Twitter a Useful Business Tool

The new rave in social networks in 2009 is the 14 million user diarist called Twitter. This social network has had nearly 99 million hits last month and has become a very useful tool for companies such as Starbucks, Whole Foods and Dell looking for new ways to market their growing companies. Twitter allows constant status reports from the cell phones and the computers through 140 different character “tweets”. This might seem a little obsessive making updates at breakfast or even reading constant status changes of some of the many celebrities that are using the social network. Though this social network has proven to be huge advantages for companies to get feedback fast and even has become a way for companies to find ways to gain buyers through peoples posts. Intuit, the maker of QuickBooks and TurboTax, monitors Twitter for people writing about Mint, a personal finance Web site that competes with its Quicken Online. Intuit then writes to them and offers its service. Twitter was originated in 2006 and it has grown dramatically since then people are finding new uses for it all over the country. Corey Menscher developed the Kickbee, an elastic band with vibration sensors that his pregnant wife wore to alert Twitter each time the baby kicked. Many believe it could be used as a security device and it is used for people to gain group interest easier because on twitter you do not have to develop the groups like Facebook they seemingly self assemble themselves. This is proving to be a useful tool. Do you think that this could make blogging obsolete?

When do you see the economy rebounding?

LONDON, England — Alcoa, the largest U.S. aluminum producer, has kicked off the first quarter earnings season with a loss of nearly $500 million.
Markets haven’t taken the news well. Alcoa is a nasty reminder that the sting of the recession continues to bite. There will be plenty of other reminders.
The U.S. earnings decline has now lingered for six straight quarters and it’s not over yet. The expectation is that profits for companies in the S&P 500 will decline for three more quarters including the current one, according to Bloomberg data.
Marc Faber, a well-known analyst, predicted this week that the S&P could go back down to 750 — a fall of some 10 percent from its recent high — before rebounding in the summer.
Even though markets are supposed to anticipate recovery, there are still plenty of reasons to be cautious. Nouriel Roubini, who predicted the economic crisis we are now in, remains bearish, and expects the U.S. economy will continue to contract this year.
And Mike Mayo, the banks analyst, is predicting that loan losses at U.S. banks may exceed Great Depression levels.
Mayo, isn’t a household name. But anyone who follows Wall Street closely knows his name well. He’s the guy who correctly took a bearish stance on banks in 1999, when others remained bullish.
He thinks mortgage-related losses are only about half way to their peak. While credit card and consumer losses are about a third of the way from their worst levels.
George Soros expressed skepticism this week about whether the market rally had legs, pointing to problems in the real economy.
Soros says recently announced changes to fair value accounting rules will keep problem banks in business, and that in turn will only delay any economic recovery.
Confidence of course, plays an important role in any rebound. It was only a matter of time before the reminders of the depth of this downturn hit investors once again.
Alcoa is the first of those fresh reminders — it won’t be the last.
Meanwhile, the problems of the banks persist, and as long as that continues, any real recovery will have to wait.

by: Financial Analyst, Todd Benjamin

Bank failures: '09 tally reaches 23

Cape Fear Bank in Wilmington, N.C., and New Frontier Bank of Greeley, Colo. were shuttered. The closures will cost the FDIC an estimated $801 million.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Two banks failed Friday, bringing the 2009 tally to 23, according to the government.
Cape Fear Bank of Wilmington, N.C., and New Frontier Bank of Greeley, Colo., closed their doors for the last time Friday, said the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
Charleston, S.C.-based First Federal Savings and Loan Association of Charleston will assume control of all Cape Fear's deposits.
The failure of Cape Fear will cost the Deposit Insurance Fund an estimated $131 million, according to the FDIC.
Cape Fear Bank held assets worth $492 million and total deposits of $403 million as of March 31, according to the FDIC.
For New Frontier, the FDIC created the Deposit Insurance National Bank of Greeley which will remain open for roughly 30 days to allow depositors time to open accounts at other insured institutions. San Francisco-based Bank of the West will provide operational management.
At the end of the 30-day transition period, the FDIC said it will mail checks to those depositors who have not closed or transferred their accounts during the transition period.
The FDIC said the failure of New Frontier will cost the Deposit Insurance Fund an estimated $670 million. New Frontier held total assets of $2 billion and total deposits of about $1.5 billion as of March 31.
The FDIC will continue to fully insure individual accounts up to $250,000 through the end of 2009.
Biting the dust
Bank failures in 2009 have become a near-weekly occurrence, and regional banks have come under significant pressure during the recession. A total of 25 banks failed in 2008.
Rising unemployment has made it hard for many consumers to keep up with expenses, and has led to a higher default rate. As a result, credit has been extremely tight as banks have been fearful of lending to cash-strapped customers.
Banks are also wary of rising writedowns stemming from the rapid decline in home prices, which has left mortgage-backed assets almost worthless. Many remain reluctant to lend, despite several actions taken by the government to inject liquidity into the economy.
Stress tests
To determine how much capital banks need, the government began "stress tests" to see which institutions would survive under worse-than-expected economic conditions.
President Obama met Friday with top financial regulators to discuss the tests. Officials have said they will release the results by the end of April

Map
Where the banks are failingBank failures and foreclosures keep mounting
View map


By Julianne Pepitone, CNNMoney.com contributing writer
Last Updated: April 10, 2009: 9:33 PM ET

Some Quick Information on Student Loan Forgiveness and Repayment Programs

In a our time of an economic recession it is imperative that people make sure to keep out of the red, especially college students starting their career with a standard low income. This is why it is so important for students to have some common knowledge on the advantages of student loan forgiveness and repayment programs that are available to students all over the United States. These plans help eliminate that debt that is slowly piling up on many students not having the financial support to rid themselves of this debt. Ironically, most of these programs receive a low number of applicants demonstrating that many college students are oblivious of these opportunities. It is important to take advantage of these opportunities so you don’t need up like the hundreds of students that have debts ranging over $50 thousand dollars. Being said there is a difference between student loan forgiveness and student loan repayment. Student loan forgiveness programs are backed by the Federal government and through these loans students actually have portions of their debt erased from your lender’s books. Federal programs such as the Stafford and Perkins loans are a couple of forgiveness programs that offer this to college students. A student loan repayment program is more general than student forgiveness programs. They are used to eliminate loans from public and private lenders. Under these loans you can gain additional funds to pay off your loan or the payment can be made directly to your lender by your employer. Though it is important to acknowledge that the amount of eliminated under these student forgiveness and repayment loans could be taxable income on the year you receive them. Meaning if you have a thousand dollar loan this might increase your taxable income by the IRS by a comparable amount but, the significant advantages of these loans shouldn’t discourage you from using these programs. To make sure your loan is not subject to taxation you should include provisions on why they should be forgiven. Some provisions are listed on the link stating “The basics of Student Loan Forgiveness and Repayment Programs.” There are tons of these programs that are available gives students plenty of opinions. If you have any questions feel free to comment on the blog and I will try to help you out as best as possible.

Check out the New Features

For those you haven’t noticed there are new applications on the side of the blog that can help you keep up to date on all your business news needs including new podcasts and the Nobosh top 10. Both features include daily business news topics helping you the up and coming business mogul the opportunity to stay on top of the game. Thanks for your support and hope you are having a great time on the blog.

AIG $85 Billion Dollar Bailout

American International Group Inc. was seized by the United States for an estimated $85 billion deal proving that the companies collapse could pose too great a threat to our own financial system here in the United States. "The ability of AIG to meet its obligations is important to the stability of the U.S. financial system and to getting credit flowing to households and businesses," Federal Reserve spokeswoman Michelle Smith said. (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/16/aig-90-billion-bailout-fu_n_175190.html). Through the hard negotiations between the United States government gains 79.9% equity in the company in the form of warrants called equity participation notes. The two-year loan will carry an interest rate of 8.5 percentage points. The loan will be secured through the assets of AIG, including its profitable insurance businesses protecting the FED if the market continues to sink. And if AIG rebounds, taxpayers could look forward to a huge payoff through the government’s equity stake. AIG’s shares have are now down 94% for the year and this financial pain has been through is horrible corporate level management. Also the company lost billions through the crumbling housing market causes them to seek the help of the FED. With this money AIG will be paying off foreign and domestic banks some of whom received their own multibillion-dollar U.S. government bailouts. All this is fine and dandy if AIG ends up paying off their debt but what happens when they don’t. The FED is in more debt trying to bail themselves out through the down fall of multibillion dollar companies. Let us know how you feel and be sure to check the link on the side for additional information.

The Florida Marlins New Stadium and Its Promising Economic Gains

Let’s play ball!!! The Florida Marlins have finally came to agreements with the Miami Dade city council to build a state of the art baseball stadium in the middle of Little Havana on the old Orange Bowl grounds. The retractable roof ball park will seat 37,000 fans with plans to be done by 2012. The owner Jeffery Loria, hopes to host the World Baseball Classic Finals in 2013 gaining a higher fan base and promote the futuristic stadium. Not only are the Marlins management giving the Miami community and Marlins fans a new home for ball games; they are promising huge economic gains for the community. The Marlins are speculating that through the construction of the new ball park it should create $609 million dollars in direct construction expenditures and they are promising that $457 million will be spent locally to purchase goods and services and provide labor necessary for construction. They are predicting that the construction of the stadium will create a total economic output of $815 million for Miami. The Marlins are also promising approximately $341 million of income for Miami area workers during construction period and generating $24 million of fiscal revenues (taxes and fees) for state and local governments. Along with the construction benefit’s they are hoping to provide 2,708 jobs for the operations of the new ballpark and this would be an estimated $140 million of income for these workers. This sounds like a no brainier for the Miami Dade city council to sign this agreement but, the reason for their concerns is the $347 million that they have to dish out to make sure that this amazing new stadium gets built. The city has pushed off this stadium for almost ten years and many people think that this stadium could lead the city into a debt that is not needed during our economic recession. Though if the Marlins follow through on their promises this could allow for a ton of jobs for the city. For more info check out the executive summary for the Marlins new stadium at http://www.marlinsnewballpark.com/pdf/executive_summary.pdf . Are you behind the new ballpark?