The increase in China’s elderly people to more than 200 million has created a host of challenges, from a shrinking labor force to soaring pension needs. But there’s a silver-haired lining.
The market of goods and services for China’s rapidly aging population will reach 4 trillion yuan ($652 billion) this year, or eight percent of GDP, according to the “China Report on the Development of the Silver Hair Industry” issued Tuesday in Beijing.
The industry is expected to rise to 106 trillion yuan ($17 trillion) by 2050, amounting to a third of the Chinese economy. That would make it the world’s largest market for the aged. That year China will have 480 million people over 60—one quarter of the world’s elderly—says the report, which was published Sept. 23 by the China National Committee on Aging.
STORY: China's Legions of Tourists Will Spend $155 Billion Abroad This Year
“The silver hair industry has started the rapid booming phase, making it a new promising industry in China,” said Wu Yushao, deputy director of the committee, reports the China Dailytoday. “The major reason for the boom is based on the growing number of aging people.”
Future opportunities to serve the elderly will be clustered in four main fields, the report explains. Those include appliances (to serve the less-mobile elderly, for example), services (such as home care and special transportation), real estate (assisted living centers), and financial services. The latter—insurance and money management for the elderly, for example—will make up the biggest portion of the market and still has lots of room to grow.
While 6.21 million people work in the U.S. financial industry and more than half focus on retirees, China has only 5.27 million, estimates Dang Junwu, deputy head of the Beijing’s Chinese Research Center on Aging. “There has been a huge gap in the financing industry for senior residents between China and the developed countries,” Dang told the English-language paper.
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Thursday, December 25, 2014
The SAT Essay Breakdown
This tip for improving your SAT score was provided by Jake Davidson at Veritas Prep.
To many students, the SAT essay is the equivalent of an English class surprise prompt for which you have 25 minutes to write about a subject with zero preparation. This perception of the essay adds a stigma to the first section of the SAT and can even act as a barrier to success on the test. The good news, however, is that the SAT essay is nothing like a surprise essay in English class. Even though you have no idea what the prompt will be, you can still come into the test with a full outline, knowing exactly what you will write.
Before delving farther into the outline, it is important to remember how much of a factor the SAT essay plays in your overall test performance. In addition to accounting for a large portion of your writing score, it is always the first section of the SAT. Like any test or competition, starting out well and feeling confident about your performance from the get-go can help ensure a successful test. Excelling on the essay will give you a confidence boost through the rest of the SAT.
BLOG: Learn From Your Mistakes on the SAT
Since the essay is so important, it’s a good idea to dedicate a lot of preparation time to practice essays, as well as build a strong outline with great examples. It might seem weird to create an outline without knowing the prompt, but the outline provides structure. Once you get the prompt, you can apply your examples to any broad concept the SAT asks you to write about.
All SAT prompts are fairly broad; they ask about worldly themes. While you don’t know the specific question the College Board will ask, it’s almost guaranteed that you can apply any example from literature or history to prove your point. The key is to take a hard stance—one way or the other—on the question, either agreeing wholeheartedly with the prompt or disagreeing with the statement. Once you do this in your thesis, it’s a matter of plugging in pieces for the rest.
It’s important to fill up both pages on the essay. Studies have shown that this automatically increases your chances of a higher score on the essay. The best way to do this is through a five-paragraph essay structure. While this may not be the best advice for English class, it works wonders on the SAT.
BLOG: The Best Way to Structure a Study Session
In the five-paragraph essay, you will have three examples. These examples should be from history, literature, or current events. Avoid writing about personal experiences. It doesn’t matter which examples you use, as long as you are very comfortable and knowledgeable about each of the three.
This is where practice comes in. Writing countless SAT essays ahead of time, using the same prompt, will be instrumental in ensuring that you are comfortable on the day of the test. If you have already used your various historical and literary examples for a multitude of broad prompts, applying them on the test will be easy.
Knowing which examples you are going to use and how you are going to structure your essay should add a measure of comfort for the essay portion of the test. With enough preparation and practice, a 10 or 12 on the essay is within reach for every test-taker. Moreover, starting off on the right foot with a strong essay will leave you feeling confident and ready to succeed on the rest of the test.
BLOG: Two Strategies That Will Boost Your SAT Score
Plan on taking the SAT soon? Take advantage of Veritas Prep’s free SAT resources, including free SAT video lessons.
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Thursday, December 11, 2014
Harvard professor sorry for fighting restaurant over $4
After accusing a restaurant of overcharging him, Edelman began an epic back and forth with the management that went viral. Now, the professor is apologizing for letting the dispute spiral so out of control. According to Boston.com, the saga began last week when Edelman placed an order at a family-operated Boston-area Chinese restaurant named Sichuan Garden. He was hungry for sauteed prawns with roasted chili and peanut, stir-fried chicken with spicy capsicum, braised fish filets and napa cabbage with roasted chili, and shredded chicken with spicy garlic sauce.
When he placed his order, Edelman thought his meal would run him $53.35. But when he checked his receipt, he noticed he'd been charged an additional $4 -- or, as he noted in the first of several emails he sent to Sichuan Garden, an apparent "increase of $1 on each and every item." Celebrated bartender Ran Duan, who manages the bar inside his parents' Sichuan Garden location, was the one to respond to Edelman's complaint. In doing so, he kicked off an epic three-day email exchange that ended with Edelman, who is also a lawyer and fashions himself as a "Web sheriff," considering legal action against the restaurant.
"Under Massachusetts law, it turns out to be a serious violation to advertise one price and charge a different price. I urge you to cease this practice immediately," he wrote. "In the interim, I suggest that Sichuan Garden refund me three times the amount of the overcharge. The tripling reflects the approach provided under the Massachusetts consumer protection statute, MGL 93a, wherein consumers broadly receive triple damages for certain intentional violations."
Whether Edelman offered a correct interpretation of the law in that instance has been up for debate. But Edelman's email exchange with Duan didn't end there. After Duan offered to pay Edelman $3 as restitution, the professor replied that giving only him a refund would be "an exceptionally light sanction for the violation that has occurred." As a result, Edelman told Duan that he'd reported the issue to local authorities and hoped that would cause the restaurant to "identify all consumers affected and to provide refunds to all of them."
After more back-and-forth, Duan eventually had to ask: "Is this really worth your time?" For Edelman, the answer was "yes." He told Business Insider in a statement that "the restaurant at issue knew the website prices had been 'out of date for quite some time.' At what point should they do something about it? I'm pleased to have at least gotten the problem fixed for the benefit of others."
The professor seemed to have a change of heart on Wednesday, posting an apology to his website. "Having reflected on my interaction with Ran, including what I said and how I said it, it's clear that I was very much out of line," Edelman wrote. "I aspire to act with great respect and humility in dealing with others, no matter what the situation. Clearly I failed to do so. I am sorry, and I intend to do better in the future. I have reached out to Ran and will apologize to him personally as well." On Twitter, Edelman had been raked over the coals, with some accusing him of living up to the worst stereotypes about lawyers and Harvard minds.
28 Internet acronyms every parent should know
If you think you are tech savvy all because you know what "LOL" means, let me test your coolness.
Any idea what "IWSN" stands for in Internet slang?
It's a declarative statement: I want sex now. If it makes you feel any better, I had no clue, and neither did a number of women I asked about it. Acronyms are widely popular across the Internet, especially on social media and texting apps, because, in some cases, they offer a shorthand for communication that is meant to be instant.
READ:Chances are, your teen has sexted
Teen likes: The '100 club' Talking to teens about social media Why Zuckerberg's sister says to log off So "LMK" -- let me know -- and "WYCM" -- will you call me? -- are innocent enough. But the issue, especially for parents, is understanding the slang that could signal some dangerous teen behavior, such as "GNOC,'" which means "get naked on camera."
And it certainly helps for a parent to know that "PIR" means parent in room, which could mean the teen wants to have a conversation about things that his or her mom and dad might not approve of. Katie Greer is a national Internet safety expert who has provided Internet and technology safety training to schools, law enforcement agencies and community organizations throughout the country for more than seven years.
She says research shows that a majority of teens believe that their parents are starting to keep tabs on their online and social media lives. "With that, acronyms can be used by kids to hide certain parts of their conversations from attentive parents," Greer said. "Acronyms used for this purpose could potentially raise some red flags for parents."
But parents would drive themselves crazy, she said, if they tried to decode every text, email and post they see their teen sending or receiving. "I've seen some before and it's like 'The Da Vinci Code,' where only the kids hold the true meanings (and most of the time they're fairly innocuous)," she said. Still, if parents come across any acronyms they believe could be problematic, they should talk with their kids about them, said Greer. But how, on earth, is a parent to keep up with all these acronyms, especially since new ones are being introduced every day? "It's a lot to keep track of," Greer said. Parents can always do a Google search if they stumble upon a phrase they aren't familiar with, but the other option is asking their children, since these phrases can have different meanings for different people. "Asking kids not only gives you great information, but it shows that you're paying attention and sparks the conversation around their online behaviors, which is imperative."
READ: Teen 'like' and FOMO anxiety
Micky Morrison, a mom of two in Islamorada, Florida, says she finds Internet acronyms "baffling, annoying and hilarious at the same time." She's none too pleased that acronyms like "LOL" and "OMG" are being adopted into conversation, and already told her 12-year-old son -- whom she jokingly calls "deprived," since he does not have a phone yet -- that acronym talk is not allowed in her presence. But the issue really came to a head when her son and his adolescent friends got together and were all "ignoring one another with noses in their phones," said Morrison, founder of BabyWeightTV. "I announced my invention of a new acronym: 'PYFPD.' Put your freaking phone down." LOL!
But back to the serious issue at hand, below are 28 Internet acronyms, which I learned from Greer and other parents I talked with, as well as from sites such as NoSlang.com and NetLingo.com, and from Cool Mom Tech's 99 acronyms and phrases that every parent should know. After you read this list, you'll likely start looking at your teen's texts in a whole new way.
1. IWSN - I want sex now
2. GNOC - Get naked on camera
3. NIFOC - Naked in front of computer
4. PIR - Parent in room
5 CU46 - See you for sex
6. 53X - Sex
7. 9 - Parent watching
8. 99 - Parent gone
9. 1174 - Party meeting place
10. THOT - That hoe over there
11. CID - Acid (the drug)
12. Broken - Hungover from alcohol
13. 420 - Marijuana
14. POS - Parent over shoulder
15. SUGARPIC - Suggestive or erotic photo
16. KOTL - Kiss on the lips
17. (L)MIRL - Let's meet in real life 18. PRON - Porn
19. TDTM - Talk dirty to me
20. 8 - Oral sex
21. CD9 - Parents around/Code 9
22. IPN - I'm posting naked
23. LH6 - Let's have sex
24. WTTP - Want to trade pictures?
25. DOC - Drug of choice
26. TWD - Texting while driving
27. GYPO - Get your pants off
28. KPC- Keeping parents clueless
Read More...
It's a declarative statement: I want sex now. If it makes you feel any better, I had no clue, and neither did a number of women I asked about it. Acronyms are widely popular across the Internet, especially on social media and texting apps, because, in some cases, they offer a shorthand for communication that is meant to be instant.
READ:Chances are, your teen has sexted
Teen likes: The '100 club' Talking to teens about social media Why Zuckerberg's sister says to log off So "LMK" -- let me know -- and "WYCM" -- will you call me? -- are innocent enough. But the issue, especially for parents, is understanding the slang that could signal some dangerous teen behavior, such as "GNOC,'" which means "get naked on camera."
And it certainly helps for a parent to know that "PIR" means parent in room, which could mean the teen wants to have a conversation about things that his or her mom and dad might not approve of. Katie Greer is a national Internet safety expert who has provided Internet and technology safety training to schools, law enforcement agencies and community organizations throughout the country for more than seven years.
She says research shows that a majority of teens believe that their parents are starting to keep tabs on their online and social media lives. "With that, acronyms can be used by kids to hide certain parts of their conversations from attentive parents," Greer said. "Acronyms used for this purpose could potentially raise some red flags for parents."
But parents would drive themselves crazy, she said, if they tried to decode every text, email and post they see their teen sending or receiving. "I've seen some before and it's like 'The Da Vinci Code,' where only the kids hold the true meanings (and most of the time they're fairly innocuous)," she said. Still, if parents come across any acronyms they believe could be problematic, they should talk with their kids about them, said Greer. But how, on earth, is a parent to keep up with all these acronyms, especially since new ones are being introduced every day? "It's a lot to keep track of," Greer said. Parents can always do a Google search if they stumble upon a phrase they aren't familiar with, but the other option is asking their children, since these phrases can have different meanings for different people. "Asking kids not only gives you great information, but it shows that you're paying attention and sparks the conversation around their online behaviors, which is imperative."
READ: Teen 'like' and FOMO anxiety
Micky Morrison, a mom of two in Islamorada, Florida, says she finds Internet acronyms "baffling, annoying and hilarious at the same time." She's none too pleased that acronyms like "LOL" and "OMG" are being adopted into conversation, and already told her 12-year-old son -- whom she jokingly calls "deprived," since he does not have a phone yet -- that acronym talk is not allowed in her presence. But the issue really came to a head when her son and his adolescent friends got together and were all "ignoring one another with noses in their phones," said Morrison, founder of BabyWeightTV. "I announced my invention of a new acronym: 'PYFPD.' Put your freaking phone down." LOL!
But back to the serious issue at hand, below are 28 Internet acronyms, which I learned from Greer and other parents I talked with, as well as from sites such as NoSlang.com and NetLingo.com, and from Cool Mom Tech's 99 acronyms and phrases that every parent should know. After you read this list, you'll likely start looking at your teen's texts in a whole new way.
1. IWSN - I want sex now
2. GNOC - Get naked on camera
3. NIFOC - Naked in front of computer
4. PIR - Parent in room
5 CU46 - See you for sex
6. 53X - Sex
7. 9 - Parent watching
8. 99 - Parent gone
9. 1174 - Party meeting place
10. THOT - That hoe over there
11. CID - Acid (the drug)
12. Broken - Hungover from alcohol
13. 420 - Marijuana
14. POS - Parent over shoulder
15. SUGARPIC - Suggestive or erotic photo
16. KOTL - Kiss on the lips
17. (L)MIRL - Let's meet in real life 18. PRON - Porn
19. TDTM - Talk dirty to me
20. 8 - Oral sex
21. CD9 - Parents around/Code 9
22. IPN - I'm posting naked
23. LH6 - Let's have sex
24. WTTP - Want to trade pictures?
25. DOC - Drug of choice
26. TWD - Texting while driving
27. GYPO - Get your pants off
28. KPC- Keeping parents clueless
Facebook knows its users are human
That's why the company no longer refers to members as "users" internally. Instead it calls them "people." The switch in lingo has even trickled down to internal computer programs. Margaret Gould Stewart, the company's director of product design, explained Facebook's softened approach to humanizing its customers at the Atlantic Technology Conference in San Francisco on Wednesday.
"It's kind of arrogant to think that the only reason that people exist is to use what you built. They actually have lives, like, outside of the experience they have using your product," she said. Facebook has an empathy team that designs programs to help engineers and designers understand what it means to be an advertiser or small business -
- an experience Stewart says they cannot immediately relate to. That can help Facebook employees create better products for those advertisers and be more invested in figuring out why a campaign did or didn't take off with Facebook users (sorry, people). On its own, swapping out a few words doesn't mean much, but it shows that a giant global company is working to shift its internal culture. If engineers, designers and other employees think of the real people on the other side of their products, it might help them create something more personal and human.
US Oil Drops Below $60 After Saudis Question Need to Cut Output
West Texas Intermediate oil fell below $60 a barrel for the first time since July 2009 as Saudi Arabia questioned the need to cut output, bolstering speculation that the kingdom will defend market share.
Futures slid as much as 1.8 percent in New York and Brent fell 1 percent in London. The market will correct itself, according to Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi. Global demand for crude from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will drop next year by about 300,000 barrels a day to 28.9 million, the least since 2003, the group predicted Wednesday.
Oil’s collapse into a bear market has been exacerbated as Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Kuwait, OPEC’s three largest members, offered the deepest discounts on exports to Asia in at least six years. The group decided against reducing its output quota at a meeting last month, letting prices drop to a level that may slow U.S. production that’s surged to the highest level in more than three decades. Special: US Intelligence Adviser Exposes Covert Plan to Destroy the US Economy
“The path of least resistance is lower,” Mike Wittner, head of oil research at Societe Generale SA in New York, said by phone. “This week we’ve had the Saudis cut prices to Asia, OPEC reduced the call on its crude and al-Naimi reiterated that they aren’t cutting output and letting the market do its work. They all reinforce the bearish message.”
WTI for January delivery dropped as much as $1.09 to $59.85 a barrel at 2:19 p.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Total volume was 14 percent above the 100-day average for the time of day. The U.S. benchmark is down 38 percent this year.
Maintain Quota
Brent for January settlement declined 50 cents to $63.74 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. Volume was 1.3 percent higher than the 100-day average. The North Sea crude traded at a $3.61 premium to WTI. Prices are down 42 percent in 2014.
“When you see a persistent trend like this you can be sure there are a lot of investors caught on the wrong side,” Bill O’Grady, chief market strategist at Confluence Investment Management in St. Louis, which oversees $2.4 billion, said by phone. “They are looking for any glimmer of green as an opportunity to get out of positions. Any moves higher will be of short duration.”
Saudi Arabia led OPEC’s decision on Nov. 27 to maintain its collective quota at 30 million barrels a day, resisting calls from members including Venezuela to reduce output. The group pumped 30.56 million barrels a day in November, exceeding its target for a sixth straight month, a Bloomberg survey of companies, producers and analysts showed. Special: Are You an AARP Member? Please Read Immediately…
Naimi Comments
“Why should I cut production?” Al-Naimi said to reporters in Lima, Peru, where he’s attending United Nations climate talks. “This is a market and I’m selling in a market. Why should I cut?”
Venezuela wants special discussions to be held before the group’s next scheduled gathering on June 5, Foreign Minister Rafael Ramirez said on the Telesur network. The upfront cost of contracts to insure Venezuelan debt against non-payment for five years has jumped to 60 percent, pushing the implied probability of default to 94 percent, the highest in the world.
“Crude prices are back to 2005 levels and non-OPEC production will start to be challenged,” Olivier Jakob, managing director of Zug, Switzerland-based consultant Petromatrix GmbH, said by e-mail. “Venezuela might be a failed state before we start to see an impact on U.S. shale output.”
Biggest Discount
Kuwait offered the biggest discount to its Asian customers since December 2008, following Saudi Arabia and Iraq in reducing export prices. Kuwait Petroleum Corp. will sell its crude at $3.95 a barrel below a Middle East benchmark next month, the state-owned company said in a faxed statement.
“The market is in free fall,” Stephen Schork, president of Schork Group Inc., a consulting group in Villanova, Pennsylvania, said by phone. “Prices will continue to fall until the Saudis signal that they are prepared to take action or we see the global economy pick up.”
U.S. crude production expanded to 9.12 million barrels a day in the week ended Dec. 5, the Energy Information Administration reported yesterday. That’s the fastest rate in weekly records that started in January 1983, according to the EIA, the Energy Department’s statistical arm.
Fracking Boom
The nation’s oil boom has been driven by a combination of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, which has unlocked supplies from shale formations including the Eagle Ford in Texas and the Bakken in North Dakota. Special: Doctors Reversing Diabetes With Magnesium
“Is WTI at $60 enough to cause a meaningful cut in U.S. production this month? I don’t think so,” Christopher Bellew, senior broker at Jefferies International Ltd. in London, said by e-mail. “We will have to see lower prices before non-OPEC production cuts emerge.” U.S. crude inventories increased by 1.45 million barrels to 380.8 million last week, the EIA said. Gasoline inventories jumped 8.2 million barrels to 216.8 million. That’s the biggest gain since September 2001.
Gasoline futures slipped 0.12 cent to $1.6406 a gallon on the Nymex. The contract touched $1.6289, the lowest level since September 2009. Regular gasoline at the pump declined 1.8 cents to $2.621 a gallon Wednesday, the least expensive since February 2010, according to Heathrow, Florida-based AAA, the nation’s biggest motoring group. Read Latest Breaking News from Newsmax.com http://www.Newsmax.com/Finance/oil-wti-crude-2009-sixty-dollars/2014/12/11/id/612494/#ixzz3LeGs3YZm Urgent: Should Obamacare Be Repealed? Vote Here Now!
Read More...
Futures slid as much as 1.8 percent in New York and Brent fell 1 percent in London. The market will correct itself, according to Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi. Global demand for crude from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will drop next year by about 300,000 barrels a day to 28.9 million, the least since 2003, the group predicted Wednesday.
Oil’s collapse into a bear market has been exacerbated as Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Kuwait, OPEC’s three largest members, offered the deepest discounts on exports to Asia in at least six years. The group decided against reducing its output quota at a meeting last month, letting prices drop to a level that may slow U.S. production that’s surged to the highest level in more than three decades. Special: US Intelligence Adviser Exposes Covert Plan to Destroy the US Economy
“The path of least resistance is lower,” Mike Wittner, head of oil research at Societe Generale SA in New York, said by phone. “This week we’ve had the Saudis cut prices to Asia, OPEC reduced the call on its crude and al-Naimi reiterated that they aren’t cutting output and letting the market do its work. They all reinforce the bearish message.”
WTI for January delivery dropped as much as $1.09 to $59.85 a barrel at 2:19 p.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Total volume was 14 percent above the 100-day average for the time of day. The U.S. benchmark is down 38 percent this year.
Maintain Quota
Brent for January settlement declined 50 cents to $63.74 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. Volume was 1.3 percent higher than the 100-day average. The North Sea crude traded at a $3.61 premium to WTI. Prices are down 42 percent in 2014.
“When you see a persistent trend like this you can be sure there are a lot of investors caught on the wrong side,” Bill O’Grady, chief market strategist at Confluence Investment Management in St. Louis, which oversees $2.4 billion, said by phone. “They are looking for any glimmer of green as an opportunity to get out of positions. Any moves higher will be of short duration.”
Saudi Arabia led OPEC’s decision on Nov. 27 to maintain its collective quota at 30 million barrels a day, resisting calls from members including Venezuela to reduce output. The group pumped 30.56 million barrels a day in November, exceeding its target for a sixth straight month, a Bloomberg survey of companies, producers and analysts showed. Special: Are You an AARP Member? Please Read Immediately…
Naimi Comments
“Why should I cut production?” Al-Naimi said to reporters in Lima, Peru, where he’s attending United Nations climate talks. “This is a market and I’m selling in a market. Why should I cut?”
Venezuela wants special discussions to be held before the group’s next scheduled gathering on June 5, Foreign Minister Rafael Ramirez said on the Telesur network. The upfront cost of contracts to insure Venezuelan debt against non-payment for five years has jumped to 60 percent, pushing the implied probability of default to 94 percent, the highest in the world.
“Crude prices are back to 2005 levels and non-OPEC production will start to be challenged,” Olivier Jakob, managing director of Zug, Switzerland-based consultant Petromatrix GmbH, said by e-mail. “Venezuela might be a failed state before we start to see an impact on U.S. shale output.”
Biggest Discount
Kuwait offered the biggest discount to its Asian customers since December 2008, following Saudi Arabia and Iraq in reducing export prices. Kuwait Petroleum Corp. will sell its crude at $3.95 a barrel below a Middle East benchmark next month, the state-owned company said in a faxed statement.
“The market is in free fall,” Stephen Schork, president of Schork Group Inc., a consulting group in Villanova, Pennsylvania, said by phone. “Prices will continue to fall until the Saudis signal that they are prepared to take action or we see the global economy pick up.”
U.S. crude production expanded to 9.12 million barrels a day in the week ended Dec. 5, the Energy Information Administration reported yesterday. That’s the fastest rate in weekly records that started in January 1983, according to the EIA, the Energy Department’s statistical arm.
Fracking Boom
The nation’s oil boom has been driven by a combination of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, which has unlocked supplies from shale formations including the Eagle Ford in Texas and the Bakken in North Dakota. Special: Doctors Reversing Diabetes With Magnesium
“Is WTI at $60 enough to cause a meaningful cut in U.S. production this month? I don’t think so,” Christopher Bellew, senior broker at Jefferies International Ltd. in London, said by e-mail. “We will have to see lower prices before non-OPEC production cuts emerge.” U.S. crude inventories increased by 1.45 million barrels to 380.8 million last week, the EIA said. Gasoline inventories jumped 8.2 million barrels to 216.8 million. That’s the biggest gain since September 2001.
Gasoline futures slipped 0.12 cent to $1.6406 a gallon on the Nymex. The contract touched $1.6289, the lowest level since September 2009. Regular gasoline at the pump declined 1.8 cents to $2.621 a gallon Wednesday, the least expensive since February 2010, according to Heathrow, Florida-based AAA, the nation’s biggest motoring group. Read Latest Breaking News from Newsmax.com http://www.Newsmax.com/Finance/oil-wti-crude-2009-sixty-dollars/2014/12/11/id/612494/#ixzz3LeGs3YZm Urgent: Should Obamacare Be Repealed? Vote Here Now!
Survey: Buffett Gave Biggest Charitable Contribution of 2014
A donation by legendary investor Warren Buffett heads the list of the 10 biggest single charitable contributions for 2014, compiled by Wealth-X, a wealth research firm.
Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, donated $2.1 billion to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in the form of 16.6 million Berkshire shares. That was 3 percent of his net worth.
The list consists entirely of Americans, except for Hong Kong real estate moguls Ronnie and Gerald Chan (brothers). Together they gave $350 million to Harvard, the single biggest gift in its history. Ken Griffin, founder of hedge fund manager Citadel, also donated to Harvard: $150 million, or 3 percent of his net worth. Nicholas Woodman, founder of GoPro, donated $497.5 million, or 10 percent of his net worth, to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation.
Special: US Intelligence Adviser Exposes Covert Plan to Destroy the US Economy
Gert Boyle, chairwoman of Columbia Sportswear, gave $100 million, or 16 percent of her net worth, to Oregon Health & Science University. And John Morgridge, former CEO of Cisco Systems, donated $100 million, or 6 percent of his net worth, to the University of Wisconsin. Meanwhile, billionaire Michael Bloomberg, former mayor of New York City, says his ultra-wealthy brethren must be realistic in their philanthropy. They can't adopt the attitude that they will solve the world's problems by themselves, he told The New York Times.
"All the billionaires added together are, as they’d say, bupkis compared to the amount of money that government spends," he said. "It’s trillions of dollars. Private philanthropy can’t do that."
Read More...
The list consists entirely of Americans, except for Hong Kong real estate moguls Ronnie and Gerald Chan (brothers). Together they gave $350 million to Harvard, the single biggest gift in its history. Ken Griffin, founder of hedge fund manager Citadel, also donated to Harvard: $150 million, or 3 percent of his net worth. Nicholas Woodman, founder of GoPro, donated $497.5 million, or 10 percent of his net worth, to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation.
Special: US Intelligence Adviser Exposes Covert Plan to Destroy the US Economy
Gert Boyle, chairwoman of Columbia Sportswear, gave $100 million, or 16 percent of her net worth, to Oregon Health & Science University. And John Morgridge, former CEO of Cisco Systems, donated $100 million, or 6 percent of his net worth, to the University of Wisconsin. Meanwhile, billionaire Michael Bloomberg, former mayor of New York City, says his ultra-wealthy brethren must be realistic in their philanthropy. They can't adopt the attitude that they will solve the world's problems by themselves, he told The New York Times.
"All the billionaires added together are, as they’d say, bupkis compared to the amount of money that government spends," he said. "It’s trillions of dollars. Private philanthropy can’t do that."
NYT Poll: Optimism for American Dream Falls to Lowest Level in Nearly 20 Years
Commentators may be expressing optimism about the economy, but many Americans apparently don't see it that way.
Only 64 percent of the 1,006 adults polled by The New York Times said they still believe in the American dream. That's the worst reading in about 20 years. Even at the peak of the financial crisis in early 2009, 72 percent of Americans still believed hard work could produce wealth for them.
"Things have changed a lot," Michael Herdmann, a 54-year-old retired public works employee in Ohio, told The Times. "The decks have been stacked against not only the lower class but also the lower middle class."
Nearly half of the respondents believe the economy is in good condition, including 6 percent who say it is very good and 40 percent who say it is fairly good, while 29 percent say it is fairly bad and 22 percent say it is very bad. While 43 percent believe the economy is staying about the same, 30 percent say it is getting better and 26 percent say it is getting worse.
Jobs may not be so much the issue now, with non-farm payrolls rising more than 200,000 for 10 straight months. But wages have been stagnant since the financial crisis ended. Average hourly wages rose only 2.1 percent in the year ended in November, barely outstripping the 1.7 percent increase for consumer prices in the year ended in October.
To be sure, millionaires are more upbeat. More than 50 percent of those with investible assets of $1 million and up think the economy will strengthen in the next year, up from 42 percent six months ago, according to a CNBC survey conducted in November by Spectrem Group. So what accounts for the increased enthusiasm?
Accelerating job growth, the continuing ascent of stock prices and some degree of political certainty now that the mid-term elections are over, Tom Wynn, director of affluent research for Spectrem, told CNBC.
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Nearly half of the respondents believe the economy is in good condition, including 6 percent who say it is very good and 40 percent who say it is fairly good, while 29 percent say it is fairly bad and 22 percent say it is very bad. While 43 percent believe the economy is staying about the same, 30 percent say it is getting better and 26 percent say it is getting worse.
Jobs may not be so much the issue now, with non-farm payrolls rising more than 200,000 for 10 straight months. But wages have been stagnant since the financial crisis ended. Average hourly wages rose only 2.1 percent in the year ended in November, barely outstripping the 1.7 percent increase for consumer prices in the year ended in October.
To be sure, millionaires are more upbeat. More than 50 percent of those with investible assets of $1 million and up think the economy will strengthen in the next year, up from 42 percent six months ago, according to a CNBC survey conducted in November by Spectrem Group. So what accounts for the increased enthusiasm?
Accelerating job growth, the continuing ascent of stock prices and some degree of political certainty now that the mid-term elections are over, Tom Wynn, director of affluent research for Spectrem, told CNBC.
Xbox One Outsells PS4 For November
It just goes to show you: if you radically redesign your console, slash the price repeatedly and offer a slew of free games, people will take notice. The PS4 has dominated the current-gen console market since launch last year, but the recently-released NPD report has Microsoft’s Xbox One outselling Sony’s console in the US for the first time. Here’s Mike Nichols, Microsoft’s Corporate Vice President of Xbox Marketing:
“We are committed to making Xbox the best place to play, with this year’s best games, the best community of gamers to play with, and terrific value. And we are amazed by the excitement Xbox fans have shown to start off this holiday. November set a new record for sales of Xbox One, and Xbox One was the best-selling console in the US and UK. Response to the holiday lineup of games on Xbox One was incredible, with Xbox One fans buying more games in November in the U.S. than any other gen eight platform and enjoying over 357 million hours of gameplay globally. In fact, more fans logged into Xbox Live across Xbox One and Xbox 360, and enjoyed more entertainment, than any other month in the history of Xbox. We love to see the excitement from our fans and are grateful for their passion, support and contributions to the Xbox community.”
We suspected this might happen, and for good reason: the Xbox One and PS4, as they stand right now, are exceedingly similar consoles, except Microsoft has reversed its $100 price disadvantage from last year by axing the bundled Kinect and cutting the price another $50 down to $349, which was hovering closer to $329 during Black Friday sales. Drop in the fact that it’s nearly impossible to pick up a machine without at least one free game, and you’ve got an excellent deal. The fact that we’re finally developing the sort of critical mass of content necessary to make one of these console purchases worthwhile doesn’t hurt either.
We’ll see how this trend continues: Microsoft’s price advantage isn’t going anywhere, and there’s a whole lot of holiday shopping left to do. It will be interesting to see if the company can generate enough price pressure to force Sony to offer similar discounts — though the PS4 has enough of a headstart that any cut on their part might take a little while.
On the software side of things, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare took the top spot, followed by GTA 5 and Super Smash Bros. The beleaguered and bug-ridden Assassin’s Creed: Unity rang it in at 9, below Ubisoft’s Far Cry 4 at 6. It will be interesting to see if that trend starts to inform a shift in the French publisher’s priorities.
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“We are committed to making Xbox the best place to play, with this year’s best games, the best community of gamers to play with, and terrific value. And we are amazed by the excitement Xbox fans have shown to start off this holiday. November set a new record for sales of Xbox One, and Xbox One was the best-selling console in the US and UK. Response to the holiday lineup of games on Xbox One was incredible, with Xbox One fans buying more games in November in the U.S. than any other gen eight platform and enjoying over 357 million hours of gameplay globally. In fact, more fans logged into Xbox Live across Xbox One and Xbox 360, and enjoyed more entertainment, than any other month in the history of Xbox. We love to see the excitement from our fans and are grateful for their passion, support and contributions to the Xbox community.”
We suspected this might happen, and for good reason: the Xbox One and PS4, as they stand right now, are exceedingly similar consoles, except Microsoft has reversed its $100 price disadvantage from last year by axing the bundled Kinect and cutting the price another $50 down to $349, which was hovering closer to $329 during Black Friday sales. Drop in the fact that it’s nearly impossible to pick up a machine without at least one free game, and you’ve got an excellent deal. The fact that we’re finally developing the sort of critical mass of content necessary to make one of these console purchases worthwhile doesn’t hurt either.
We’ll see how this trend continues: Microsoft’s price advantage isn’t going anywhere, and there’s a whole lot of holiday shopping left to do. It will be interesting to see if the company can generate enough price pressure to force Sony to offer similar discounts — though the PS4 has enough of a headstart that any cut on their part might take a little while.
On the software side of things, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare took the top spot, followed by GTA 5 and Super Smash Bros. The beleaguered and bug-ridden Assassin’s Creed: Unity rang it in at 9, below Ubisoft’s Far Cry 4 at 6. It will be interesting to see if that trend starts to inform a shift in the French publisher’s priorities.
