The CEO of the company overstock.com always talks about the unfair practices of Wall Street. Yes they are unfair but he needs to look into his own company and see what the case is. For instance after last 4th quarter all the few big people in the companies got big fat paycheck for their bonuses while 1500 other employees got pocket money. Some people would say the by the law he is fair but I think that the morals and the way how the company is treating its own employees makes it look like Wall Street. The other thing, employees turnover, it is huge in this company. The way how it works: getting hired after that you get some small raises every year after 2 or 3 rises you have to be ready to go because they will fired you or they will laid you off. It does not matter how good did you work for them, does not matter what qualifications do you have they just want go get rid of you because they want to hire new person and pay him less. Those are some of the unfair by the moral law practices that the company promotes.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Thursday, July 14, 2011
7 smart lawn-fertilizer tips
7 smart lawn-fertilizer tips
Wasted fertilizer represents not only a significant pollutant affecting U.S. lakes, rivers and bays but also money 'down the storm drain.'
© Bill Grove/Vetta/Getty Images
more from The Daily Green
Maryland has become the latest state to ban the use of phosphorus in lawn fertilizers and limit the concentration of nitrogen. Other states with similar laws include Michigan, Wisconsin, Florida, New York and New Jersey, and the list is growing. The aim is to protect water quality, because one major source of pollution is the excess nutrients from lawn fertilization. But it's a pollution source that's difficult to control because it comes from so many different sources across the cities and suburbs of America.While you might not think of your quarter-acre as a source of pollution, grass — spread out over countless patches of individual yards — is actually the largest crop in many parts of the country. In Maryland, for instance, there are 1.3 million acres of turf, according to Environment Maryland, and 1.5 million acres in other forms of agriculture; and those grassy acres are annually doused with an estimated 86 million pounds of fertilizer, much of which ultimately washes into the Chesapeake Bay. In communities that have enacted phosphorus bans, water quality has improved relatively quickly.
Most, if not all, of these laws have exemptions for establishing new lawns, because phosphorus helps grass take root; and most, if not all, exempt organic fertilizers because they naturally contain small amounts of phosphorus. Most include provisions to enforce the law on commercial applicators, not homeowners, but whether or not you're compelled by law to comply, you can learn about proper lawn maintenance from following the guidelines set out in the new rules
4 investments for generating income
4 investments for generating income
Locking in a steady income stream is as hard as it's ever been. But it's not impossible. Here are strategies to consider.
Just look at what's happening in the neighborhood. Banks are offering less than 1% if you give them your money for a year. Hand it to the U.S. government for a 10-year bond, that bedrock of safety, and you'll get less than 3%.
And that's not the half of it. When the rock-bottom interest rates start to rise -- and they eventually will -- the value of your fixed-income investment could take a tumble as the return starts to look paltry.
This bind comes just as income has emerged as the top priority for more investors than ever.
"My clients are talking about it all the time," says Maureen Raihle, managing director in Chicago for Merrill Lynch's Private Banking and Investment Group.
No wonder: Some 40 million Americans are already over 65, and another 40 million are between 50 and 60. Everyone, it seems, is either retirement age or headed there -- and they all need income.
In fact, income generation in retirement was cited as more important than any other financial goal by nearly 80% of investors surveyed last summer by Allianz Global Investors.
So what should you do?
The classic solution is laddering -- buying bonds or CDs that mature at staggered intervals, such as every six months, once a year and every two years. Holding these short-term and longer-term bonds decreases interest rate risk by spreading it along maturities. If rates are rising, for example, as one bond matures the funds can be reinvested into higher-yield bonds.
But right now there's a big problem with laddering. Meg Green, chief executive of Meg Green & Associates in Miami, points out that rates are so low "you're not getting anything on the short end and are left with no income for the first few years."
But there are other options if you're willing to take on some risk.
Dividend-paying stocks
Some big consumer-staples companies are offering attractive dividend yields, such as Coca-Cola (KO, news) (its shares yield 2.8%), General Mills (GIS, news)(yielding 3.3%), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ, news) (yielding 3.4%) and Procter & Gamble (PG, news) (yielding 3.3%).While the yields will decline when the stocks strengthen, you could end up with some nice capital appreciation.
You can also play dividends through mutual funds. Carrie Coghill, chief executive of Coghill Investment Strategies in Pittsburgh, likes the Federated Strategic Value Dividend (SVAAX) fund, now yielding about 3.3%. It has the benefit of geographic diversification, with exposure to both U.S. and overseas companies.
High-yield bonds
High-yield bonds, commonly known as junk bonds, sport yields that are more attractive than those of Treasurys -- right now, their yields are about 4 percentage points higher.There's always the risk of default, but the default rate has fallen sharply, to 2.6% in April from a high of 14.5% in 2009, according to Moody's.
And credit quality could strengthen further in a rising-rate environment, because the first leg higher in Treasury yields usually corresponds with a pickup in the economy. That, in turn, benefits the companies that have issued the bonds.
One other risk: Trading can be relatively illiquid, making it tricky to exit.
Fed may offer a boost to the economy
Bernanke: Fed ready to act if economy worsens
Bernanke lays out options for new Fed action and warns Congress about danger of default
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, July 13, 2011, before the House Financial Services Committee where he delivered the semiannual Monetary Policy Report. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)Related Quotes
| Symbol | Price | Change |
|---|---|---|
| MCO | 36.65 | 0.00 |
 | ||
, On Wednesday July 13, 2011, 9:23 pm EDT
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told lawmakers Wednesday the Fed is ready to act if the economy gets weaker. He warned them that allowing the nation to default on its debt would send "shock waves through the entire financial system."Underscoring how fragile the economy remains two years after the Great Recession, Bernanke laid out three new steps the Fed could take, including a fresh round of government bond purchases designed to stimulate economic growth.
"We have to keep all the options on the table. We don't know where the economy is going to go," Bernanke told the House Financial Services Committee.
The Fed chairman stopped short of promising anything, but Wall Street appeared comforted that the central bank was poised to act. The Dow Jones industrial average was up more than 150 points during his testimony to Congress, and closed up 45.
But some of the early stock gains were lost after Richard Fisher, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, said in a speech that the Fed had already "pressed the limits of monetary policy."
The nation was creating about 200,000 jobs a month this spring. But hiring slowed almost to a standstill in June, with 18,000 new jobs. It takes about 125,000 a month just to keep up with population growth.
While Bernanke made his twice-yearly appearance before Congress, lawmakers and the White House were trying to salvage talks on how to reduce the federal deficit and whether to raise the limit on what the government can borrow.
If they fail to strike a deal on the debt limit by Aug. 2, the White House has said, the nation will default. President Barack Obama has said he cannot guarantee even that Social Security checks would go out the next day.
Moody's Investors Service threatened Wednesday to lower the United States' credit rating, saying there is a small but rising risk of default. Economists have warned that the credit system would tighten, not unlike the worst days of the 2008 financial crisis. Before Congress, Bernanke added his own dire predictions.
"If we went so far as to default on the debt, it would be a major crisis because the Treasury security is viewed as the safest and most liquid security in the world," he said.
"It's the foundation for most of our financial -- for much of our financial system," he added. "And the notion that it would become suddenly unreliable and illiquid would throw shock waves through the entire global financial system."
Asked whether interest rates would go up for everyday Americans, Bernanke said: "Absolutely."
The Fed bought $600 billion in government bonds late last year and early this year, a program designed to keep interest rates low and support the prices of assets such as stocks.
It was the second time the Fed had taken that step since the recession started. It was known on Wall Street as "QE2," or a second round of "quantitative easing." Besides a third round, Bernanke laid out two additional options if the economy gets weaker:
-- The Fed could offer financial markets more clarity about how long it tends to leave interest rates at record lows, where they have stood since December 2008. For now, the Fed says only that rates will remain "exceptionally low" for an "extended period."
-- It could start paying banks less interest on the excess money they park with the Fed. It doesn't pay much now -- 0.25 percent. But paying even less would encourage the banks to loan the money out rather than sending it to the central bank.
Bernanke said the measures would be necessary only if deflation, a cycle of falling prices that damages the economy, became a threat. For now, prices are still rising. Some inflation is healthy, economists say.
Critics of the Fed's two previous rounds of "quantitative easing" have said the real threat is the opposite -- that the central bank will create runaway inflation by flooding the economy with money.
Bernanke said the Fed was ready to raise interest rates if inflation becomes a serious threat.
The Fed has said that temporary factors, such as high gas prices and manufacturing disruptions caused by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, are partly to blame for the economy's sudden sluggishness.
Bernanke told Congress that the Fed believes those impediments should ease in the second half of the year.
Laying out the three options was "a very generic statement, rather than a specific commitment to doing this," said Michael Hanson, senior economist at Bank of America. He said Bernanke was trying to "comfort people that the Fed is ready to act if needed."
Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist at Capital Economics, said any decision on Fed action probably wouldn't happen until next year.
The last time the Fed bought up Treasury bonds, Bernanke laid out the plans in a speech Aug. 27, 2010. The Dow stood at about 10,000 at the time and rallied to higher than 12,800 this spring before pulling back. It closed Wednesday at 12,491.
"The market's reaction reflects Bernanke's message that either the economy will reaccelerate or the Fed will step in again," said Jim O'Sullivan, chief economist at MF Global, a brokerage.
At least at first, the market appeared to treat Bernanke's comments before Congress as a similar moment to his August 2010 speech, delivered in Jackson Hole, Wyo., said Joe Saluzzi, co-head of equity trading at Themis Trading in Chatham, N.J.
"It's just silliness, in my opinion," he said. "There's nothing new here. But the bulls are taking this as, `This is fantastic.'"
AP Economics Writer Christopher S. Rugaber in Washington and AP Business Writers Matthew Craft and David K. Randall in New York contributed to this report.
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