country are volunteer firefighters. So there are many people who will do this job for service to the community. When firefighters are hiring for the few positions that are opened, they sometimes will open arenas because of the thousands of applicants. So this idea that we should pay them whatever they want is ridiculous.
This is going to bankrupt us. In the case of the firefighters, it pushes out often people who really want to be firefighters. If you or I really want to be a firefighter, we have to compete with all the many people who want to be a firefighter simply because of the [artificially exorbitant] pay and benefit package, and the work hours are so cushy. So it’s not like in the marketplace.
Obviously, we need police. But often the police often overstate their dangers, and that’s a problem we’ve seen. And they use that to gin up their pay and benefit packages beyond where they need to be to attract good people. And teachers, well you know, I’m sorry, but in a competitive environment, in a private system, you know, then we would see what teachers really are worth.
But this idea that we should just pay them anything you want…other than it bankrupting us all, it’s not resulting in better public services either. And teachers are not even getting the level of pay and benefits that police and fire are. But that’s just not a good argument in my view.
We see in Wisconsin and Ohio, old rust belt states, the heart of the union movement, and now it’s a public sector movement. And there’s disagreement. There are many people in the private sector union people who agree with me on these public sector union issues. You know, the private sector union people have to make sure that their company remains healthy and in business. Where the public sector can — these guys will take the government off the cliff.
Gary: Now your book talks about how this all happened in California. It’s where you focus your attentions. But I’ve got to ask you about Wisconsin now.
Steven: Well, I mean they’re both very progressive states, very liberal states. The same thing that happened in California happened in Wisconsin, the power of the public sector unions, the ability through collective bargaining and through tapping the dues of members without necessarily getting their permission, has enabled the employees to buy their bosses. They elect their bosses. It’s the same thing that’s happened, and the book goes into, not just — it’s California heavy. It’s focused because of my experiences in California, which I draw from. But it does talk about the whole country.
And it’s a similar thing. It’s just California often is at the edge, cutting edge of all trends, good and bad, and we just happen to be further along this route. But Wisconsin’s extremely liberal, heavily union democratic state. So there are a lot of parallels. Both with a parallel progressive history, in fact. So ironically, one of the core tenets of progressivism, the initiative and the process that we have in California that might be the solution to take on these unions who have become the new robber barons.
And it was the progressives who tried to take down the power of the railroads and the robber barons, and now they’ve become what they fought against.
Gary: Now these government employee unions, did you say — you said that they’re turning, they could turn us into a third world nation, or a nation of third world cities.
Steven: Yeah, when I say it, and I’m not talking about the demographics or anything of the cities, I’m just talking about how it’s this group of folks who were just out to enrich themselves, and using their power for raw political gain. The cities are becoming impoverished, as we increasingly have to spend more and more, as the Little Hoover Commission report pointed to, there’s not enough money for other services. Even people in progressive San Francisco, some of the liberals there have been supporting pension reform efforts, recognizing that their city’s becoming increasingly tawdry.
And as you spend more and more money on these pensions, pay and benefit packages for public employees who are really the affluent elite, the parks are becoming decrepit. The streets are not being fixed. The schools are getting worse. So that’s the context of that.
Gary: I see. Is this a partisan issue?
Steven: Well, it’s become one to a degree because the republicans, the new republicans are taking on the unions, and the democrats are the party of unions, of government unions especially. So to a degree republicans certainly helped create the problem. You know, I just wrote about here in California, how three republican assembly members joined an SCIU rally opposing cuts to a particular program. I watched as a writer for local government, watched as republicans increased pensions for government employees, especially for the people in uniforms. Republicans tend to be very law and order in their philosophy, and they’ve caused a lot of the problems.
So the mess was created on a bipartisan basis, but I have seen very, very little effort by democrats to even acknowledge the problems. A handful of exceptions to the ones I pointed to in San Francisco. And they’re a minority of democrats for sure. But it doesn’t need to be a partisan issue, let’s put it that way. It really doesn’t because the right should recognize that these pensions are unfair and they’re going to cause enormous financial problems, and they’re going to lead to massive tax increases.
And the left should realize that this is destroying the progressive agenda because if you’re spending all your money on $150,000 per year police retirees, then you’re not spending money on the programs that you claim to care about. And it’s going to be the programs for the poor that get cut. The pensions are a senior obligation of the state. Programs for the poor are not. So I know progressive democrats who are very concerned about this. And I’m just — I’ve got a copy here of Reason Magazine, the cover story by Tim Cavanaugh called Farewell my Lovely — How Public Pensions Killed Progressive California. I mean these pensions are at war with the whole progressive idea.
And that’s because they’re running out of money.
Gary’s Endnote: And if you tune in for Part II on Monday, you’ll see just how out of money our states and cities are. You’ll also learn where the free market fits in. You’ll learn what all the solutions are too. See you then.
Steven Greenhut is director of PRI’s Journalism Center, which provides in-depth news coverage of California government, with a focus on uncovering waste, fraud and misuse of taxpayer dollars. He is author of the 2004 book, “Abuse of Power: How the Government Misuses Eminent Domain.” His columns have been published in newspapers across the country including the Wall Street Journal.
In 2005, Greenhut won the Institute for Justice’s Thomas Paine Award for his writing promoting freedom. He is a senior fellow at the Goldwater Institute in Phoenix. His new book on public employee unions is titled, “Plunder: How Public Employee Unions are Raiding Treasuries, Controlling our Lives and Bankrupting the Nation.”
Both the left and right helped create this problem and it’s going to help bankrupt us all. Get Plunder now and learn…
How public employee unions already turned one place in America into a Third World city (p. 8)
Why the current retirement system for public employees is an absolute scam (p. 9)
What the “Pension Tsunami” is and how it will affect you and your family (p. 71)
Just click here now to get your copy today.
Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A.
You might have noticed that there’s been a little turmoil in Madison, Wisconsin, of late. With the public employee unions making themselves heard in a fight against Governor Scott Walker, we thought this would be a great time to talk to Steven Greenhut.
Steven is the author of Plunder: How Public Employee Unions Are Raiding Treasuries, Controlling Our Lives, and Bankrupting the Nation.
Here’s how our interview went…
Gary Gibson: Are public employees really bankrupting states and local municipalities? Are they getting paid that much and are the pensions that good?
Steven Greenhut: We’ll start with the easy one. Yes, the pensions are amazingly good. In California, there are 50,000 members of the “$100,000 pension club”, cost of living adjusted, and these are guaranteed pensions, often in the six figure region and higher in certain categories, especially for public safety workers, such as police, fire, prison guards, milk inspectors. It’s an ever-growing category of employees that get 3 percent net 50. That’s 3 percent of the final year’s pay times the number of years worked. Which means a 90 percent final year’s pay retirement forever. And that’s before all the many pension spiking gimmicks. For example 82 percent of California Highway Patrol managers retire with disabilities, which further enhances this.
They purchase something called “air time”, where they can buy additional service credits on their pension at 50 cents on the dollar. So we have, in many cases, public employees making $150,000, $200,000 a year in retirement. And it’s not just the managers. These are regular police and firefighters, different sorts of mid-level managers, making enormous pensions. And they get paid quite a bit of money. The old deal used to be that public employees were paid less and they got somewhat better benefits and protection from firing and things that we didn’t get in the private sector. Now they get more money, in many cases, much more money, and they get an enormously higher level of pension benefit.
Nobody I know in the private sector gets these guaranteed defined benefit retirement plans anymore. And they’ve been being increased retroactively, which means going back to the day that the employee started. So to answer your question: yes, pensions are that good. They are getting paid that much.
The union studies, the reports show that public employees are not getting paid as much as their private sector employees. I’ve looked at those. They’re full of holes. They adjust for things like education, and they leave out categories that they don’t want to have included in there. They don’t count the overtime, even though public employees abuse the overtime system through planned overtime and other ways to build in higher salaries.
So are they really bankrupting states and local municipalities? For instance, in the City of San Diego, which has not been the only city that’s struggled throughout California. I mean Los Angeles, they’re talking about bankruptcy, and the City of Vallejo in California went bankrupt, largely because of the pay and benefit packages of public employees. But in the City of San Diego, 70 percent of their payroll budget goes to retired workers for pensions and healthcare benefits. I mean you just do the math on that.
There’s a new report from the Little Hoover Commission, which is a government agency, an oversight agency in California. It’s a nonpartisan, “good government” commission. Here’s its conclusion: “Pension costs will crush government. Government budgets are being cut while pension costs continue to rise and squeeze other government priorities.” So yes, they are going to push the cities and states to the brink, and it is that serious.
Gary: Now before we get to just how serious that is and how we can’t afford it, what about the argument that the things that public employees do are vital? We can’t do without them, right? People have told you, “Pay them whatever they want.”
Steven: It’s a crazy argument. At what point did our country start to value government work, non-entrepreneurial, protected from firing? I mean there are certain jobs that are needed. We need certain public sector jobs. But at what point did we start believing that bureaucracy is so highly valued, that we should pay people who work in the bureaucracies whatever they want? Usually when people make that argument, they’re talking about police and firefighters and teachers sometimes too. But now we’ve created a bureaucratic system that doesn’t always result in having the best teachers, firefighters, or police because this is not a free market.
This is not a market system. Here’s a good example. 72 percent of the firefighters in the country are volunteer firefighters. So there are many people who will do this job for service to the community. When firefighters are hiring for the few positions that are opened, they sometimes will open arenas because of the thousands of applicants. So this idea that we should pay them whatever they want is ridiculous.
This is going to bankrupt us. In the case of the firefighters, it pushes out often people who really want to be firefighters. If you or I really want to be a firefighter, we have to compete with all the many people who want to be a firefighter simply because of the [artificially exorbitant] pay and benefit package, and the work hours are so cushy. So it’s not like in the marketplace.
Obviously, we need police. But often the police often overstate their dangers, and that’s a problem we’ve seen. And they use that to gin up their pay and benefit packages beyond where they need to be to attract good people. And teachers, well you know, I’m sorry, but in a competitive environment, in a private system, you know, then we would see what teachers really are worth.
But this idea that we should just pay them anything you want…other than it bankrupting us all, it’s not resulting in better public services either. And teachers are not even getting the level of pay and benefits that police and fire are. But that’s just not a good argument in my view.
We see in Wisconsin and Ohio, old rust belt states, the heart of the union movement, and now it’s a public sector movement. And there’s disagreement. There are many people in the private sector union people who agree with me on these public sector union issues. You know, the private sector union people have to make sure that their company remains healthy and in business. Where the public sector can — these guys will take the government off the cliff.
Gary: Now your book talks about how this all happened in California. It’s where you focus your attentions. But I’ve got to ask you about Wisconsin now.
Steven: Well, I mean they’re both very progressive states, very liberal states. The same thing that happened in California happened in Wisconsin, the power of the public sector unions, the ability through collective bargaining and through tapping the dues of members without necessarily getting their permission, has enabled the employees to buy their bosses. They elect their bosses. It’s the same thing that’s happened, and the book goes into, not just — it’s California heavy. It’s focused because of my experiences in California, which I draw from. But it does talk about the whole country.
And it’s a similar thing. It’s just California often is at the edge, cutting edge of all trends, good and bad, and we just happen to be further along this route. But Wisconsin’s extremely liberal, heavily union democratic state. So there are a lot of parallels. Both with a parallel progressive history, in fact. So ironically, one of the core tenets of progressivism, the initiative and the process that we have in California that might be the solution to take on these unions who have become the new robber barons.
And it was the progressives who tried to take down the power of the railroads and the robber barons, and now they’ve become what they fought against.
Gary: Now these government employee unions, did you say — you said that they’re turning, they could turn us into a third world nation, or a nation of third world cities.
Steven: Yeah, when I say it, and I’m not talking about the demographics or anything of the cities, I’m just talking about how it’s this group of folks who were just out to enrich themselves, and using their power for raw political gain. The cities are becoming impoverished, as we increasingly have to spend more and more, as the Little Hoover Commission report pointed to, there’s not enough money for other services. Even people in progressive San Francisco, some of the liberals there have been supporting pension reform efforts, recognizing that their city’s becoming increasingly tawdry.
And as you spend more and more money on these pensions, pay and benefit packages for public employees who are really the affluent elite, the parks are becoming decrepit. The streets are not being fixed. The schools are getting worse. So that’s the context of that.
Gary: I see. Is this a partisan issue?
Steven: Well, it’s become one to a degree because the republicans, the new republicans are taking on the unions, and the democrats are the party of unions, of government unions especially. So to a degree republicans certainly helped create the problem. You know, I just wrote about here in California, how three republican assembly members joined an SCIU rally opposing cuts to a particular program. I watched as a writer for local government, watched as republicans increased pensions for government employees, especially for the people in uniforms. Republicans tend to be very law and order in their philosophy, and they’ve caused a lot of the problems.
So the mess was created on a bipartisan basis, but I have seen very, very little effort by democrats to even acknowledge the problems. A handful of exceptions to the ones I pointed to in San Francisco. And they’re a minority of democrats for sure. But it doesn’t need to be a partisan issue, let’s put it that way. It really doesn’t because the right should recognize that these pensions are unfair and they’re going to cause enormous financial problems, and they’re going to lead to massive tax increases.
And the left should realize that this is destroying the progressive agenda because if you’re spending all your money on $150,000 per year police retirees, then you’re not spending money on the programs that you claim to care about. And it’s going to be the programs for the poor that get cut. The pensions are a senior obligation of the state. Programs for the poor are not. So I know progressive democrats who are very concerned about this. And I’m just — I’ve got a copy here of Reason Magazine, the cover story by Tim Cavanaugh called Farewell my Lovely — How Public Pensions Killed Progressive California. I mean these pensions are at war with the whole progressive idea.
And that’s because they’re running out of money.
Gary’s Endnote: And if you tune in for Part II on Monday, you’ll see just how out of money our states and cities are. You’ll also learn where the free market fits in. You’ll learn what all the solutions are too. See you then.
Steven Greenhut is director of PRI’s Journalism Center, which provides in-depth news coverage of California government, with a focus on uncovering waste, fraud and misuse of taxpayer dollars. He is author of the 2004 book, “Abuse of Power: How the Government Misuses Eminent Domain.” His columns have been published in newspapers across the country including the Wall Street Journal.
In 2005, Greenhut won the Institute for Justice’s Thomas Paine Award for his writing promoting freedom. He is a senior fellow at the Goldwater Institute in Phoenix. His new book on public employee unions is titled, “Plunder: How Public Employee Unions are Raiding Treasuries, Controlling our Lives and Bankrupting the Nation.”
Both the left and right helped create this problem and it’s going to help bankrupt us all. Get Plunder now and learn…
How public employee unions already turned one place in America into a Third World city (p. 8)
Why the current retirement system for public employees is an absolute scam (p. 9)
What the “Pension Tsunami” is and how it will affect you and your family (p. 71)
Just click here now to get your copy today.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Facebook Gets Exploited - Young Internet Millionaires Getting Ads For Free
Well, it was just a matter of time before someone figured out how to get Facebook to give them traffic for free.
Facebook is an interesting website. A lot different than Google.
All they care about is making sure people stay on Facebook… and don't navigate to any other websites.
It was that simple piece of knowledge that allowed 2 young internet hustlers to figure out how to be able to get unlimited amounts of traffic from Facebook for free.
And guess what?
After hoarding this secret for the past 2 years, they are finally showing 500 lucky people how they did it?
Why?
It's a long story - and to keep this article brief - just know that they are making money while you make money.
So it's a total win/win.
I highly recommend you download the software that allows you to get paid traffic for free by clicking the link below.
Click Here To Download Now!
If you get a page that says that the software is no longer available… then I am sorry.
But… If you see a download now button, make sure you download this software today.
It will most likely not be there tomorrow.
To Your Success,
William Stewart
Facebook is an interesting website. A lot different than Google.
All they care about is making sure people stay on Facebook… and don't navigate to any other websites.
It was that simple piece of knowledge that allowed 2 young internet hustlers to figure out how to be able to get unlimited amounts of traffic from Facebook for free.
And guess what?
After hoarding this secret for the past 2 years, they are finally showing 500 lucky people how they did it?
Why?
It's a long story - and to keep this article brief - just know that they are making money while you make money.
So it's a total win/win.
I highly recommend you download the software that allows you to get paid traffic for free by clicking the link below.
Click Here To Download Now!
If you get a page that says that the software is no longer available… then I am sorry.
But… If you see a download now button, make sure you download this software today.
It will most likely not be there tomorrow.
To Your Success,
William Stewart
Friday, February 25, 2011
Top 12 Countries Most Likely To Go Belly Up
Risk analysis firm Maplecroft just released its new fiscal risk index ranking of 163 countries. Europe trumps all other regions with 11 out of twelve courtiers rated as “extreme risk.” However, quite surprisingly, only one PIIGS country–Italy which takes the top spot–is in the top 12.
The others include many big economies in Europe - Belgium (2), France (3), Sweden (4), Germany (5), Hungary (6), Denmark (7), Austria (8), United Kingdom (10), Finland (11) and Greece (12). Japan at No. 9 is the only other country not in Europe within the highest risk category (See map below).
Aging Demographic
While high national debt and public spending are two common denominators, the study finds it is the aging demographic that puts these countries at extreme fiscal risk. An aging population will place increasing pressure on public expenditure such as pension and health care, while a shrinking working-age population means less productivity and less tax revenues to support public spending and debt payments.
High Dependency Ratio
Aging population also leads to high dependency ratio, or the number of people 65 and older to every 100 people of traditional working ages. For example, according to Maplecroft, that ratio in France is 1 to 47 (i.e. 47%), Germany at 59%, Italy with 62% and Japan at the very top with 74%. The ratio in UK is currently 25%, and is forecast to rise to 38% by 2050.
Low Senior Labor Participation Rate
Another problem within Europe is that it has a low labor participation rate in the 65+ age bracket. In fact, the labor market participation of age 65+ amongst the ‘extreme risk’ nations ranges from 1.4% in France, 7.71% in UK, to 11.7% in Sweden, vs. a 28% average across all countries ranked in the index.
U.S. – High Fiscal Risk
Although the United States is not ranked among the “extreme fiscal risk,” the country is nevertheless classified as “high risk”, along with Spain, also a member in PIIGS, Australia, Canada, and Russia.
Let’s take a look at the two metrics mentioned here.
The dependency ration in the U.S. is 22 in 2010, but is projected to climb rapidly to 35 in 2030, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, mainly due to baby boomers moving up into the 65+ age bracket. The ratio then will rise more slowly to 37 in 2050.
The labor participation for age 65 and over in the U.S. is at 17.5 according to data at Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). This is better than most of the European countries, but below the overall average of 28%.
Wave II To Include U.S.
Most people typically associate country’s fiscal risk to the government’s monetary and fiscal policies and Lehman Brothers has taught us that banking and housing crisis could push the entire world into the Great Recession. While these are definite risk factors, a highly productive labor force and relatively young population makeup tend to mean sustainable prosperity and better odds at climbing out of a hole.
The Maplecroft study concludes:
“…in high risk countries, it is increasingly likely that the private sector will be called upon to contribute in the form of pensions and private health care…. Without significant adjustments, such as raising taxes or reducing spending, countries risk going bankrupt.”
Meanwhile, the fact that U.S. dollar actually went down during this crisis in Libya and Egypt is very telling regarding the diminishing safe haven status of the dollar as well as the United States.
So, while widespread protests are still going on in Europe over pension age being raised and many austerity measures, amid the European sovereign debt crisis, the U.S. and other countries in the same “high fiscal risk” seem to be set for the wave II of this global fiscal chain of events.
The others include many big economies in Europe - Belgium (2), France (3), Sweden (4), Germany (5), Hungary (6), Denmark (7), Austria (8), United Kingdom (10), Finland (11) and Greece (12). Japan at No. 9 is the only other country not in Europe within the highest risk category (See map below).
Aging Demographic
While high national debt and public spending are two common denominators, the study finds it is the aging demographic that puts these countries at extreme fiscal risk. An aging population will place increasing pressure on public expenditure such as pension and health care, while a shrinking working-age population means less productivity and less tax revenues to support public spending and debt payments.
High Dependency Ratio
Aging population also leads to high dependency ratio, or the number of people 65 and older to every 100 people of traditional working ages. For example, according to Maplecroft, that ratio in France is 1 to 47 (i.e. 47%), Germany at 59%, Italy with 62% and Japan at the very top with 74%. The ratio in UK is currently 25%, and is forecast to rise to 38% by 2050.
Low Senior Labor Participation Rate
Another problem within Europe is that it has a low labor participation rate in the 65+ age bracket. In fact, the labor market participation of age 65+ amongst the ‘extreme risk’ nations ranges from 1.4% in France, 7.71% in UK, to 11.7% in Sweden, vs. a 28% average across all countries ranked in the index.
U.S. – High Fiscal Risk
Although the United States is not ranked among the “extreme fiscal risk,” the country is nevertheless classified as “high risk”, along with Spain, also a member in PIIGS, Australia, Canada, and Russia.
Let’s take a look at the two metrics mentioned here.
The dependency ration in the U.S. is 22 in 2010, but is projected to climb rapidly to 35 in 2030, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, mainly due to baby boomers moving up into the 65+ age bracket. The ratio then will rise more slowly to 37 in 2050.
The labor participation for age 65 and over in the U.S. is at 17.5 according to data at Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). This is better than most of the European countries, but below the overall average of 28%.
Wave II To Include U.S.
Most people typically associate country’s fiscal risk to the government’s monetary and fiscal policies and Lehman Brothers has taught us that banking and housing crisis could push the entire world into the Great Recession. While these are definite risk factors, a highly productive labor force and relatively young population makeup tend to mean sustainable prosperity and better odds at climbing out of a hole.
The Maplecroft study concludes:
“…in high risk countries, it is increasingly likely that the private sector will be called upon to contribute in the form of pensions and private health care…. Without significant adjustments, such as raising taxes or reducing spending, countries risk going bankrupt.”
Meanwhile, the fact that U.S. dollar actually went down during this crisis in Libya and Egypt is very telling regarding the diminishing safe haven status of the dollar as well as the United States.
So, while widespread protests are still going on in Europe over pension age being raised and many austerity measures, amid the European sovereign debt crisis, the U.S. and other countries in the same “high fiscal risk” seem to be set for the wave II of this global fiscal chain of events.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)