angelmagnon: 04/01/2010

الأربعاء، 14 أبريل 2010

Michelle Obama’s ‘Spotlight’ on Obesity Enlists Kraft, PepsiCo

April 14 (Bloomberg) -- Fifteen months after moving into a new town, house and job, Michelle Obama is defining her role as first lady by taking on the $600 billion food and beverage industries in a quest to end childhood obesity within a generation.

Her lobbying of companies to make products healthier, labels easier to read and limit marketing of unhealthy foods to kids is paying off. A month after she began her campaign, PepsiCo Inc., the world’s second-largest food and beverage company, pledged to stop selling full-sugar soft drinks in schools by 2012. Kraft Foods Inc., the maker of Oreo cookies and Oscar Mayer lunch meats, announced it would further reduce the sodium content of its products.

The first lady is part of a “movement to recast what the food industry is selling,” said David Kessler, who was Food and Drug Administrationcommissioner from 1990 to 1997. “She puts the spotlight on the issue like few others can.”

Obama, 46, also is performing some of the more traditional duties of first lady. Yesterday, she began her first official solo international trip by making an unannounced visit to Haiti, which was devastated by an earthquake in January. From there, she went to Mexico City, where she is scheduled to talk to students and meet with First Lady Margarita Zavala de Calderon.

National Ad

At home, she has drawn notice with her efforts to change the way children eat. The American Beverage Association has joined her effort by running a national ad promoting the industry’s commitment to reducing beverage calories in schools by 88 percent.

The companies’ announcements followed a meeting in Washington on March 16 during which Obama told members of the Grocery Manufacturers Association, including Purchase, New York- based PepsiCo and Northfield, Illinois-based Kraft, “to move faster and to go farther” to make their products healthier.

The first lady has “accelerated our focus,” Kraft’s president of health and wellness, Rhonda Jordan, said in an interview.

“We’ve long advocated for schools to be made as conducive as possible to promoting the health of students,” Michelle Naughton, a PepsiCo spokeswoman, said in a statement.

In another sign companies are listening, Coca-Cola Co., Dr Pepper Snapple Group, PepsiCo, Nestlé Waters North America, and Sunny Delight, have pledged to put calorie information on the front of their products. In addition, Obama’s staff is working with the FDA to design clearer food labels.

President’s Backing

Valerie Jarrett, a senior White House adviser, said President Barack Obamahas lent his support. After a Feb. 4 White House lunch with business leaders, the president pulled aside Battle Creek, Michigan-based Kellogg Co. Chief Executive Officer David Mackay and Minneapolis-based General Mills Inc. CEOKen Powell and prodded them to take part in his wife’s campaign, Jarrett said.

Michelle Obama’s push is in sync with public skepticism about “the motives of big business” in the wake of the deepest economic crisis since the Great Depression, said Patrick Basham, an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute, a Washington-based research group that promotes libertarian policies.

Basham said the recent decisions by the companies may be an attempt to prevent a broader crackdown.

“The food industry is terrified of being either legislated out of business or so regulated they won’t be able to do what they want,” Basham said.

Not Enough

Still, Carol Tucker-Foreman, a food policy fellow at the Washington-based consumer-advocacy organization, the Consumer Federation of America, said the efforts by companies won’t be sufficient to reach Obama’s goal of ending obesity.

“The food manufacturers can reduce the calories in their products but it’s hard for them to say, ‘eat less,’” she said.

By reaching out to corporations, Obama has sought a higher profile than her immediate predecessor, Laura Bush, who focused on literacy. And though she was caricatured as a radical during the 2008 presidential campaign, Obama has defied predictions that she would be as polarizing as Hillary Clinton, who was criticized for her role in forging a failed health-care plan.

Obama is positioning herself as the “dignified center note” between Bush, “who was more reserved,” and Clinton, “who was in your face,” according toDouglas Brinkley, a historian at Rice University in Houston.

Working With Companies

Jarrett, a close friend of the Obamas’ who is a White House liaison to corporate America, said the administration is working with companies, not “thrusting” changes upon them.

Michelle Obama says the issue of child nutrition is personal. At a National PTA Conference in Arlington, Virginia, on March 10, she said she got a “wakeup call” when her pediatrician expressed concern about her own family’s eating habits.

This ability to tie her campaign to her role as a mother accounts for her success, Brinkley said. It represents “the best of first ladyhoodom,” he said.

In a March Associated Press poll, Obama had a 71 percent approval rating, 18 points higher than her husband. That’s also 7 points higher than Laura Bush’s numbers in July 2001, and 11 points higher than Hillary Clinton’s approval rating in May, 1993, according to a Pew Research Center survey.

“She has a bully pulpit because of her popularity,” Jarrett said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kate Andersen Brower in Wa

Mental Conditioning for F1 Drivers

There was an article in yesterdays London Sunday Times Sports section on the Formula 1 phenomena that is Lewis Hamilton.

For those who are not aware Lewis is the leader of this years Formula 1 racing championship. Perhaps nothing too amazing there until you realise that he is a complete rookie. He has only competed in 7 Formula 1 races however his results have been fantastic; a third place, four seconds and two victories - a trophy (and podium finish) for every race and a respectable 10 point lead.

The author (himself an ex F1 driver) makes a serious point about the mind management help he has received in his training and pays attention to the Mental Conditioning Coach that Lewis uses to help provide him the edge in his driving.

As the author clearly states if Maclaren Mercedes (his team) are spending �200m ($400m) running an F1 team your attention to detail is intense and highly professional. You have 1,000 people dedicated to putting two cars on the track and you cannot afford to have all that riding on the shoulders of a sportsman who is not completely sharp.

The same goes for Trading.

Whilst you may not have the same amount of Capital or Personnel supporting you in your endeavours, you do yourself a dis-service if you are not completely sharp and focused on your trading.

The question is; are you focused, sharp and mentally strong enough for the rigours of the markets?
Paul

2010-04-14_European Forex Technicals

تعلم الفوركس مجانا - كتب مجانية - تعلم مجانا

الثلاثاء، 13 أبريل 2010

AIG CEO Benmosche received $2.7 million for 2009

NEW YORK (AP) - American International Group Inc. CEO Robert Benmosche received $2.7 million in compensation for 2009 as the bailed-out insurer began selling assets to repay government loans, an Associated Press analysis of a securities filing shows.

Benmosche, 65, received $1,153,964 in salary and a restricted stock bonus worth $1,536,402 that can't be cashed in for three years, the company said Monday in an annual proxy filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. He received no cash bonus.

Benmosche took over as CEO in August. His 2009 pay is a prorated amount of his previously announced $7 million pay package, including an annual salary of $3 million plus $4 million in AIG common stock.

Companies like AIG that hold government bailout funds are subject to limits on executive pay. In AIG's case, the rules cover the insurer's 100 highest-paid employees.

The New York-based insurer last year cut the salaries of three top executives, including Chief Financial Officer David Herzog, to comply with the rules. But it got approval for Benmosche's pay package from federal pay czar Kenneth Feinberg.

AIG was bailed out in September 2008 by the government as the financial crisis spiraled out of control. The insurer has received aid packages with a total value of $182.5 billion from the government. In return for that financial support, the government received an 80 percent stake in AIG.

The company was undermined by its underwriting of risky credit derivatives contracts. A plunge in the value of those contracts was the primary driver of AIG's near-collapse.

The lack of a 2009 cash bonus and the three-year vesting period for Benmosche are similar to a moves made by other financial firms. The 30 top executives at Goldman Sachs, for example, got no cash bonuses last year, instead they received stock that cannot be sold for at least five years.

Benmosche's pay package also included $14,164 in perks, mainly for personal use of the company car.

The Associated Press calculations of total pay include executives' salary, bonus, incentives, perks, above-market returns on deferred compensation and the estimated value of stock options and awards granted during the year. The calculations don't include changes in the present value of pension benefits, and they sometimes differ from the totals that companies list in the summary compensation table of proxy statements filed with the SEC.

AIG has been working for the past year and half to sell assets and streamline operations in an effort to repay government debt. Last month, it sold its American Life Insurance Co. division, or Alico, to MetLife Inc. for $15.5 billion. Earlier in March, it said it would sell its AIA Group unit to Prudential PLC for $35.5 billion.

How to Make Easy Money Online at Home

This is probably the most commonly asked question that beats any other money making question, easily. Money making online is probably the most misunderstood topic simply because everyone thinks that in order to make money online, they must commit long term to see returns. But in truth, there really are methods to make money that doesn’t involve long term commitment to see results and still be an effective way in pulling in a few extra hundred dollars every month.

Online Paid Surveys

Online paid surveys will never be counted out as a great way to make money online on the side simply because it is rewarding for the amount of time you put into taking the surveys. Strongly why I emphasize so much about paid surveys is because you are free to express your self and if you enjoy shaping what products, shows, commercials that comes out tomorrow, this can be a great opportunity for you to make money with just your opinion! In other words, you are paid to critique. Compensation for taking EACH paid surveys can range from $1-$7 depending on your age, profession, health, birth, income, and more. It generally takes around 10-40 minutes for each survey. Just beware of other fruadelant paid survey panels who dilute the image of paid surveys because they are scammers that don’t pay their survey takers. Examples of fraudulent survey panels are AWSurvey and Survey Scout. The legitimate panels that we recommend and pay the most that actually do pay, are Synovate and Ipsos I-say.

If you are interesting in knowing more of the legitimate paid survey panels we recommend, click here to get paid to take surveys.

Start Blogging to Make Money

Did you know that I make a living off blogging with this very blog? It is true. Most of my income comes from this very blog you are currently reading. Although blogging is not for everyone as it involves both patience and passion for the topic you are writing about before your blog will really take off, it can prove to be a great source of income if done right. If you are new to blogging and want to understand the concept of it in depth even more, 1 of my very first reads when beginning to learn how to blog for money was Rob Benwell’s ebook, Blogging to the Bank. If you are new to blogging, this is an ebook that you most definitely SHOULD read. The ebook opened my eyes and ultimately changed how I live today. It was probably my most smartest purchase ever when beginning. I cannot believe that I was once hesitant to even buy it because as you may know, when starting out, it can get nerve wrecking spending a bit of money as money was low. But this ebook held true to it’s words and did much more than help me financially, it opened my eyes to how I saw money making on the web. If you ever thought about making money from your computer desktop, blogging is for you and Rob Benwell’s ebook Blogging to the Bank will show you how step-by-step.

Note: An ebook is a digital product. Which means, once an ebook is purchased, you can immediately start reading on how to make money from blogging right away.

Or…

If you are the type who likes to read something hands on, Susannah Gardner’s Blogging for Dummies is suited for the job. Either one of these reads are great to get you started and going in the new world of blogging to make money. If you are serious about making money from blogging, these purchases should be no biggy. With the helpful information and new world of knowledge these reads can provide, you can be owning your very first virtual real estate that can indeed have the potential to become a great new source of income. If you are passionate about ANY topic, blogging to make money IS the option for you.

Consider Writing

Many large user run communities such as, Examiner.com, and About.com, would literally pay passionate bloggers money to simply write about something of their own expertise and field about once a week. What your joining when you are trying to apply for one of them, is a network of writers such as your self where you can read and write with other homemakers such as your self like I once said. Overall, it can be a really exciting journey if you simply love the playing with words and conversing with other homemakers such as your self on topics that are of your interest in probably the world’s most renown professional networks. This can easily pull in an extra $600 every month for passionate writers who are serious about the position. If this sounds like the job fit for you, you can apply right away on topics that matches your field.

Apply for Examiner.com | Apply for About.com

If you are just trying out writing and you don’t want to try out the big guns just yet, consider joining Associated Content as well as Bukisa, and Helium, where they will pay for stunning price worthly articles.

If writing isn’t your style, be a guide for chatting with anouymous people who need help at ChaCha.com. For more information on the compensation on being a guide and what you have to do in order to become one, click here to learn more.

Consider Joining Affiliate Programs

Some well known reputable affiliate networks are Commission Junction and ShareaSale. What affiliate marketing typically is, is basically you get compensation for telling or influencing someone else to make a purchase or take action. There are many kinds of compensation when it comes to joining affiliate marketing, such as, CPM, CPA, PPS, and PPC. This way of earning online is great if you hold some authority over a large group of people. Affiliate marketing is typically great for blogs, webmasters, and large network owners such as YouTube activists.

For more information on how to setup your own site with your own domain and make money off it, consider reading our post on How to Make a Website and Make Money Off It.

Join Project Payday

I don’t really want to get into Project Payday, but I’ll give you a nice overview of the program simply because we already made a post dedicated to Project Payday. With Project Payday, you get paid for trying out membership trials and then canceling those trials. The only catch is that you must cancel the membership before the trial ends or else you will be fined for next month. Ideally, you can spit out a couple of $50s a day once you get used to it. It takes a really organized person to fully succeed with the program. Plus, after you cancel a membership, you can still keep whatever leftovers the trial offered. Which means if they gave away a free t-shirt, you can keep it completely free. For more information on our review on Project Payday, view here. Sign ups for the program is of course free by the way.

Consider Logo Designing

There are plenty of opportunities to make money with just logo designing alone if you are a professional logo designer of course. Cash rewards can sum up to just $50 to even $1,000 per contest, however, there can be some really hefty competition ahead. One word of advice from me is that new launched business companies simply love simplicity and nothing that hurts the eye literally. Keep it simple and focus all your skills into one great looking logo because logo designing is all about the look and feel of it. In logo designing, quality wins over quantity, always. One word of advice if you consider logo designing, don’t overdo it, it can really turn business owners off.

Some great free to join networks to consider logo designing are crowdSPRING and 99Designs. Both absolutely free to join of course.

At Home Freelancing

Making money off freelancing is now probably the most typical place job hunters come to seek online opportunities, whether it be to submit e-mails, find opportunities for SEO positions, find new customers, logo designing, coding, software management, anything, freelancing has it all. Freelancing is typically great for job hunters who have experience in coding and know what to do when it comes to delivering customer satisfaction. The more reputable you are and the more effort you put into your work, the more business owners will seek out your work without you having to come to them.

Some great reputable freelance, not all free, sites to consider are GoFreeLance.com, iFreeLance.com, and GetaFreeLancer.com. Like GoFreeLance.com says, you can be your own boss and work at home with freelance jobs.

Open Up Your Own e-Commerce Storefront

Tired of selling on E-bay and Amazon and paying for those auction entry fees? Opening your own e-Commerce storefront can be your smartest move yet if you got something worthy to sell. Literally, the Internet is in need of more storefronts simply because all the buyers go to Amazon and E-bay. If you got products worth buying, you could be making money and building credibility for your own store brand at the same time. And just getting your store ready to go and set up is only $6/month + the cost of the domain which is only$7.49/year with Godaddy.

Some ideal web hosts that I recommend for starter business owners to use can be found here.

Make Money Online With Mineeds.com

Mineed is somewhat relatively new. Simply what Mineeds.com is, is a simple place where job hunters and people who needs tasks done, can come together to negotiate a price that is both fair for both sides for doing a certain task. Such as, planning a wedding, web designing, logo designing, almost anything goes. Just posting an ad offering a job to job seekers is absolutely free. Since there will of course be competition, getting a job won’t be so easy. The bid that is generally the cheapest usually wins the job unless you are a reputable member of Mineeds with good user feedback. This system of finding jobs really reminds me of Ebay and I like the concept. Overall it is a great place to find jobs of your expertise, and signing up is absolutely free so you got nothing to lose.