BusinessWorld Online: Banks see bad debts rising with recovery unclear:
AMSTERDAM/SYDNEY -- Some of the world’s leading banks warned Thursday that bad debts would continue to weigh on lenders and signs of recovery were not clear, overshadowing an improvement in underlying earnings and shaking markets.
The caution was not confined to one region, as lenders in Asia and Europe told the same story of bad debt provisions surging as concerns resurfaced over prospects of an economic upturn in the United States.
'This isn’t over yet,' said Mike Smith, chief executive of Australia and New Zealand Banking Group. 'Often it’s the aftershocks that do the most damage. We still all need the US economy to kick-start.'
All eyes will be on the United States later on Thursday, when the first estimates of third-quarter economic growth are published. Economists estimate the US economy grew for the first time since the second quarter of 2008, though recent data have led them to trim their estimates.
Deutsche Bank reported a profit in all of its divisions, but shares fell 1.3% in morning trade as provisions for credit losses more than doubled year-on-year to 544 million euros.
Germany’s biggest bank said its provisions related mainly to exposure in Poland and Spain, and forecast they would peak in the United States and Europe within the next six months.
Standard Chartered Plc, based in the UK but focused on Asia, said it was benefiting from growth across its businesses, but warned the economic outlook was still fragile.
ANZ, the smallest of Australia’s four big banks, said cash profit surged 79% to A$2.43 billion ($2.18 billion) for the half-year ended Sept 30, beating analysts’ forecasts. It was bolstered by strong revenue growth from non-interest income in its institutional business.
KB Financial, parent company of South Korea’s largest bank, Kookmin, was more bullish, saying bad debt provisions would fall next year as fewer loans would go sour.
KB Financial reported a 69% drop in quarterly profit to 173.7 billion won ($145 million), much worse than expected, as it was hit by bad debt charges and a slow margin recovery.
Woori Finance, 73% owned by the South Korean government, said net profit more than tripled to 483.8 billion won even as revenue halved.
China’s largest bank, ICBC, and Bank of China reported healthy profit increases of about 20%, as both benefited from a surge in lending in the first half of the year under Beijing’s economic stimulus plan.
One bright spot for the banking sector was a rebound in shares of Dutch bancassurer ING after three days of losses wiped nearly 7 billion euros off of its market capitalization.
ING shares rose more than 7% in early trade Thursday, in part on an upgrade from Nomura.
On Monday ING said it struck a restructuring deal with the European Commission that will see its balance sheet reduced by 45% from Sept. 2008 levels by the end of 2013.
The scope of that deal raised concerns among investors in other banks that took state aid, notably in Ireland, where a bad-bank scheme is being counted on as the best way to save the local sector from an Iceland-style collapse.
Ireland’s finance minister said Thursday that international markets, and not delays in the bad bank plan, were weighing on the shares of local banks. -- Reuters"
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Another Storm Lashes Philippines - WSJ.com
Another Storm Lashes Philippines - WSJ.com: "MANILA -- The fourth typhoon to whip the Philippines in a month lashed the capital and nearby provinces Saturday, leaving fresh floods and new misery before blowing out of the country. At least seven people were killed and several were missing.
Typhoon Mirinae, with winds of 93 miles per hour and gusts of up to 115 mph slammed into Quezon province northeast of Manila around midnight Friday. It quickly swept westward out to sea south of the capital and weakened into a tropical storm Saturday afternoon.
'It is moving away toward the South China Sea,' said chief government forecaster Nathaniel Cruz. 'That part of our lives with (Mirinae) is over.'
Mirinae appeared to be heading next toward Vietnam.
Philippine authorities evacuated more than 115,000 people in nine provinces east and south of Manila in the storm's path on main Luzon island, the National Disaster Coordinating Council reported.
Back-to-back storms in late September and early October killed more than 900 people, and a third storm then threatened the northern Philippines before veering toward Japan.
Initial reports Saturday from Mirinae indicated more flooding but relatively few deaths.
Police said six people, including a 12-year-old girl, drowned in a flash flood in Laguna province's Pagsanjan township, south of Manila. Four others were missing in floodwaters in other towns, regional police chief Perfecto Palad said.
A man drowned after being swept away by strong currents as he tried to cross a creek in Rizal province's Pililla township while carrying his 1-year-old child, who remains missing. A man and his son who were in a car on a bridge that collapsed in nearby Batangas province were also missing, said regional disaster officer Fred Bragas.
One river in Laguna overflowed, flooding most of lakeside Santa Cruz town and sending residents clambering onto roofs, said Mayor Ariel Magcalas.
'We cannot move, this is no joke,' Mr. Magcalas said. 'The water is high. We need help,' he said in a public address via Radio DZBB.
The muddy floodwater receded as rains eased, but was still chest-high in some communities.
In Manila, residents hunkered down in their homes overnight as rains beat down on dark, deserted streets. Mirinae passed south of the sprawling city of 12 million.
Mirinae tracked the same route as Tropical Storm Ketsana, which in late September dumped the heaviest rains in 40 years in and around Manila. A week later, Typhoon Parma triggered massive landslides in Luzon's mountain region.
Nearly 95,000 people who fled during those two earlier storms were still housed in temporary shelters when Mirinae struck, the national disaster agency said.
Flights at Manila's international airport were canceled and about 8,000 ferry passengers were stranded as the coast guard grounded all vessels.
Manila electric power distributor Meralco said the high winds had forced outages in many areas around the capital, but electricity was restored in most areas by Saturday afternoon.
In Rizal province's Taytay township, about 400 shanties -- home to about 2,000 people who had been forced to flee their lakeside homes during Ketsana -- were destroyed by strong winds, Mayor Joric Gacula said.
In the coastal town of Ternate in Cavite province, where the typhoon exited, a tornado destroyed 25 houses and injured one resident, Mr. Bragas said.
Ahead of the typhoon, millions of Filipinos had boarded buses heading to home provinces for this weekend's All Saints Day, when people visit cemeteries to pay respects to dead relatives in this devoutly Roman Catholic nation.
Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro expressed fear that floods and traffic congestion may trap visitors at graveyards, where people traditionally spend a day or even a night, but few heeded his call to scrap this year's commemorations.
In some provinces, floodwaters from Ketsana and Parma raged through cemeteries, breaking up tombs and sweeping away caskets and bodies.
Copyright © 2009 Associated Press"
Typhoon Mirinae, with winds of 93 miles per hour and gusts of up to 115 mph slammed into Quezon province northeast of Manila around midnight Friday. It quickly swept westward out to sea south of the capital and weakened into a tropical storm Saturday afternoon.
'It is moving away toward the South China Sea,' said chief government forecaster Nathaniel Cruz. 'That part of our lives with (Mirinae) is over.'
Mirinae appeared to be heading next toward Vietnam.
Philippine authorities evacuated more than 115,000 people in nine provinces east and south of Manila in the storm's path on main Luzon island, the National Disaster Coordinating Council reported.
Back-to-back storms in late September and early October killed more than 900 people, and a third storm then threatened the northern Philippines before veering toward Japan.
Initial reports Saturday from Mirinae indicated more flooding but relatively few deaths.
Police said six people, including a 12-year-old girl, drowned in a flash flood in Laguna province's Pagsanjan township, south of Manila. Four others were missing in floodwaters in other towns, regional police chief Perfecto Palad said.
A man drowned after being swept away by strong currents as he tried to cross a creek in Rizal province's Pililla township while carrying his 1-year-old child, who remains missing. A man and his son who were in a car on a bridge that collapsed in nearby Batangas province were also missing, said regional disaster officer Fred Bragas.
One river in Laguna overflowed, flooding most of lakeside Santa Cruz town and sending residents clambering onto roofs, said Mayor Ariel Magcalas.
'We cannot move, this is no joke,' Mr. Magcalas said. 'The water is high. We need help,' he said in a public address via Radio DZBB.
The muddy floodwater receded as rains eased, but was still chest-high in some communities.
In Manila, residents hunkered down in their homes overnight as rains beat down on dark, deserted streets. Mirinae passed south of the sprawling city of 12 million.
Mirinae tracked the same route as Tropical Storm Ketsana, which in late September dumped the heaviest rains in 40 years in and around Manila. A week later, Typhoon Parma triggered massive landslides in Luzon's mountain region.
Nearly 95,000 people who fled during those two earlier storms were still housed in temporary shelters when Mirinae struck, the national disaster agency said.
Flights at Manila's international airport were canceled and about 8,000 ferry passengers were stranded as the coast guard grounded all vessels.
Manila electric power distributor Meralco said the high winds had forced outages in many areas around the capital, but electricity was restored in most areas by Saturday afternoon.
In Rizal province's Taytay township, about 400 shanties -- home to about 2,000 people who had been forced to flee their lakeside homes during Ketsana -- were destroyed by strong winds, Mayor Joric Gacula said.
In the coastal town of Ternate in Cavite province, where the typhoon exited, a tornado destroyed 25 houses and injured one resident, Mr. Bragas said.
Ahead of the typhoon, millions of Filipinos had boarded buses heading to home provinces for this weekend's All Saints Day, when people visit cemeteries to pay respects to dead relatives in this devoutly Roman Catholic nation.
Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro expressed fear that floods and traffic congestion may trap visitors at graveyards, where people traditionally spend a day or even a night, but few heeded his call to scrap this year's commemorations.
In some provinces, floodwaters from Ketsana and Parma raged through cemeteries, breaking up tombs and sweeping away caskets and bodies.
Copyright © 2009 Associated Press"
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Inhabitat » World’s Tallest Treehouse Built From Reclaimed Wood
Inhabitat » World’s Tallest Treehouse Built From Reclaimed Wood:
The enormous treehouse has 10 floors averaging from 9 to 11 feet high, and although Burgess has never measured it, he estimates the treehouse to be between 8,000 to 10,000 square feet. Built entirely from wood that has been donated or salvaged from from sheds, barns and garages, the structure has taken on it’s own organic feel. Burgess, who is a landscape architect and an ordained minister, has put about $12,000 of his own money into it, spent partially on nails, of which there are approximately 258,000. Other recycled materials like license plates, furniture, roofing material, and plexiglass skylights have also helped fill out the structure."
The enormous treehouse has 10 floors averaging from 9 to 11 feet high, and although Burgess has never measured it, he estimates the treehouse to be between 8,000 to 10,000 square feet. Built entirely from wood that has been donated or salvaged from from sheds, barns and garages, the structure has taken on it’s own organic feel. Burgess, who is a landscape architect and an ordained minister, has put about $12,000 of his own money into it, spent partially on nails, of which there are approximately 258,000. Other recycled materials like license plates, furniture, roofing material, and plexiglass skylights have also helped fill out the structure."
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Bureau of the Treasury and Thomson Reuters launch electronic tap facility - Thomson Reuters
Bureau of the Treasury and Thomson Reuters launch electronic tap facility - Thomson Reuters:
Manila – The Philippine Bureau of Treasury and Thomson Reuters announced today the launch of an electronic Tap facility module, a sub-component of the enhanced ADAPs. This will allow Government Securities Eligible Dealers (GSEDs) to electronically bid for additional offerings of government securities after a successful auction, commonly referred to as a Tap facility. The awarding process and reports generation will be automated to facilitate the issuance of additional securities.
In addition, Thomson Reuters announced that it will develop a fast, reliable and affordable solution for small players in the market, such as insurance companies, rural banks, thrift banks and other financial institutions, to send their buy/sell instructions electronically, eliminating manual transmissions, to the Registry of Scripless Securities (RoSS). The facility will enable these institutions to download their securities account statement directly from the system. Thus, Thomson Reuters will soon offer a transparent and cost-efficient tool that will minimize their exposure to operational risks and manual processing of transactions. This solution is based on a secure and reliable network that will process instructions in real-time.
Mr. Roberto B. Tan, Treasurer of the Philippines, Bureau of Treasury, said: “Implementation of the ADAPs electronic tap facility module is another valuable market infrastructure aimed at enhancing the efficiency of the government in issuing additional GS (government securities) to the market. We commend Thomson Reuters for collaborating with the Bureau in this endeavour and for its continuing support in our commitment to further promote the growth and competitiveness of the country’s capital market”.
Mr. Rainer Fuchsluger, Managing Director, Thomson Reuters, Philippines, said: “Thomson Reuters is committed to continuing our investment to facilitate local market requirements. The introduction of the TAP Facility will allow a more efficient auction process for government securities in the Philippines. The Bureau of the Treasury and all its Government Securities Eligible Dealers will now have more flexibility to offer local debt outside current regular auction hours”.
About Thomson Reuters
Thomson Reuters is the world’s leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals. We combine industry expertise with innovative technology to deliver critical information to leading decision makers in the financial, legal, tax and accounting, scientific, healthcare and media markets, powered by the world’s most trusted news organization. With headquarters in New York and major operations in London and Eagan, Minnesota, Thomson Reuters employs more than 50,000 people in 93 countries. Thomson Reuters shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: TRI); Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: TRI); London Stock Exchange (LSE: TRIL); and Nasdaq (NASDAQ: TRIN). For more information, go to www.thomsonreuters.com.
Media Contacts
Yvonne Diaz
Public Relations Director
Thomson Reuters
Tel: +44 (0)20 7542.2615
Email
Fleur Sohtz
Public Relations Director
Thomson Reuters
Tel: +44 (0)20 7542.1543
Email
Manila – The Philippine Bureau of Treasury and Thomson Reuters announced today the launch of an electronic Tap facility module, a sub-component of the enhanced ADAPs. This will allow Government Securities Eligible Dealers (GSEDs) to electronically bid for additional offerings of government securities after a successful auction, commonly referred to as a Tap facility. The awarding process and reports generation will be automated to facilitate the issuance of additional securities.
In addition, Thomson Reuters announced that it will develop a fast, reliable and affordable solution for small players in the market, such as insurance companies, rural banks, thrift banks and other financial institutions, to send their buy/sell instructions electronically, eliminating manual transmissions, to the Registry of Scripless Securities (RoSS). The facility will enable these institutions to download their securities account statement directly from the system. Thus, Thomson Reuters will soon offer a transparent and cost-efficient tool that will minimize their exposure to operational risks and manual processing of transactions. This solution is based on a secure and reliable network that will process instructions in real-time.
Mr. Roberto B. Tan, Treasurer of the Philippines, Bureau of Treasury, said: “Implementation of the ADAPs electronic tap facility module is another valuable market infrastructure aimed at enhancing the efficiency of the government in issuing additional GS (government securities) to the market. We commend Thomson Reuters for collaborating with the Bureau in this endeavour and for its continuing support in our commitment to further promote the growth and competitiveness of the country’s capital market”.
Mr. Rainer Fuchsluger, Managing Director, Thomson Reuters, Philippines, said: “Thomson Reuters is committed to continuing our investment to facilitate local market requirements. The introduction of the TAP Facility will allow a more efficient auction process for government securities in the Philippines. The Bureau of the Treasury and all its Government Securities Eligible Dealers will now have more flexibility to offer local debt outside current regular auction hours”.
About Thomson Reuters
Thomson Reuters is the world’s leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals. We combine industry expertise with innovative technology to deliver critical information to leading decision makers in the financial, legal, tax and accounting, scientific, healthcare and media markets, powered by the world’s most trusted news organization. With headquarters in New York and major operations in London and Eagan, Minnesota, Thomson Reuters employs more than 50,000 people in 93 countries. Thomson Reuters shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: TRI); Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: TRI); London Stock Exchange (LSE: TRIL); and Nasdaq (NASDAQ: TRIN). For more information, go to www.thomsonreuters.com.
Media Contacts
Yvonne Diaz
Public Relations Director
Thomson Reuters
Tel: +44 (0)20 7542.2615
Fleur Sohtz
Public Relations Director
Thomson Reuters
Tel: +44 (0)20 7542.1543
IX Investor Presentation | Gold News
IX Investor Presentation | Gold News: "Why gold ... and how can I buy it?
Good afternoon Ladies and Gentlemen.
Thank you for attending this seminar on gold.
I'm Paul Tustain - Director of BullionVault.com - which is based here in London.
I am here today to answer two questions you might be asking:
1. Why would I buy gold?
2. How would I buy gold?
First then, the 'Why?' ...
Pile of dollar bills
I'll use this pile of dollar bills to illustrate some developing problems.
By the way, if you're American please excuse me abusing your money like this. It seems very bad mannered to visitors from one of my favourite countries. I hope you'll 'cut me some slack' for a few moments while I talk about the US economy.
Every second the US government spends $16,000 more than it raises in taxes - and goes by that amount further into debt. That's a pile of dollars 1.6 metres high.
Since I have been talking - about 1 minute - this debt has increased by about $1m. By this time tomorrow the debt will have increased by $1,400 million. That would be a pile of dollars about 140 kilometers high - approximately the distance from London to Birmingham.
By this time next year this debt will have increased by $500,000 million. That is a pile of money 50,000 kilometers high - easily enough to be laid down around the equator.
equator2
That's just the budget deficit. The other of the deficit twins is the trade deficit which is about 50% worse than the budget deficit. It grows as Americans buy consumer goods and export dollars - one of the few great US exports left. Not so many foreigners buy American cars now, but they widely believe - for the moment - that the USA produces the best money. That is why it is dollars which are being exported all over the world.
Since I'm British, and we were the last country in this weird position, I can tell you what happens. For a few years you can buy anything in the world on the cheap, because all anyone wants is your banknotes, to act as a better store of value than their own. But it doesn't last.
The result of exporting dollars is that the world's foreign banks have accumulated reserves of $2 trillion. This is a pile of money about 200,000 kilometers high. It would go round the globe 4 times. Nothing other than the perceived reliability of that money stops it from flooding the world's financial system.
The US government's aggregate debt is now $8.5 trillion. This is a pile of money 850,000 kilometres high - which would go round the earth 17 times, or take us to the moon and back. Add in commercial US dollar denominated bonds and you get the total of $US denominated bonds - which is $45 trillion, or a pile of money some 4.5 million kilometers high - 90 times round the equator.
Try and imagine the scale of that! That's a pile of money a metre high, a metre wide, and running out across the floor of this room, then on through the wall, down the street, and on and on ... all the way around the world.
equator3
This next slide shows the scale of the derivative market. This is estimated at $250 trillion: a pile of money which would go round the earth 500 times.
Let me explain a difference between bonds and derivatives. A dollar denominated bond is an unsecured dollar debt - and that really is something to be avoided, especially when the power to devalue dollars rests with the institution that has issued more bonds than anyone else: $8 trillion in fact.
But in a derivative transaction the risk is mostly secured. Something of approximately equal current value is owned by each side of the derivative deal. Both sides have made undertakings to each other, which they expect to be able to honour.
So in fact what this $250 trillion derivative market illustrates is the degree of interconnectedness in modern financial marketplaces. It shows - if you like - how many dominoes have been lined up with the potential to fall if one institution fails. This interconnectedness has grown from about $5 trillion in 1986 to the $250 trillion balance today - which is about 50 times in 20 years.
Derivative mountains are not new. They are a natural part of the credit cycle and have been for nearly 1,000 years. There's a funny thing, though, that whenever they implode, and everyone loses all their money, a whole load of legislation gets passed by politicians who want to make sure 'it never happens again'. But the legislation never works.
You can see these laws all over the old statute books. They're everywhere. There are laws requiring all sales of shares to be registered. There are laws outlawing futures, options and financial bookmaking. There are laws strictly controlling the extension of consumer credit; laws which outlaw brokers' loans; laws preventing the linking of banks and insurance companies, banks and stockbrokers too, to stop them lining up like dominoes.
Yet after a few years all of these laws are ignored with impunity. Why is that?
It's because of a powerful natural cycle. After a big bust everyone gets cautious and derivatives disappear quite naturally. When there's hardly any around it's once again sound, safe, profitable business to deal derivatives.
In fact if your government doesn't allow you to start dealing them again the country next door will loosen the shackles, and will safely steal all your financial business; you'll no longer have a financial centre at all. So derivatives keep coming around to ruin everyone, again and again, and people who study the history of markets understand this very well.
So it's fear of history repeating itself in all the usual ways that is making more and more people buy bullion gold. They are reading the signals and they are frightened of currency devaluation, frightened of bond default, and frightened of the potential for a severe financial crisis arising from derivatives - what Warren Buffet famously described as 'weapons of financial mass destruction'.
Kubblai Khan
This is a picture of Kublai Khan who lived about 700 years ago. He was the first to issue large quantities of paper money. The Italian explorer Marco Polo visited him in China, and was deeply impressed by Chinese economic management. He wrote how Kublai Khan 'had the secret of alchemy in perfection' and how he 'causes each year to be made such a vast amount of money that it must equal in quantity all the treasure of the world'.
But Marco Polo had gone back to Italy when the system collapsed. It was left to Alexander Del Mar - an American historian - to describe the breakdown of the system. Just like ours the system had been working magnificently:-
'This was the most brilliant period in the history of China. Kublai Khan entered upon a series of internal improvements and civil reforms which raised the country he had conquered to the highest rank of civilization, power and progress. Life and property were amply protected; justice was equally dispensed; and the effect of a gradual increase in the currency was to stimulate industry and prevent the monopolization of capital.'
But then a little later :
'Population and trade had greatly increased, but the emissions of paper notes outran both, and the inevitable consequence was depreciation. All the beneficial effects of a currency which is allowed to expand with a growth of population and trade were now turned into those evil effects that flow from a currency emitted in excess of such growth. Excessive and too rapid augmentation of the currency resulted in the entire subversion of the old order of society. The best families in the empire were ruined'
Since Kublai Khan first showed the way the same trick has been used repeatedly. The historical record shows that the failure of these types of system always follows the expansion which happens when everything seems to be going so well.
My next slide shows a tennis court.
tennis court
Imagine all the gold in the world, from the Ancients in Egypt and Rome, to the new world gold found by the Spanish Conquistadores, through to the California Gold rush, the Australian, Russian and - biggest of all - South African deposits. Imagine all that gold formed into a single cube. Its edge would be 20 metres. Not quite enough to cover a single tennis court.
tennis court 2
The US gold reserve is a 7 metre cube.
tennis court 3
It is worth about $160bn, representing 2% of the government's debt.
tennis court 3
Gold supply is in a competition with demand. Currently the two main players are mined supply at 2600 tonnes and jewellery demand at 3200 tonnes. An important balance has been Central Bank sales, which provide about 800 tonnes a year, mainly from Europe.
Eastern banks, like China, Russia, and also Japan all have large dollar reserves and have recently shown a tendency to be net buyers of gold, rather than sellers which - like Britain's own Gordon Brown - remain mainly European. There is a steady eastwards shift of the world's gold reserves.
graph
Source : BullionVault
The contest between supply and demand is measured by price. This chart shows 30 years of the gold price. It divides into 3 main phases. Firstly from 1970 to 1980 there is a strong rise, during which the investment purchasing power of gold went up 15 fold. This was the second time it did so in the 20th century; its investment purchasing power grew 17 times in the deflation of the 1930s.
The second phase was between 1980 and 2000, when gold went down from a peak of 850 to a trough of 260. During this period you would have lost about two thirds of your money, while your shares and properties were multiplying. Shares and houses outperformed gold by about 25 times during these 20 years.
The third phase is from 2001 onwards. Gold has risen from $270 to $600. This recovery shadows the increasing monetary ill-discipline of the USA, and means that gold has just more than doubled. It's outperformed both shares and houses during the period.
There's a concern among some - who measure the gold price in dollars - that they have missed the market. It may look a little that way, but don't forget that much of the gold price's improvement is accounted for by the depreciation of the US Dollar. In 5 years the $ price has moved up 113%. In sterling, only 70%. Don't forget either that gold is still cheaper than it was in 1980. There's not too many assets you can say that about.
Where to now?
So, why is gold rising, and has it gone as far as it will go? Here's my explanation of the upside potential.
'Utility at the margin' explains that the people who value gold incredibly highly - like gold bugs - are irrelevant to the current price. They're not going to sell. Just as the people who would never buy it in a million years are irrelevant too.
The only people who count, the ones who set the price, are those who have it and are just about ready to sell, and those who don't have it and are just about ready to buy - the marginal cases.
So who are they, and what motivates them? And what is the utility they seek from gold?
With all its practical uselessness gold has one serious utility :- reliable rarity. And that's what ordinary savers look for when they want to store future purchasing power. Of course the thing they usually use for the job is ordinary money, which although it's only made of paper is usually made reliably rare by careful controls on its issue.
Even if it often breaks down in the end it's generally the case that human societies successfully arrange a respectable rarity of artificial money which lasts most of the time, and so long as savers have been able to trust in its future rarity official paper money is fine.
In fact it's usually better than fine - because it pays you interest. But sometimes the combination of positive interest, negative tax, and negative inflation turns overall negative on paper money. This is what is happening now; and that's if you believe the official CPI figures - which gets harder and harder as they now exclude mortgages, housing, retirement income, food and fuel!
What ordinary savers - our marginal decision-makers - are now realising, and what I explained earlier, is that official money is being corrupted by bad government and cannot in future be relied upon for rarity. People are starting to fear there will soon be great quantities of artificial money in circulation. That's why there is a growing demand for something fundamentally rare; something which cannot be corrupted by monetary officials.
From where I sit, as BullionVault's Director, I can detect this attitude-shift in savers. Ordinary people are starting to think uneasily about money's future rarity. I think we're only seeing the tiniest numbers just yet - a few thousand a month - but the shift is there, and I think they're at the leading edge of an army of millions.
Ordinary savers' collective demand for rarity is currently being supplied partly by natural rarity (for example gold) but mostly by artificial rarity (bonds and cash). But the bulk of that supply of rarity - the artificial 95% - is becoming unfit for its purpose. The supply of reliable rarity is diminishing.
I'm 44, so I'm at the back end of the 'baby boomers' born after the war. Countless millions of western-world savers a bit older than me have been storing wealth in that trans-global metre high pile of bonded dollars I described earlier. Sometime soon they're going to stop believing that they will be able to convert their share of that pile into anything useful - because they're going to realize that everyone else is trying to do it too. That's why those who are looking ahead are seeking out an alternative monetary store - and real rarity is the thing which impresses them.
So, the available supply of rarity is diminishing, while the demand for it looks like it could boom. Gold looks to me like a market which could explode.
How to buy gold
So far in this presentation I have been explaining the reasons for buying gold. In this shorter second half I want to look at the method.
the gold market
This slide shows the dual nature of the gold market. On the left is the professional market. On the right is the private market.
Accredited gold refiners produce large bar bullion for the professional market. It is stored continuously in accredited bullion vaults, and traded between member financial institutions. This market trades at what is known as the 'spot' price, which you see published widely in the financial press. But a condition of selling at the 'spot' price is that you must be able to make delivery in a large bar of gold with a complete history of professional vault storage.
If your bar has been in private hands it loses its integrity and will not be automatically accepted as a good delivery to the buyer.
This means private sellers do not benefit from either the highly competitive spot market price, or the depth of the professional market's liquidity. Firstly they usually lack the funds to buy large bars. Secondly they usually don't have access to professional vault storage.
So smaller bars tend to exit the black box of the professionals and be traded via small retail traders.
Sadly too many people go and buy a small bar without fully appreciating the difficulty of later selling it. But it's easy to see the problem. If someone you didn't know offered you a gold bar from their pocket would you buy it? I hope not - for your sake!
This is why the retail market is illiquid, and how come extra costs cause private buyers to lose a minimum of 5% on each coin or small bar trade. This is more than 10 times the cost of dealing professionally.
Private participation1
An obvious solution is for the private buyer to hire vault space from a bank - inside the professional market.
But while this is a good solution for the private buyer it is a poor solution for a bank. Banks try to earn returns of 20% per annum on capital. Allocated gold nets the bank about 1.5% in fees. Banks are far more profitable where they can employ customer assets via deposit accounts.
private partecipation2
As a result banks invented 'Unallocated Gold'. This structures the customer's gold as a deposit and demotes the customer from owner to unsecured creditor. Worse still the customer is outside the realm of depositor protection - which applies to currency only. But the bank is able to put unallocated gold to its own use - probably as part of its liquidity reserve. It's an interest free unprotected gold loan to the bank! They love it.
So as well as creating Unallocated gold the banks increased the storage charge on Allocated gold to uncompetitive levels. This further encouraged unallocated gold.
private partecipation3
This combination virtually eliminated privately owned gold in the custody of banks. Unallocated gold is now 99% of the market.
But unallocated gold does not isolate the gold owner from the bank's balance sheet - which is a major objective of many people who buy gold. If more people realized this there would be many fewer private buyers prepared to accept unallocated gold.
Unallocated gold is only one way of converting the solidity of gold into the doubtful promises of financiers. More popular still are gold futures. I'm sure you realize that these are part of the derivative mountain I was talking about earlier. Futures catch people out - even the wily Jim Rogers! He called gold right (as he usually does) but played it wrong. He dealt through a futures broker called Refco, and got caught out by its financial default.
That's the trouble with so many of these structured investment products. Without physical gold, in bullion form, which you can clearly identify as your own, you're too easily washed away in a financial accident.
This next slide explains something of my personal experience:
personal experience
Back in 2001 I bought some gold from a highly respected Swiss bank. After three interviews and ten weeks I was finally allowed to buy some. But after reading the small print, I found out that I only had unallocated gold. Even my banker was amazed.
The hassle, the cost, and the disappointment of finding out what I'd really bought were the triggers for creating BullionVault.
Buying gold via BV
BullionVault acts as a bridge for the individual into the professional gold market. We buy the several large bars at a time which makes gold dealing economic, and we have them sent to Via Mat - a fully accredited bullion market vault operator. So the gold retains its professional market integrity and all its resale value. We then let people buy and sell this warranted gold, both to us, and to each other, via our website. This means all the storage issues are taken care of and they can deal in smaller sums, without the loss of spot market integrity and pricing.
As you probably know there are simple and transparent safeguards - like the Daily Audit - which give people the absolute confidence that their gold is safely stored, and insured, in one of the safest places on Earth.
Most of our customers have decided to take advantage of remote storage in Switzerland - our most popular location. I think maybe they have worked out that there's not much point in storing gold at home if their national economy is stumbling into financial crisis. Switzerland of course runs healthy surpluses in both budget and trade.
Key avantages
BullionVault has made a big impact on the way people are buying gold. There are already 18,000 users and nearly 3 tonnes of gold in the vaults. We're now easily the biggest provider of privately owned bullion in the UK, and one of the biggest in the world. In fact without ever really marketing actively in the US we now provide more gold to US customers than to British ones.
press review
We've been extensively reviewed too. Here are a couple of comments, and of course you can check out the 'CUSTOMER COMMENTS' section of our website. You'll find them easily from our homepage at www.BullionVault.com.
Finally all of you are welcome at our stand where, under the watchful eye of our security staff, we invite you to feel for yourself the weight of the London Good Delivery Bar.
Thank you very much for your attention and I look forward to talking to you later.
bullion
A bar of professional 'London Good Delivery' gold: Just over 400 Troy Ounces and 99.77% pure. This was on display in a special handling cabinet - overseen by our security guards. The arch at the front allowed customers to pick up the bar. The value of this bar was about $250,000.
team
Some of the BullionVault Team:- Kris Jenkins, Paul Tustain (Director), Alex Edwards and Catherine Little.
Paul Tustain is the editor of www.Galmarley.com and director of BullionVault.
Please Note: All articles published here are to inform your thinking, not lead it. Only you can decide the best place for your money, and any decision you make will put your money at risk. Information or data included here may have already been overtaken by events – and must be verified elsewhere – should you choose to act on it. Please review our Terms & Conditions for accessing Gold News."
Good afternoon Ladies and Gentlemen.
Thank you for attending this seminar on gold.
I'm Paul Tustain - Director of BullionVault.com - which is based here in London.
I am here today to answer two questions you might be asking:
1. Why would I buy gold?
2. How would I buy gold?
First then, the 'Why?' ...
Pile of dollar bills
I'll use this pile of dollar bills to illustrate some developing problems.
By the way, if you're American please excuse me abusing your money like this. It seems very bad mannered to visitors from one of my favourite countries. I hope you'll 'cut me some slack' for a few moments while I talk about the US economy.
Every second the US government spends $16,000 more than it raises in taxes - and goes by that amount further into debt. That's a pile of dollars 1.6 metres high.
Since I have been talking - about 1 minute - this debt has increased by about $1m. By this time tomorrow the debt will have increased by $1,400 million. That would be a pile of dollars about 140 kilometers high - approximately the distance from London to Birmingham.
By this time next year this debt will have increased by $500,000 million. That is a pile of money 50,000 kilometers high - easily enough to be laid down around the equator.
equator2
That's just the budget deficit. The other of the deficit twins is the trade deficit which is about 50% worse than the budget deficit. It grows as Americans buy consumer goods and export dollars - one of the few great US exports left. Not so many foreigners buy American cars now, but they widely believe - for the moment - that the USA produces the best money. That is why it is dollars which are being exported all over the world.
Since I'm British, and we were the last country in this weird position, I can tell you what happens. For a few years you can buy anything in the world on the cheap, because all anyone wants is your banknotes, to act as a better store of value than their own. But it doesn't last.
The result of exporting dollars is that the world's foreign banks have accumulated reserves of $2 trillion. This is a pile of money about 200,000 kilometers high. It would go round the globe 4 times. Nothing other than the perceived reliability of that money stops it from flooding the world's financial system.
The US government's aggregate debt is now $8.5 trillion. This is a pile of money 850,000 kilometres high - which would go round the earth 17 times, or take us to the moon and back. Add in commercial US dollar denominated bonds and you get the total of $US denominated bonds - which is $45 trillion, or a pile of money some 4.5 million kilometers high - 90 times round the equator.
Try and imagine the scale of that! That's a pile of money a metre high, a metre wide, and running out across the floor of this room, then on through the wall, down the street, and on and on ... all the way around the world.
equator3
This next slide shows the scale of the derivative market. This is estimated at $250 trillion: a pile of money which would go round the earth 500 times.
Let me explain a difference between bonds and derivatives. A dollar denominated bond is an unsecured dollar debt - and that really is something to be avoided, especially when the power to devalue dollars rests with the institution that has issued more bonds than anyone else: $8 trillion in fact.
But in a derivative transaction the risk is mostly secured. Something of approximately equal current value is owned by each side of the derivative deal. Both sides have made undertakings to each other, which they expect to be able to honour.
So in fact what this $250 trillion derivative market illustrates is the degree of interconnectedness in modern financial marketplaces. It shows - if you like - how many dominoes have been lined up with the potential to fall if one institution fails. This interconnectedness has grown from about $5 trillion in 1986 to the $250 trillion balance today - which is about 50 times in 20 years.
Derivative mountains are not new. They are a natural part of the credit cycle and have been for nearly 1,000 years. There's a funny thing, though, that whenever they implode, and everyone loses all their money, a whole load of legislation gets passed by politicians who want to make sure 'it never happens again'. But the legislation never works.
You can see these laws all over the old statute books. They're everywhere. There are laws requiring all sales of shares to be registered. There are laws outlawing futures, options and financial bookmaking. There are laws strictly controlling the extension of consumer credit; laws which outlaw brokers' loans; laws preventing the linking of banks and insurance companies, banks and stockbrokers too, to stop them lining up like dominoes.
Yet after a few years all of these laws are ignored with impunity. Why is that?
It's because of a powerful natural cycle. After a big bust everyone gets cautious and derivatives disappear quite naturally. When there's hardly any around it's once again sound, safe, profitable business to deal derivatives.
In fact if your government doesn't allow you to start dealing them again the country next door will loosen the shackles, and will safely steal all your financial business; you'll no longer have a financial centre at all. So derivatives keep coming around to ruin everyone, again and again, and people who study the history of markets understand this very well.
So it's fear of history repeating itself in all the usual ways that is making more and more people buy bullion gold. They are reading the signals and they are frightened of currency devaluation, frightened of bond default, and frightened of the potential for a severe financial crisis arising from derivatives - what Warren Buffet famously described as 'weapons of financial mass destruction'.
Kubblai Khan
This is a picture of Kublai Khan who lived about 700 years ago. He was the first to issue large quantities of paper money. The Italian explorer Marco Polo visited him in China, and was deeply impressed by Chinese economic management. He wrote how Kublai Khan 'had the secret of alchemy in perfection' and how he 'causes each year to be made such a vast amount of money that it must equal in quantity all the treasure of the world'.
But Marco Polo had gone back to Italy when the system collapsed. It was left to Alexander Del Mar - an American historian - to describe the breakdown of the system. Just like ours the system had been working magnificently:-
'This was the most brilliant period in the history of China. Kublai Khan entered upon a series of internal improvements and civil reforms which raised the country he had conquered to the highest rank of civilization, power and progress. Life and property were amply protected; justice was equally dispensed; and the effect of a gradual increase in the currency was to stimulate industry and prevent the monopolization of capital.'
But then a little later :
'Population and trade had greatly increased, but the emissions of paper notes outran both, and the inevitable consequence was depreciation. All the beneficial effects of a currency which is allowed to expand with a growth of population and trade were now turned into those evil effects that flow from a currency emitted in excess of such growth. Excessive and too rapid augmentation of the currency resulted in the entire subversion of the old order of society. The best families in the empire were ruined'
Since Kublai Khan first showed the way the same trick has been used repeatedly. The historical record shows that the failure of these types of system always follows the expansion which happens when everything seems to be going so well.
My next slide shows a tennis court.
tennis court
Imagine all the gold in the world, from the Ancients in Egypt and Rome, to the new world gold found by the Spanish Conquistadores, through to the California Gold rush, the Australian, Russian and - biggest of all - South African deposits. Imagine all that gold formed into a single cube. Its edge would be 20 metres. Not quite enough to cover a single tennis court.
tennis court 2
The US gold reserve is a 7 metre cube.
tennis court 3
It is worth about $160bn, representing 2% of the government's debt.
tennis court 3
Gold supply is in a competition with demand. Currently the two main players are mined supply at 2600 tonnes and jewellery demand at 3200 tonnes. An important balance has been Central Bank sales, which provide about 800 tonnes a year, mainly from Europe.
Eastern banks, like China, Russia, and also Japan all have large dollar reserves and have recently shown a tendency to be net buyers of gold, rather than sellers which - like Britain's own Gordon Brown - remain mainly European. There is a steady eastwards shift of the world's gold reserves.
graph
Source : BullionVault
The contest between supply and demand is measured by price. This chart shows 30 years of the gold price. It divides into 3 main phases. Firstly from 1970 to 1980 there is a strong rise, during which the investment purchasing power of gold went up 15 fold. This was the second time it did so in the 20th century; its investment purchasing power grew 17 times in the deflation of the 1930s.
The second phase was between 1980 and 2000, when gold went down from a peak of 850 to a trough of 260. During this period you would have lost about two thirds of your money, while your shares and properties were multiplying. Shares and houses outperformed gold by about 25 times during these 20 years.
The third phase is from 2001 onwards. Gold has risen from $270 to $600. This recovery shadows the increasing monetary ill-discipline of the USA, and means that gold has just more than doubled. It's outperformed both shares and houses during the period.
There's a concern among some - who measure the gold price in dollars - that they have missed the market. It may look a little that way, but don't forget that much of the gold price's improvement is accounted for by the depreciation of the US Dollar. In 5 years the $ price has moved up 113%. In sterling, only 70%. Don't forget either that gold is still cheaper than it was in 1980. There's not too many assets you can say that about.
Where to now?
So, why is gold rising, and has it gone as far as it will go? Here's my explanation of the upside potential.
'Utility at the margin' explains that the people who value gold incredibly highly - like gold bugs - are irrelevant to the current price. They're not going to sell. Just as the people who would never buy it in a million years are irrelevant too.
The only people who count, the ones who set the price, are those who have it and are just about ready to sell, and those who don't have it and are just about ready to buy - the marginal cases.
So who are they, and what motivates them? And what is the utility they seek from gold?
With all its practical uselessness gold has one serious utility :- reliable rarity. And that's what ordinary savers look for when they want to store future purchasing power. Of course the thing they usually use for the job is ordinary money, which although it's only made of paper is usually made reliably rare by careful controls on its issue.
Even if it often breaks down in the end it's generally the case that human societies successfully arrange a respectable rarity of artificial money which lasts most of the time, and so long as savers have been able to trust in its future rarity official paper money is fine.
In fact it's usually better than fine - because it pays you interest. But sometimes the combination of positive interest, negative tax, and negative inflation turns overall negative on paper money. This is what is happening now; and that's if you believe the official CPI figures - which gets harder and harder as they now exclude mortgages, housing, retirement income, food and fuel!
What ordinary savers - our marginal decision-makers - are now realising, and what I explained earlier, is that official money is being corrupted by bad government and cannot in future be relied upon for rarity. People are starting to fear there will soon be great quantities of artificial money in circulation. That's why there is a growing demand for something fundamentally rare; something which cannot be corrupted by monetary officials.
From where I sit, as BullionVault's Director, I can detect this attitude-shift in savers. Ordinary people are starting to think uneasily about money's future rarity. I think we're only seeing the tiniest numbers just yet - a few thousand a month - but the shift is there, and I think they're at the leading edge of an army of millions.
Ordinary savers' collective demand for rarity is currently being supplied partly by natural rarity (for example gold) but mostly by artificial rarity (bonds and cash). But the bulk of that supply of rarity - the artificial 95% - is becoming unfit for its purpose. The supply of reliable rarity is diminishing.
I'm 44, so I'm at the back end of the 'baby boomers' born after the war. Countless millions of western-world savers a bit older than me have been storing wealth in that trans-global metre high pile of bonded dollars I described earlier. Sometime soon they're going to stop believing that they will be able to convert their share of that pile into anything useful - because they're going to realize that everyone else is trying to do it too. That's why those who are looking ahead are seeking out an alternative monetary store - and real rarity is the thing which impresses them.
So, the available supply of rarity is diminishing, while the demand for it looks like it could boom. Gold looks to me like a market which could explode.
How to buy gold
So far in this presentation I have been explaining the reasons for buying gold. In this shorter second half I want to look at the method.
the gold market
This slide shows the dual nature of the gold market. On the left is the professional market. On the right is the private market.
Accredited gold refiners produce large bar bullion for the professional market. It is stored continuously in accredited bullion vaults, and traded between member financial institutions. This market trades at what is known as the 'spot' price, which you see published widely in the financial press. But a condition of selling at the 'spot' price is that you must be able to make delivery in a large bar of gold with a complete history of professional vault storage.
If your bar has been in private hands it loses its integrity and will not be automatically accepted as a good delivery to the buyer.
This means private sellers do not benefit from either the highly competitive spot market price, or the depth of the professional market's liquidity. Firstly they usually lack the funds to buy large bars. Secondly they usually don't have access to professional vault storage.
So smaller bars tend to exit the black box of the professionals and be traded via small retail traders.
Sadly too many people go and buy a small bar without fully appreciating the difficulty of later selling it. But it's easy to see the problem. If someone you didn't know offered you a gold bar from their pocket would you buy it? I hope not - for your sake!
This is why the retail market is illiquid, and how come extra costs cause private buyers to lose a minimum of 5% on each coin or small bar trade. This is more than 10 times the cost of dealing professionally.
Private participation1
An obvious solution is for the private buyer to hire vault space from a bank - inside the professional market.
But while this is a good solution for the private buyer it is a poor solution for a bank. Banks try to earn returns of 20% per annum on capital. Allocated gold nets the bank about 1.5% in fees. Banks are far more profitable where they can employ customer assets via deposit accounts.
private partecipation2
As a result banks invented 'Unallocated Gold'. This structures the customer's gold as a deposit and demotes the customer from owner to unsecured creditor. Worse still the customer is outside the realm of depositor protection - which applies to currency only. But the bank is able to put unallocated gold to its own use - probably as part of its liquidity reserve. It's an interest free unprotected gold loan to the bank! They love it.
So as well as creating Unallocated gold the banks increased the storage charge on Allocated gold to uncompetitive levels. This further encouraged unallocated gold.
private partecipation3
This combination virtually eliminated privately owned gold in the custody of banks. Unallocated gold is now 99% of the market.
But unallocated gold does not isolate the gold owner from the bank's balance sheet - which is a major objective of many people who buy gold. If more people realized this there would be many fewer private buyers prepared to accept unallocated gold.
Unallocated gold is only one way of converting the solidity of gold into the doubtful promises of financiers. More popular still are gold futures. I'm sure you realize that these are part of the derivative mountain I was talking about earlier. Futures catch people out - even the wily Jim Rogers! He called gold right (as he usually does) but played it wrong. He dealt through a futures broker called Refco, and got caught out by its financial default.
That's the trouble with so many of these structured investment products. Without physical gold, in bullion form, which you can clearly identify as your own, you're too easily washed away in a financial accident.
This next slide explains something of my personal experience:
personal experience
Back in 2001 I bought some gold from a highly respected Swiss bank. After three interviews and ten weeks I was finally allowed to buy some. But after reading the small print, I found out that I only had unallocated gold. Even my banker was amazed.
The hassle, the cost, and the disappointment of finding out what I'd really bought were the triggers for creating BullionVault.
Buying gold via BV
BullionVault acts as a bridge for the individual into the professional gold market. We buy the several large bars at a time which makes gold dealing economic, and we have them sent to Via Mat - a fully accredited bullion market vault operator. So the gold retains its professional market integrity and all its resale value. We then let people buy and sell this warranted gold, both to us, and to each other, via our website. This means all the storage issues are taken care of and they can deal in smaller sums, without the loss of spot market integrity and pricing.
As you probably know there are simple and transparent safeguards - like the Daily Audit - which give people the absolute confidence that their gold is safely stored, and insured, in one of the safest places on Earth.
Most of our customers have decided to take advantage of remote storage in Switzerland - our most popular location. I think maybe they have worked out that there's not much point in storing gold at home if their national economy is stumbling into financial crisis. Switzerland of course runs healthy surpluses in both budget and trade.
Key avantages
BullionVault has made a big impact on the way people are buying gold. There are already 18,000 users and nearly 3 tonnes of gold in the vaults. We're now easily the biggest provider of privately owned bullion in the UK, and one of the biggest in the world. In fact without ever really marketing actively in the US we now provide more gold to US customers than to British ones.
press review
We've been extensively reviewed too. Here are a couple of comments, and of course you can check out the 'CUSTOMER COMMENTS' section of our website. You'll find them easily from our homepage at www.BullionVault.com.
Finally all of you are welcome at our stand where, under the watchful eye of our security staff, we invite you to feel for yourself the weight of the London Good Delivery Bar.
Thank you very much for your attention and I look forward to talking to you later.
bullion
A bar of professional 'London Good Delivery' gold: Just over 400 Troy Ounces and 99.77% pure. This was on display in a special handling cabinet - overseen by our security guards. The arch at the front allowed customers to pick up the bar. The value of this bar was about $250,000.
team
Some of the BullionVault Team:- Kris Jenkins, Paul Tustain (Director), Alex Edwards and Catherine Little.
Paul Tustain is the editor of www.Galmarley.com and director of BullionVault.
Please Note: All articles published here are to inform your thinking, not lead it. Only you can decide the best place for your money, and any decision you make will put your money at risk. Information or data included here may have already been overtaken by events – and must be verified elsewhere – should you choose to act on it. Please review our Terms & Conditions for accessing Gold News."
Solar Power — Can Solar Save Us? — National Geographic Magazine
Solar Power — Can Solar Save Us? — National Geographic Magazine:
Probably. Eventually. With lots of government help.
By Chris Carroll
Photograph by Michael Melford
The sun is a utopian fuel: limitless, ubiquitous, and clean. Surely someday we'll give up on coal, oil, and gas—so hard on the climate, so unequally distributed worldwide—and go straight to the energy source that made fossil fuels. In a few sunny places where electric rates are high, like Italy and Hawaii, solar energy is already on the verge of being competitive. But in most places the sun remains by far the most expensive source of electric power—typically in the U.S. it costs several times more than natural gas or coal—which is why it still supplies only a fraction of a percent of our needs.
That won't change fast unless governments give solar a big boost. President Barack Obama campaigned with a pledge to institute a federal 'renewable portfolio standard' requiring utilities to generate a quarter of their electricity from renewables by 2025. Yet even if Congress enacted that ambitious law, coal would still dominate the nation's electricity portfolio two decades from now, and solar energy would probably remain a minor contributor. Cap-and-trade legislation that sets a price on carbon emissions would not be a magic bullet for solar either. Both mandates would likely lead utilities to favor the cheapest renewables, like wind. Solar would make a sizable contribution only after 2025, once the expansion of wind energy had plateaued.
Some advocates say we need to encourage solar more directly. European nations have done so with 'feed-in tariffs,' laws that require electric utilities to pay premiums to solar-power producers, be they commercial power plants or private homes that pump energy to the grid. Such tariffs have made Germany and Spain solar leaders, creating a market that has helped drive down prices. The billions of dollars of tax credits and loan guarantees in the Obama stimulus package may have a similar effect.
Another option is for the federal government to invest directly in solar—for example, says Ken Zweibel of George Washington University, by funding the construction of giant solar plants in the desert Southwest, along with the high-efficiency transmission lines needed to carry the power nationwide. In Zweibel's version of the future, the sun would satisfy more than two-thirds of U.S. electricity needs by 2050, for an investment of about $400 billion. 'Compared to what we just paid for the financial bailout, it's pocket change,' he says.
Probably. Eventually. With lots of government help.
By Chris Carroll
Photograph by Michael Melford
The sun is a utopian fuel: limitless, ubiquitous, and clean. Surely someday we'll give up on coal, oil, and gas—so hard on the climate, so unequally distributed worldwide—and go straight to the energy source that made fossil fuels. In a few sunny places where electric rates are high, like Italy and Hawaii, solar energy is already on the verge of being competitive. But in most places the sun remains by far the most expensive source of electric power—typically in the U.S. it costs several times more than natural gas or coal—which is why it still supplies only a fraction of a percent of our needs.
That won't change fast unless governments give solar a big boost. President Barack Obama campaigned with a pledge to institute a federal 'renewable portfolio standard' requiring utilities to generate a quarter of their electricity from renewables by 2025. Yet even if Congress enacted that ambitious law, coal would still dominate the nation's electricity portfolio two decades from now, and solar energy would probably remain a minor contributor. Cap-and-trade legislation that sets a price on carbon emissions would not be a magic bullet for solar either. Both mandates would likely lead utilities to favor the cheapest renewables, like wind. Solar would make a sizable contribution only after 2025, once the expansion of wind energy had plateaued.
Some advocates say we need to encourage solar more directly. European nations have done so with 'feed-in tariffs,' laws that require electric utilities to pay premiums to solar-power producers, be they commercial power plants or private homes that pump energy to the grid. Such tariffs have made Germany and Spain solar leaders, creating a market that has helped drive down prices. The billions of dollars of tax credits and loan guarantees in the Obama stimulus package may have a similar effect.
Another option is for the federal government to invest directly in solar—for example, says Ken Zweibel of George Washington University, by funding the construction of giant solar plants in the desert Southwest, along with the high-efficiency transmission lines needed to carry the power nationwide. In Zweibel's version of the future, the sun would satisfy more than two-thirds of U.S. electricity needs by 2050, for an investment of about $400 billion. 'Compared to what we just paid for the financial bailout, it's pocket change,' he says.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Bioengineering Crops For Biofuels And Energy
Bioengineering Crops For Biofuels And Energy:
By ASHWANI KUMAR
There is nothing to stop biodiesel making an immediate impact in reducing the world's dependence on fossil fuels that contribute to global warming. Using biodiesel requires no major changes to either existing diesel engines or to the current distribution infrastructure of storage tanks and petrol stations that delivers diesel fuel to consumers.
Petroleum diesel produces high levels of carbon dioxide (CO2), a greenhouse gas that contributes significantly to global warming. But burning biodiesel produces only a marginal increase in CO2 emissions, because the crops from which it is produced capture CO2 as they grow.
Diesel also produces other harmful pollutants: poisonous carbon monoxide that causes smog; particulates that contribute to respiratory infections; sulphur that causes acid rain; unburned aromatic hydrocarbons that also create smog and may be a contributing cause of cancer; and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), chemicals which have potential adverse health effects.
Used either in its pure form or blended with mineral diesel, biodiesel produces significantly lower levels of all these harmful emissions. Sulphur emissions are virtually eliminated. The level of emissions reduction depends on the percentage of biodiesel used. Pure biodiesel (B100) produces the greatest reductions in harmful emissions. However, lower levels of biodiesel blend, including 5% (B5) amd 20% (B20), also significantly reduce emissions. Biodiesel is less toxic than mineral diesel and also biodegradable."
By ASHWANI KUMAR
There is nothing to stop biodiesel making an immediate impact in reducing the world's dependence on fossil fuels that contribute to global warming. Using biodiesel requires no major changes to either existing diesel engines or to the current distribution infrastructure of storage tanks and petrol stations that delivers diesel fuel to consumers.
Petroleum diesel produces high levels of carbon dioxide (CO2), a greenhouse gas that contributes significantly to global warming. But burning biodiesel produces only a marginal increase in CO2 emissions, because the crops from which it is produced capture CO2 as they grow.
Diesel also produces other harmful pollutants: poisonous carbon monoxide that causes smog; particulates that contribute to respiratory infections; sulphur that causes acid rain; unburned aromatic hydrocarbons that also create smog and may be a contributing cause of cancer; and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), chemicals which have potential adverse health effects.
Used either in its pure form or blended with mineral diesel, biodiesel produces significantly lower levels of all these harmful emissions. Sulphur emissions are virtually eliminated. The level of emissions reduction depends on the percentage of biodiesel used. Pure biodiesel (B100) produces the greatest reductions in harmful emissions. However, lower levels of biodiesel blend, including 5% (B5) amd 20% (B20), also significantly reduce emissions. Biodiesel is less toxic than mineral diesel and also biodegradable."
Saturday, October 24, 2009
SANTANA (HANCOCK - MC LAUGHLIN - DENNIS CHAMBERS - SHORTER)
SANTANA (HANCOCK - MC LAUGHLIN - DENNIS CHAMBERS - SHORTER)
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Windows 7 review: like Vista, but good | Technology | guardian.co.uk
Windows 7 review: like Vista, but good | Technology | guardian.co.uk:
The first thing you'll notice about Windows 7 is that it looks like Vista. It also works like Vista, in the sense that it has the same plumbing underneath, except for a very welcome graphics upgrade to DX11. However, it works much better than Vista, and most of Vista's annoyances have either been removed, or (mostly) can be changed so the system works the way you like. It takes personalisation to extremes.
Microsoft has analysed the data from millions of user computing sessions to find out exactly what people do with their computers, then attacked the 'pain points' to make Windows 7 quicker and smoother. (About 15m people used the Windows 7 beta.)
The most obvious difference is that Windows 7 doesn't keep annoying you with prompts — though it's also true that the latest version of Vista is much less annoying than the original. In fact, you can set the degree of annoyance on a sliding scale, though reducing it increases the risk of security breaches. However, Windows 7 is vastly more secure than XP and, in any case, the threat landscape has changed since XP was trashed by worms such as Blaster and Slammer. Today, the more important security changes are in the Internet Explorer 8 browser which, uniquely, defends against cross-site scripting."
The first thing you'll notice about Windows 7 is that it looks like Vista. It also works like Vista, in the sense that it has the same plumbing underneath, except for a very welcome graphics upgrade to DX11. However, it works much better than Vista, and most of Vista's annoyances have either been removed, or (mostly) can be changed so the system works the way you like. It takes personalisation to extremes.
Microsoft has analysed the data from millions of user computing sessions to find out exactly what people do with their computers, then attacked the 'pain points' to make Windows 7 quicker and smoother. (About 15m people used the Windows 7 beta.)
The most obvious difference is that Windows 7 doesn't keep annoying you with prompts — though it's also true that the latest version of Vista is much less annoying than the original. In fact, you can set the degree of annoyance on a sliding scale, though reducing it increases the risk of security breaches. However, Windows 7 is vastly more secure than XP and, in any case, the threat landscape has changed since XP was trashed by worms such as Blaster and Slammer. Today, the more important security changes are in the Internet Explorer 8 browser which, uniquely, defends against cross-site scripting."
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Satellite Internet Connection: The Pros And Cons
Satellite Internet Connection: The Pros And Cons:
"Satellite internet connection is seen as something of a last resort for a strong internet connection. In a lot of rural areas, cable and DSL never really caught on. There simply isn’t a dense enough population in most rural areas to justify the costs of establishing a DSL or cable company. Hence, satellite.
Wireless is quickly spreading, though. It’s spreading like the flu, and will probably cover those areas in time… But that could be a year or longer from now. Satellite internet connection is what you’re looking at if you’re sick of dialup, and can’t wait around for wireless to catch on in your area.
So in other words, you’re basically trying to choose between satellite and dialup. Let’s break it down into pros and cons…
SATELLITE PROS
Speed
Obviously, it’s not dialup. That’s all you need to know. You can probably average up to forty Mb per second if you use a shared satellite with a few others in your area, which is actually twice what you can expect from DSL or cable, and somewhere in the area of one hundred times faster than dialup.
SATELLITE CONS
Price
Satellites can be extremely expensive. On a shared network, you probably won’t have to blow too much money, but a portable satellite system can cost you five dollars a megabyte. Top of the line satellite internet dishes can cost anywhere from six hundred to two thousand bucks just to buy and install in the first place. Unless you’re rich, buying a satellite for personal use only is kind of out of the question. It’s the kind of thing where you have to get together with a few of your neighbours and agree to purchase it together.
You might have a TV satellite that only cost you a hundred bucks and a low monthly fee, but the difference is that an internet satellite really has to be a two way dish, whereas a TV satellite only has to receive. An internet dish has to send, as well, which is pricier.
Some providers do offer one way satellite options, wherein your downstream is received from the dish, while your upstream is sent through a telephone line. This can be enormously cheaper if there’s a provider in your area who will do this for you.
Rain fade
Moisture in the path of the signal can pretty much ruin satellite communications. It doesn’t even have to be rain, heavy clouds can do the trick for higher frequencies, such as the Ku and Ka bands, though the lower frequencies, L and C, aren’t quite as affected.
This can be corrected by getting a larger dish… We could mention price again, but it would be a low blow.
DIALUP PROS
Price
Dialup is cheap these days. Dirt cheap. You can get dialup access for ten bucks a month if you shop around.
Reliability
As long as your phone line is working, so, too, should your dialup access. Dialup isn’t subject to rain clouds or anything, like a satellite connection is, so you don’t have much to worry about.
DIALUP CONS
Everything Else
Where to begin? At not even half a megabit per second, pretty much all multimedia is out of the question. It’ll take you all day to download a song, so forget iTunes. You’re definitely not going to be streaming Youtube videos anytime soon. Even basic text pages might take minutes to load, and the internet really just isn’t built for dialup anymore. In fact, try to name five websites off the top of your head that dialup can handle. Can’t do it, can you? You’re basically restricted to email and blogs and… that’s about it.
The Upside…
If you want to look on the bright side… dialup is like that beat up old Volvo you wish you had the money to replace… it’s not the noblest steed on the track, but it will get you from point A to point B. And wireless is on its way. If you’re looking at satellite, it makes sense if you’re running an office and you want a fast, reliable, exclusive internet connection (and if you can get your employer to foot the bill)… it also makes sense if you rely on the internet to make a living and can write it off as a business expense on your taxes! Otherwise, satellite really will take a bite out of your check book, and wireless is on its way… sooner or later.
If you can afford a nice big dish that can pick up signals in the rain, then yeah, satellite is great and worth the price. You’ll get a connection twice as fast as DSL, a hundred times as fast as dialup, and that is generally pretty reliable, but if you don’t really have the cash, dialup might be your only real choice for the time being."
"Satellite internet connection is seen as something of a last resort for a strong internet connection. In a lot of rural areas, cable and DSL never really caught on. There simply isn’t a dense enough population in most rural areas to justify the costs of establishing a DSL or cable company. Hence, satellite.
Wireless is quickly spreading, though. It’s spreading like the flu, and will probably cover those areas in time… But that could be a year or longer from now. Satellite internet connection is what you’re looking at if you’re sick of dialup, and can’t wait around for wireless to catch on in your area.
So in other words, you’re basically trying to choose between satellite and dialup. Let’s break it down into pros and cons…
SATELLITE PROS
Speed
Obviously, it’s not dialup. That’s all you need to know. You can probably average up to forty Mb per second if you use a shared satellite with a few others in your area, which is actually twice what you can expect from DSL or cable, and somewhere in the area of one hundred times faster than dialup.
SATELLITE CONS
Price
Satellites can be extremely expensive. On a shared network, you probably won’t have to blow too much money, but a portable satellite system can cost you five dollars a megabyte. Top of the line satellite internet dishes can cost anywhere from six hundred to two thousand bucks just to buy and install in the first place. Unless you’re rich, buying a satellite for personal use only is kind of out of the question. It’s the kind of thing where you have to get together with a few of your neighbours and agree to purchase it together.
You might have a TV satellite that only cost you a hundred bucks and a low monthly fee, but the difference is that an internet satellite really has to be a two way dish, whereas a TV satellite only has to receive. An internet dish has to send, as well, which is pricier.
Some providers do offer one way satellite options, wherein your downstream is received from the dish, while your upstream is sent through a telephone line. This can be enormously cheaper if there’s a provider in your area who will do this for you.
Rain fade
Moisture in the path of the signal can pretty much ruin satellite communications. It doesn’t even have to be rain, heavy clouds can do the trick for higher frequencies, such as the Ku and Ka bands, though the lower frequencies, L and C, aren’t quite as affected.
This can be corrected by getting a larger dish… We could mention price again, but it would be a low blow.
DIALUP PROS
Price
Dialup is cheap these days. Dirt cheap. You can get dialup access for ten bucks a month if you shop around.
Reliability
As long as your phone line is working, so, too, should your dialup access. Dialup isn’t subject to rain clouds or anything, like a satellite connection is, so you don’t have much to worry about.
DIALUP CONS
Everything Else
Where to begin? At not even half a megabit per second, pretty much all multimedia is out of the question. It’ll take you all day to download a song, so forget iTunes. You’re definitely not going to be streaming Youtube videos anytime soon. Even basic text pages might take minutes to load, and the internet really just isn’t built for dialup anymore. In fact, try to name five websites off the top of your head that dialup can handle. Can’t do it, can you? You’re basically restricted to email and blogs and… that’s about it.
The Upside…
If you want to look on the bright side… dialup is like that beat up old Volvo you wish you had the money to replace… it’s not the noblest steed on the track, but it will get you from point A to point B. And wireless is on its way. If you’re looking at satellite, it makes sense if you’re running an office and you want a fast, reliable, exclusive internet connection (and if you can get your employer to foot the bill)… it also makes sense if you rely on the internet to make a living and can write it off as a business expense on your taxes! Otherwise, satellite really will take a bite out of your check book, and wireless is on its way… sooner or later.
If you can afford a nice big dish that can pick up signals in the rain, then yeah, satellite is great and worth the price. You’ll get a connection twice as fast as DSL, a hundred times as fast as dialup, and that is generally pretty reliable, but if you don’t really have the cash, dialup might be your only real choice for the time being."
Foundation (nonprofit organization) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Foundation (nonprofit organization) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "Foundation (nonprofit organization)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
A foundation is a legal categorization of nonprofit organizations. Foundations may also and often have charitable purposes. This type of nonprofit organization may either donate funds and support to other organizations, or provide the sole source of funding for their own charitable activities.
Contents
[hide]
* 1 Description
* 2 Foundations in civil law
o 2.1 Italy
o 2.2 Finland
o 2.3 Germany
o 2.4 Netherlands
o 2.5 Spain
o 2.6 Sweden
* 3 Foundations in common law
o 3.1 Canada
o 3.2 England
o 3.3 Ireland
o 3.4 Jersey
o 3.5 USA
* 4 See also
* 5 Further reading
* 6 Further listening
* 7 External links
[edit] Description
One of the characteristics of the legal entities existing under the status of 'Foundations', is a wide diversity of structures and purposes. Nevertheless, there are some common structural elements that are the first observed under legal scrutiny or classification.
* Legal requirements followed for establishment
* Purpose of the foundation
* Economic activity
* Supervision and management provisions
* Accountability and Auditing provisions
* Provisions for the amendment of the statutes or articles of incorporation
* Provisions for the dissolution of the entity
* Tax status of corporate and private donors
* Tax status of the foundation
Some of the above must be, in most jurisdictions, expressed in the document of establishment. Others may be provided by the supervising authority at each particular jurisdiction.
[edit] Foundations in civil law
The term 'foundation,' in general, is used to describe a distinct legal entity.
Foundations as legal structures (legal entities) and/or legal persons (legal personality), may have a diversity of forms and may follow diverse regulations depending on the jurisdiction where they are created.
In some jurisdictions, a foundation may acquire its legal personality when it is entered in a public registry, while in other countries a foundation may acquire legal personality by the mere action of creation through a required document. Unlike a company, foundations have no shareholders, though they may have a board, an assembly and voting members. A foundation may hold assets in its own name for the purposes set out in its constitutive documents, and its administration and operation are carried out in accordance with its statutes or articles of association rather than fiduciary principles. The foundation has a distinct patrimony independent of its founder.
Foundations are often set up for charitable purposes, family patrimony and collective purposes.
[edit] Italy
In Italy, a foundation is a private non profit and autonomous organisation, its assets must be dedicated to a purpose established by the founder. The founder cannot receive any benefits from the foundation or have reverted the initial assets. The private foundations or civil code foundations are under the section about non commercial entities of the first book (Libro Primo) of the Civil Code of Law (Codice Civile) from 1942. The Art. 16 CC establishes that the statutes of the foundation must contain its name, purpose, assets, domicile, administrative organs and regulations, and how the grants will be distributed. The founder must write a declaration of intention including a purpose and endow assets for such purpose. This document can be in the form of a notarised deed or a will. To obtain legal personality, the foundation must enroll in the legal register of each Prefettura (local authority) or some cases the regional authority. There are several nuances in requirements according to each foundation's purpose and area of activity.
[edit] Finland
Foundations in Finland must have state approval and register at the National Board of Patents and Registration within six months from its creation. A minimum capital of € 25,000 is obligatory. A foundation can be created with any legal purpose and may have economic activity if this is specified in its bylaws and the business supports the foundation's purpose.
[edit] Germany
German regulations allow for the creation of any foundation for public or private purposes in keeping with the concept of a gemeinwohlkonforme Allzweckstiftung. Commercial activities should not be the main purpose of the foundation, but they are permitted if this serves the main purpose of the foundation. There is no minimum starting capital, although in practice at least €50,000 is considered necessary.
A German foundation can either be charitable or serving private interest. Charitable foundations enjoy tax shelter and can at the same time be engaged in commercial activities, if so only the commercially active part of the entity is taxed. A family foundation (serving private interest) is taxed like any other legal entity. There is no central register for German foundations.
Only charitable foundations are subject to supervision of state authorities. Family foundations are not supervised after establishment. All forms of foundations can however be eliminated if they pursue anti-constitutional aims. Foundations are supervised by local authorities within each state (Bundesland) due to the fact that each Bundesland has exclusive legislative power over the laws governing foundation.
In contrast to many other countries, German law allows a tax sheltered charitable foundation to distribute up to one third of its profit to the founder and the next of his kin, if they are needy, or for maintenance of the founder's grave. These benefits are subject to taxation.
Currently (2008) there are about 15.000 foundations in Germany, about 85% of them are charitable foundations. Many large German corporations are owned by foundations, e.g. Bertelsmann, Carl Zeiss or Lidl.
Foundations are the main providers of private scholarships (Stipendien) to German students.
[edit] Netherlands
See private foundation in the Netherlands.
[edit] Spain
Foundations in Spain are organizations founded with the purpose of not seeking profit and serving the general needs of the public. Such foundation may be founded by private individuals or by the public. These foundations have an independent legal personality separate from their founders. Foundations serve the general needs of the public with a patrimony that funds public services and which may not be distributed to the founders' benefit.
[edit] Sweden
A foundation in Sweden (Stiftelse) is a legal entity without an owner. It is formed by a letter of donation from a founder donating funds or assets to be administered for a specific purpose. When the purpose is for the public benefit, a foundation may enjoy favourable tax treatment. A foundation may have diverse purposes, including but not limited to public benefit, humanitarian or cultural purposes, religious, collective, familiar, or the simple passive administration of funds. Normally, the supervision of a foundation is done by the county government where the foundation has its domicile, however, large foundations must be registered by the County Administrative Board (CAB), which must also supervise the administration of the foundation. The main legal instruments governing foundations in Sweden are the Foundation Act (1994:1220) and the Regulation for Foundations (1995:1280).
[edit] Foundations in common law
[edit] Canada
See also: Foundations in Canada
Under Canadian law, foundations may be public or private, but both are charities. They collectively comprise a large asset base for philanthropy
[edit] England
In England, the word 'foundation' is sometimes used in the title of a charity, as in the British Heart Foundation and the Fairtrade Foundation. Despite this, the term is not generally used in English law, and (unlike in civil law systems) the term has no precise meaning. Instead, the concept of Charitable Trust is in use (for example, the Wellcome Trust).
[edit] Ireland
The law does not prescribe any particular form for a foundation in Ireland. Most commonly, foundations are companies limited by guarantee or trusts. A foundation can obtain a charity registration number from the Revenue Commissioners for obtaining tax relief as far as they can be considered under the law on charity, however, charitable status does not exist in Ireland. The definition usually applied is that from the Pemsel Case of English jurisprudence (1891) and the Irish Income Tax Act 1967. Trusts have no legal personality and companies acquire their legal status through the Company law and the required documents of incorporation. Foundations are not required to register with any public authority.
[edit] Jersey
The States of Jersey are considering introducing civil law type foundations into its law. A consultation paper presenting a general discussion on foundations was brought forth to the Jersey government concerning this possibility. adopted by the states of Jersey 22/10/2008 - Foundations (Jersey) Law 200-
[edit] USA
Main article: Foundation (USA)
In the United States, many philanthropic and charitable organizations are considered to be foundations. However, the Internal Revenue Code distinguishes between private foundations (usually funded by an individual, family, or corporation) and public charities (community foundations or other nonprofit groups that raise money from the general public). Private foundations have more restrictions and fewer tax benefits than public charities.
[edit] See also
* Wikipedia articles on individual foundations
* Charitable organisation
* Charitable trust
* List of wealthiest foundations
* Private foundation
* Program evaluation
* Think tank
* List of charitable foundations
* Nongovernmental organization
* International nongovernmental organization
[edit] Further reading
* Dwight F. Burlingame, Philanthropy in America: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia, Santa Barbara, Calif. [etc.] : ABC-CLIO, 2004
* Mark Dowie, American Foundations: An Investigative History. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 2001.
* Lester M. Salamon et al., 'Global Civil Society: Dimensions of the Nonprofit Sector', 1999, Johns Hopkins Center for Civil Society Studies.
* David C. Hammack, editor, 'Making the Nonprofit Sector in the United States', 1998, Indiana University Press.
* Joan Roelofs, Foundations and Public Policy: The Mask of Pluralism, State University of New York Press, 2003, ISBN 0791456420
[edit] Further listening
* Joan Roelofs, The Invisible Hand of Corporate Capitalism, Recorded at Hampshire College, April 18, 2007. [1]
[edit] External links
* European Foundation Centre.
* The Foundation Center, a Clearinghouse of Information on the approximately 70,000 U.S. foundations
* The Foundation Center Historical Foundation Collection
* Council on Foundations - US co-ordinating body
* Association of Charitable Foundations - UK co-ordinating body
* WINGS - Worldwide co-ordinating body
* Foundation Search Canada
* Foundation Search America, A source of information and grants for 103,000 foundations in the U.S.A."
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
A foundation is a legal categorization of nonprofit organizations. Foundations may also and often have charitable purposes. This type of nonprofit organization may either donate funds and support to other organizations, or provide the sole source of funding for their own charitable activities.
Contents
[hide]
* 1 Description
* 2 Foundations in civil law
o 2.1 Italy
o 2.2 Finland
o 2.3 Germany
o 2.4 Netherlands
o 2.5 Spain
o 2.6 Sweden
* 3 Foundations in common law
o 3.1 Canada
o 3.2 England
o 3.3 Ireland
o 3.4 Jersey
o 3.5 USA
* 4 See also
* 5 Further reading
* 6 Further listening
* 7 External links
[edit] Description
One of the characteristics of the legal entities existing under the status of 'Foundations', is a wide diversity of structures and purposes. Nevertheless, there are some common structural elements that are the first observed under legal scrutiny or classification.
* Legal requirements followed for establishment
* Purpose of the foundation
* Economic activity
* Supervision and management provisions
* Accountability and Auditing provisions
* Provisions for the amendment of the statutes or articles of incorporation
* Provisions for the dissolution of the entity
* Tax status of corporate and private donors
* Tax status of the foundation
Some of the above must be, in most jurisdictions, expressed in the document of establishment. Others may be provided by the supervising authority at each particular jurisdiction.
[edit] Foundations in civil law
The term 'foundation,' in general, is used to describe a distinct legal entity.
Foundations as legal structures (legal entities) and/or legal persons (legal personality), may have a diversity of forms and may follow diverse regulations depending on the jurisdiction where they are created.
In some jurisdictions, a foundation may acquire its legal personality when it is entered in a public registry, while in other countries a foundation may acquire legal personality by the mere action of creation through a required document. Unlike a company, foundations have no shareholders, though they may have a board, an assembly and voting members. A foundation may hold assets in its own name for the purposes set out in its constitutive documents, and its administration and operation are carried out in accordance with its statutes or articles of association rather than fiduciary principles. The foundation has a distinct patrimony independent of its founder.
Foundations are often set up for charitable purposes, family patrimony and collective purposes.
[edit] Italy
In Italy, a foundation is a private non profit and autonomous organisation, its assets must be dedicated to a purpose established by the founder. The founder cannot receive any benefits from the foundation or have reverted the initial assets. The private foundations or civil code foundations are under the section about non commercial entities of the first book (Libro Primo) of the Civil Code of Law (Codice Civile) from 1942. The Art. 16 CC establishes that the statutes of the foundation must contain its name, purpose, assets, domicile, administrative organs and regulations, and how the grants will be distributed. The founder must write a declaration of intention including a purpose and endow assets for such purpose. This document can be in the form of a notarised deed or a will. To obtain legal personality, the foundation must enroll in the legal register of each Prefettura (local authority) or some cases the regional authority. There are several nuances in requirements according to each foundation's purpose and area of activity.
[edit] Finland
Foundations in Finland must have state approval and register at the National Board of Patents and Registration within six months from its creation. A minimum capital of € 25,000 is obligatory. A foundation can be created with any legal purpose and may have economic activity if this is specified in its bylaws and the business supports the foundation's purpose.
[edit] Germany
German regulations allow for the creation of any foundation for public or private purposes in keeping with the concept of a gemeinwohlkonforme Allzweckstiftung. Commercial activities should not be the main purpose of the foundation, but they are permitted if this serves the main purpose of the foundation. There is no minimum starting capital, although in practice at least €50,000 is considered necessary.
A German foundation can either be charitable or serving private interest. Charitable foundations enjoy tax shelter and can at the same time be engaged in commercial activities, if so only the commercially active part of the entity is taxed. A family foundation (serving private interest) is taxed like any other legal entity. There is no central register for German foundations.
Only charitable foundations are subject to supervision of state authorities. Family foundations are not supervised after establishment. All forms of foundations can however be eliminated if they pursue anti-constitutional aims. Foundations are supervised by local authorities within each state (Bundesland) due to the fact that each Bundesland has exclusive legislative power over the laws governing foundation.
In contrast to many other countries, German law allows a tax sheltered charitable foundation to distribute up to one third of its profit to the founder and the next of his kin, if they are needy, or for maintenance of the founder's grave. These benefits are subject to taxation.
Currently (2008) there are about 15.000 foundations in Germany, about 85% of them are charitable foundations. Many large German corporations are owned by foundations, e.g. Bertelsmann, Carl Zeiss or Lidl.
Foundations are the main providers of private scholarships (Stipendien) to German students.
[edit] Netherlands
See private foundation in the Netherlands.
[edit] Spain
Foundations in Spain are organizations founded with the purpose of not seeking profit and serving the general needs of the public. Such foundation may be founded by private individuals or by the public. These foundations have an independent legal personality separate from their founders. Foundations serve the general needs of the public with a patrimony that funds public services and which may not be distributed to the founders' benefit.
[edit] Sweden
A foundation in Sweden (Stiftelse) is a legal entity without an owner. It is formed by a letter of donation from a founder donating funds or assets to be administered for a specific purpose. When the purpose is for the public benefit, a foundation may enjoy favourable tax treatment. A foundation may have diverse purposes, including but not limited to public benefit, humanitarian or cultural purposes, religious, collective, familiar, or the simple passive administration of funds. Normally, the supervision of a foundation is done by the county government where the foundation has its domicile, however, large foundations must be registered by the County Administrative Board (CAB), which must also supervise the administration of the foundation. The main legal instruments governing foundations in Sweden are the Foundation Act (1994:1220) and the Regulation for Foundations (1995:1280).
[edit] Foundations in common law
[edit] Canada
See also: Foundations in Canada
Under Canadian law, foundations may be public or private, but both are charities. They collectively comprise a large asset base for philanthropy
[edit] England
In England, the word 'foundation' is sometimes used in the title of a charity, as in the British Heart Foundation and the Fairtrade Foundation. Despite this, the term is not generally used in English law, and (unlike in civil law systems) the term has no precise meaning. Instead, the concept of Charitable Trust is in use (for example, the Wellcome Trust).
[edit] Ireland
The law does not prescribe any particular form for a foundation in Ireland. Most commonly, foundations are companies limited by guarantee or trusts. A foundation can obtain a charity registration number from the Revenue Commissioners for obtaining tax relief as far as they can be considered under the law on charity, however, charitable status does not exist in Ireland. The definition usually applied is that from the Pemsel Case of English jurisprudence (1891) and the Irish Income Tax Act 1967. Trusts have no legal personality and companies acquire their legal status through the Company law and the required documents of incorporation. Foundations are not required to register with any public authority.
[edit] Jersey
The States of Jersey are considering introducing civil law type foundations into its law. A consultation paper presenting a general discussion on foundations was brought forth to the Jersey government concerning this possibility. adopted by the states of Jersey 22/10/2008 - Foundations (Jersey) Law 200-
[edit] USA
Main article: Foundation (USA)
In the United States, many philanthropic and charitable organizations are considered to be foundations. However, the Internal Revenue Code distinguishes between private foundations (usually funded by an individual, family, or corporation) and public charities (community foundations or other nonprofit groups that raise money from the general public). Private foundations have more restrictions and fewer tax benefits than public charities.
[edit] See also
* Wikipedia articles on individual foundations
* Charitable organisation
* Charitable trust
* List of wealthiest foundations
* Private foundation
* Program evaluation
* Think tank
* List of charitable foundations
* Nongovernmental organization
* International nongovernmental organization
[edit] Further reading
* Dwight F. Burlingame, Philanthropy in America: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia, Santa Barbara, Calif. [etc.] : ABC-CLIO, 2004
* Mark Dowie, American Foundations: An Investigative History. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 2001.
* Lester M. Salamon et al., 'Global Civil Society: Dimensions of the Nonprofit Sector', 1999, Johns Hopkins Center for Civil Society Studies.
* David C. Hammack, editor, 'Making the Nonprofit Sector in the United States', 1998, Indiana University Press.
* Joan Roelofs, Foundations and Public Policy: The Mask of Pluralism, State University of New York Press, 2003, ISBN 0791456420
[edit] Further listening
* Joan Roelofs, The Invisible Hand of Corporate Capitalism, Recorded at Hampshire College, April 18, 2007. [1]
[edit] External links
* European Foundation Centre.
* The Foundation Center, a Clearinghouse of Information on the approximately 70,000 U.S. foundations
* The Foundation Center Historical Foundation Collection
* Council on Foundations - US co-ordinating body
* Association of Charitable Foundations - UK co-ordinating body
* WINGS - Worldwide co-ordinating body
* Foundation Search Canada
* Foundation Search America, A source of information and grants for 103,000 foundations in the U.S.A."
Sunday, October 18, 2009
ReefVid: Free Reef Video Clip Database
ReefVid: Free Reef Video Clip Database:
A resource of free coral reef video clips for educational use
Introduction
Whether you're talking to scientists or school children, nothing animates a presentation more than video of the subject. With support from The Royal Society, I've acquired video footage of a variety of reef-related phenomena during research trips. The full database of over 500 clips is provided here and is freely available for educational and research use. Simply select clips, download them to your hard disk, and insert them in PowerPoint or other presentation software.
Cheers,
Peter
Prof. Peter J Mumby
Royal Society Research Fellow, University of Exeter (UK)
E-mail: p.j.mumby@ex.ac.uk
Tel/fax: + 44 (0)1392 263798 / 263700
Research link: Marine Spatial Ecology Lab"
A resource of free coral reef video clips for educational use
Introduction
Whether you're talking to scientists or school children, nothing animates a presentation more than video of the subject. With support from The Royal Society, I've acquired video footage of a variety of reef-related phenomena during research trips. The full database of over 500 clips is provided here and is freely available for educational and research use. Simply select clips, download them to your hard disk, and insert them in PowerPoint or other presentation software.
Cheers,
Peter
Prof. Peter J Mumby
Royal Society Research Fellow, University of Exeter (UK)
E-mail: p.j.mumby@ex.ac.uk
Tel/fax: + 44 (0)1392 263798 / 263700
Research link: Marine Spatial Ecology Lab"
Saturday, October 17, 2009
RP’s 1st mobile microfinance bank gears up for full-blast operations
RP’s 1st mobile microfinance bank gears up for full-blast operations:
Written by Erik de la Cruz / Reporter
Monday, 12 October 2009 19:46
THE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has approved the ownership structure of the country’s first mobile microfinance bank, with Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) transferring a 60-percent stake in unit Pilipinas Savings Bank Inc. (PSBI) to Globe Telecom Inc. and Ayala Corp. and keeping the balance of 40 percent.
BPI, the country’s biggest bank in terms of market capitalization, has agreed to transform PSBI into a bank providing wholesale loans to microfinance institutions in the country.
In a disclosure to the stock exchange on Monday, BPI said it had obtained BSP approval for the share transfer.
Affiliate Globe has been given a 40-percent stake in the microfinance venture, while parent Ayala has agreed to take up a 20-percent equity.
With the BSP’s approval, the microfinance bank has moved closer toward full-blast operations.
The Ayala group is awaiting BSP approval for the change of name of PSBI and its application for an electronic-banking license.
In August BPI president Aurelio Montinola III said up to P4 billion might be made available by the new lending institution to borrowers.
The bank, which is expected to roll out its operational systems for loans and deposits before the year ends, has an authorized capital of P500 million.
Montinola said the group would eventually venture into retail lending, making more loans available, particularly in rural areas where banking service is still not available.
The bank will likely go into full-blast operations by next year, according to the BPI chief executive, complementing BPI’s ongoing wholesale lending program for microfinance institutions that lend up to P150,000 to groups and individuals managing small businesses.
Globe, the No. 2 telecom service provider in the country, has a tie-up with a number of rural banks and microfinance institutions involving the use of its innovative G-Cash product, an SMS-based technology, for money transfers and loan collection.
G-Cash subscribers can turn their mobile phones into an electronic wallet that allows them to pay for goods and services via text. Rival Smart Communications Inc., the mobile-phone unit of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., offers a similar service called Smart Money."
Written by Erik de la Cruz / Reporter
Monday, 12 October 2009 19:46
THE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has approved the ownership structure of the country’s first mobile microfinance bank, with Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) transferring a 60-percent stake in unit Pilipinas Savings Bank Inc. (PSBI) to Globe Telecom Inc. and Ayala Corp. and keeping the balance of 40 percent.
BPI, the country’s biggest bank in terms of market capitalization, has agreed to transform PSBI into a bank providing wholesale loans to microfinance institutions in the country.
In a disclosure to the stock exchange on Monday, BPI said it had obtained BSP approval for the share transfer.
Affiliate Globe has been given a 40-percent stake in the microfinance venture, while parent Ayala has agreed to take up a 20-percent equity.
With the BSP’s approval, the microfinance bank has moved closer toward full-blast operations.
The Ayala group is awaiting BSP approval for the change of name of PSBI and its application for an electronic-banking license.
In August BPI president Aurelio Montinola III said up to P4 billion might be made available by the new lending institution to borrowers.
The bank, which is expected to roll out its operational systems for loans and deposits before the year ends, has an authorized capital of P500 million.
Montinola said the group would eventually venture into retail lending, making more loans available, particularly in rural areas where banking service is still not available.
The bank will likely go into full-blast operations by next year, according to the BPI chief executive, complementing BPI’s ongoing wholesale lending program for microfinance institutions that lend up to P150,000 to groups and individuals managing small businesses.
Globe, the No. 2 telecom service provider in the country, has a tie-up with a number of rural banks and microfinance institutions involving the use of its innovative G-Cash product, an SMS-based technology, for money transfers and loan collection.
G-Cash subscribers can turn their mobile phones into an electronic wallet that allows them to pay for goods and services via text. Rival Smart Communications Inc., the mobile-phone unit of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., offers a similar service called Smart Money."
Friday, October 16, 2009
Social Lending: How it works
Social Lending: How it works:
Zopa is a marketplace for SocialLending. People lend andborrow money with each other,sidestepping the banks.
A better way
Social Lending is a smarter, fairer and more human way of doing money. It's like borrowing and lending with your friends and family - except there are thousands of people you can lend and borrow with.
Both lenders and borrowers get better rates, because Social Lending is more efficient than the traditional banking model. Banks have massive overheads, with thousands of employees to pay and hundreds of branches to maintain. So they have to take large margins on the money that passes through them.
There's no smoke and mirrors here. Banks user your money to make even more money for themselves . They lend some of it out, gamble some of it on the price of tin or the Yen depreciating, and invest the rest in any other money-making schemes they can think of.
Whereas at Zopa, people who have spare money lend it directly to people who want to borrow. There are no banks in the middle, no huge overheads and no unethical investments.
The nitty gritty
So that the Zopa marketplace works smoothly, we've put a series of checks and balances in place. This is how it works:
* We look at the credit scores of people looking to borrow and work out whether they fit into the A*, A, B, C or Young market. If they're none of these, then Zopa's not for them.
* Lenders make lending offers - 'I'd like to lend this much to A-rated borrowers for this long and at this rate.'
* Borrowers size up the rates offered to them, and snap up the ones they like the look of. If they don't like the rates today, they can come back tomorrow to see if things have changed.
* To reduce any risk, Zopa lenders only lend small chunks to individual borrowers. A lender lending £500 or more would have their money spread across at least 50 borrowers.
* Borrowers enter into legally binding contracts with their lenders.
* Borrowers repay monthly by direct debit. If any repayments are missed, a collections agency uses the same recovery process that the high street banks use.
* Zopa earns money by charging borrowers a £118.50 transaction fee and lenders a 1% annual servicing fee.
* And everyone's happy - lenders get great returns, borrowers get great rates, and there's not a bank or a bank manager in sight.
The rise and rise of Social Lending
Zopa was the world's first lending and borrowing marketplace. By demonstrating that Social Lending works on a large scale, Zopa has changed the financial sector for good.
In Zopa's wake, copycats - such as Prosper in the US, Smava in Germany and Boober in the Netherlands - have sprung up across the world.
Social Lending is a financial category of genuine and increasing importance.
Zopa is a marketplace for SocialLending. People lend andborrow money with each other,sidestepping the banks.
A better way
Social Lending is a smarter, fairer and more human way of doing money. It's like borrowing and lending with your friends and family - except there are thousands of people you can lend and borrow with.
Both lenders and borrowers get better rates, because Social Lending is more efficient than the traditional banking model. Banks have massive overheads, with thousands of employees to pay and hundreds of branches to maintain. So they have to take large margins on the money that passes through them.
There's no smoke and mirrors here. Banks user your money to make even more money for themselves . They lend some of it out, gamble some of it on the price of tin or the Yen depreciating, and invest the rest in any other money-making schemes they can think of.
Whereas at Zopa, people who have spare money lend it directly to people who want to borrow. There are no banks in the middle, no huge overheads and no unethical investments.
The nitty gritty
So that the Zopa marketplace works smoothly, we've put a series of checks and balances in place. This is how it works:
* We look at the credit scores of people looking to borrow and work out whether they fit into the A*, A, B, C or Young market. If they're none of these, then Zopa's not for them.
* Lenders make lending offers - 'I'd like to lend this much to A-rated borrowers for this long and at this rate.'
* Borrowers size up the rates offered to them, and snap up the ones they like the look of. If they don't like the rates today, they can come back tomorrow to see if things have changed.
* To reduce any risk, Zopa lenders only lend small chunks to individual borrowers. A lender lending £500 or more would have their money spread across at least 50 borrowers.
* Borrowers enter into legally binding contracts with their lenders.
* Borrowers repay monthly by direct debit. If any repayments are missed, a collections agency uses the same recovery process that the high street banks use.
* Zopa earns money by charging borrowers a £118.50 transaction fee and lenders a 1% annual servicing fee.
* And everyone's happy - lenders get great returns, borrowers get great rates, and there's not a bank or a bank manager in sight.
The rise and rise of Social Lending
Zopa was the world's first lending and borrowing marketplace. By demonstrating that Social Lending works on a large scale, Zopa has changed the financial sector for good.
In Zopa's wake, copycats - such as Prosper in the US, Smava in Germany and Boober in the Netherlands - have sprung up across the world.
Social Lending is a financial category of genuine and increasing importance.
KeelyNet 2008 - September Whats New Index
KeelyNet 2008 - September Whats New Index: "09/17/08 - Additional Info on the Filipino Aerogas Power Injector device
KeelyNet Based on tests by government agencies, including the departments of energy, science and technology and environment and natural resources, Ayco’s invention can increase engine power by 35 to 60 percent, mileage by two to four kilometers to a liter, and engine life span by six to 10 years. The tests also show that the gadget can cut down maintenance costs by up to 50 percent, can prolong life span of spark plugs and glow plugs, can decrease frequency of tune-ups and oil changes, and can reduce carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide emissions by 99.5 percent. Ayco also says his gadget is not bulky and easy to install without having to alter engine as it can just be attached to the engine air intake manifold. Suitable to most types of stationary and mobile combustion engines, the gadget can also last six to eight years and can be recharged after maximum use. Ayco says that two important substances used in his gas-saving gadget are carbon and hydrogen derived from limestone. If taken a step farther, these limestone-derived substances combined with water plus a catalyst, which again he will not disclose, can produce synthetic fuel, which is much cleaner and more efficient than fossil fuels. “My car actually runs on this synthetic fuel,” he says. In the meantime, Ayco and his business partners are busy marketing the aero-nitro power injector not only locally but also in Canada, Belgium and other countries. At P9,000 per unit and with a 10-year warranty, where payments may be returned if one is not satisfied with the performance, Ayco’s invention is making brisk sales in urban communities seeking to reduce air pollution. / The Standard design of an engine works in two ways chemical process (combustion) and mechanical process (motion).The chemical process involves the combustion of fuel. Be it gasoline, diesel or bunker, this fuel is made up mainly of hydrogen and carbon (Hydrogen). Ordinarily, when combustion occurs, the fuel containing hydrocarbons is not completely burned. The unburned carbon stick to the chamber walls of the engine and the gaseous form of these carbons is emitted from the exhaust pipes of vehicles as carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide which are metal corrosive and air pollutants detrimental to the engine and the environment,” Ayco said. Aerogas Power Injector works on the chemical process by sucking air composed of 78 percent nitrogen, 20 percent oxygen and 3 percents others, then converting it into active elements ( nitrogen base elements) which react with the elements of the fuel (hydrocarbons ) during air intake process. When these elements reacted with the hydrocarbons of the fuel , 98 percent to 100 percent comstion is made possible. This is how the Aerogas Power Injector works toward a more economical and efficient engine performance and pollution-free Philippines,” Ayco added. Aerogas Power Injector , an advanced engineering design can increase engine power from 60 percent , increase mileage from 2 to 4 kilometers a liter. It cuts down maintenance costs by 50 percent by prolonging the lifespan of spark/glow plugs, as well as decreasing frequency on tune-ups and change oil. / INCREASE POWER FUEL SAVER & AIR POLLUTION ELIMINATOR - Burns excess fuel and converts it into engine maximum power. No detonation most destruction in internal combustion engine. No carbon monoxide to prolong engine overheating. No detonation or carbon in combustion to prolong engine change oil up to 2 year. Cuts down maintenance cost by 50%. Increase mileage from 2 to 4 km /liter. Minimizes the frequency of tune-ups. Applicable to gas and diesel fed and stationary engine. Place of Origin: Manila, Philippines - Price: $25 per pc - Contact Email and Aerogas Product Query. (Direct Vendor Contact: Orlando Marquez, Energy Philippines, Inc., Ayala Avenue corner Malugay St., Bo. San Antonio, Makati City, tel no:(63-2) 888-2132 /(63-2) 887-3621) and/or Ronald Talion 63 9193352111 / 632 8377850 / Fax 632 8377850 / Address : 25 Buendia Ave., Palanan,Makati City. - Source"
KeelyNet Based on tests by government agencies, including the departments of energy, science and technology and environment and natural resources, Ayco’s invention can increase engine power by 35 to 60 percent, mileage by two to four kilometers to a liter, and engine life span by six to 10 years. The tests also show that the gadget can cut down maintenance costs by up to 50 percent, can prolong life span of spark plugs and glow plugs, can decrease frequency of tune-ups and oil changes, and can reduce carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide emissions by 99.5 percent. Ayco also says his gadget is not bulky and easy to install without having to alter engine as it can just be attached to the engine air intake manifold. Suitable to most types of stationary and mobile combustion engines, the gadget can also last six to eight years and can be recharged after maximum use. Ayco says that two important substances used in his gas-saving gadget are carbon and hydrogen derived from limestone. If taken a step farther, these limestone-derived substances combined with water plus a catalyst, which again he will not disclose, can produce synthetic fuel, which is much cleaner and more efficient than fossil fuels. “My car actually runs on this synthetic fuel,” he says. In the meantime, Ayco and his business partners are busy marketing the aero-nitro power injector not only locally but also in Canada, Belgium and other countries. At P9,000 per unit and with a 10-year warranty, where payments may be returned if one is not satisfied with the performance, Ayco’s invention is making brisk sales in urban communities seeking to reduce air pollution. / The Standard design of an engine works in two ways chemical process (combustion) and mechanical process (motion).The chemical process involves the combustion of fuel. Be it gasoline, diesel or bunker, this fuel is made up mainly of hydrogen and carbon (Hydrogen). Ordinarily, when combustion occurs, the fuel containing hydrocarbons is not completely burned. The unburned carbon stick to the chamber walls of the engine and the gaseous form of these carbons is emitted from the exhaust pipes of vehicles as carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide which are metal corrosive and air pollutants detrimental to the engine and the environment,” Ayco said. Aerogas Power Injector works on the chemical process by sucking air composed of 78 percent nitrogen, 20 percent oxygen and 3 percents others, then converting it into active elements ( nitrogen base elements) which react with the elements of the fuel (hydrocarbons ) during air intake process. When these elements reacted with the hydrocarbons of the fuel , 98 percent to 100 percent comstion is made possible. This is how the Aerogas Power Injector works toward a more economical and efficient engine performance and pollution-free Philippines,” Ayco added. Aerogas Power Injector , an advanced engineering design can increase engine power from 60 percent , increase mileage from 2 to 4 kilometers a liter. It cuts down maintenance costs by 50 percent by prolonging the lifespan of spark/glow plugs, as well as decreasing frequency on tune-ups and change oil. / INCREASE POWER FUEL SAVER & AIR POLLUTION ELIMINATOR - Burns excess fuel and converts it into engine maximum power. No detonation most destruction in internal combustion engine. No carbon monoxide to prolong engine overheating. No detonation or carbon in combustion to prolong engine change oil up to 2 year. Cuts down maintenance cost by 50%. Increase mileage from 2 to 4 km /liter. Minimizes the frequency of tune-ups. Applicable to gas and diesel fed and stationary engine. Place of Origin: Manila, Philippines - Price: $25 per pc - Contact Email and Aerogas Product Query. (Direct Vendor Contact: Orlando Marquez, Energy Philippines, Inc., Ayala Avenue corner Malugay St., Bo. San Antonio, Makati City, tel no:(63-2) 888-2132 /(63-2) 887-3621) and/or Ronald Talion 63 9193352111 / 632 8377850 / Fax 632 8377850 / Address : 25 Buendia Ave., Palanan,Makati City. - Source"
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Harrods to sell gold bullion for first time - Telegraph
Harrods to sell gold bullion for first time - Telegraph: "Poor interest rates and falling property prices have left wealthy investors looking for alternative asset classes to put their money into. A weak dollar yesterday pushed the gold price to a record high of $1,072 an ounce."
National Development Company
National Development Company: "San Carlos Bio-energy Inc. (SCBI)
The SCBI will develop, construct, own and operate an integrated ethanol distillery and power co-generation plant that will produce 120,000 liters of ethanol per day and approximately 8MW of power using sugarcane as feedstock."
The SCBI will develop, construct, own and operate an integrated ethanol distillery and power co-generation plant that will produce 120,000 liters of ethanol per day and approximately 8MW of power using sugarcane as feedstock."
Kitco - Gold Index
Kitco - Gold Index:
"When the US Dollar gets stronger, it takes fewer dollars to buy any commodity that is priced in $USD. When the US Dollar gets weaker it takes more dollars to purchase the same commodity.
The price of all US Dollar denominated commodities, like gold, will change to reflect the fact that it will take fewer or more dollars to buy that commodity. So it’s quite possible, in fact it’s almost always the case that a portion of the change in the price of gold is really just a reflection of a change in the value of the US Dollar. Sometimes that portion is insignificant. But often the opposite is true where the entire change in the gold price is simply a mathematical recalculation of an ever-changing US Dollar value.
When the dollar gets strong, gold appears to go down, and vice versa. That accounts for part of the fluctuations that we see in the value of gold.
The other part is an actual increase in the supply or demand for gold. If the price is higher when being measured not only in US Dollars, but also in Euros, Pounds Sterling, Japanese Yen, and every other major currency, then we know the gold demand is higher and it has actually increased in value.
Consequently, if gold is higher in US Dollars while at the same time cheaper in every other currency, then we can conclude that the US Dollar has weakened, and that gold has actually lost value in all other currencies. But the price, because it is being quoted in $USD will be higher and give the illusion of gold becoming more valuable. In such a case the devaluation of gold, due to increased supply on the market, is camouflaged by a weakened US Dollar.
Our feature on kitco.com breaks the change of the price of gold into 2 components. One part shows you how much of that change can be attributed to US Dollar strength, or lack of it. The other portion is indicative of how much the price changed as a result of normal trading. Interestingly whatever changes happen to the price of gold as a result of US Dollar strength/weakness also occurs to every other US Dollar denominated commodity by the exact same proportion."
"When the US Dollar gets stronger, it takes fewer dollars to buy any commodity that is priced in $USD. When the US Dollar gets weaker it takes more dollars to purchase the same commodity.
The price of all US Dollar denominated commodities, like gold, will change to reflect the fact that it will take fewer or more dollars to buy that commodity. So it’s quite possible, in fact it’s almost always the case that a portion of the change in the price of gold is really just a reflection of a change in the value of the US Dollar. Sometimes that portion is insignificant. But often the opposite is true where the entire change in the gold price is simply a mathematical recalculation of an ever-changing US Dollar value.
When the dollar gets strong, gold appears to go down, and vice versa. That accounts for part of the fluctuations that we see in the value of gold.
The other part is an actual increase in the supply or demand for gold. If the price is higher when being measured not only in US Dollars, but also in Euros, Pounds Sterling, Japanese Yen, and every other major currency, then we know the gold demand is higher and it has actually increased in value.
Consequently, if gold is higher in US Dollars while at the same time cheaper in every other currency, then we can conclude that the US Dollar has weakened, and that gold has actually lost value in all other currencies. But the price, because it is being quoted in $USD will be higher and give the illusion of gold becoming more valuable. In such a case the devaluation of gold, due to increased supply on the market, is camouflaged by a weakened US Dollar.
Our feature on kitco.com breaks the change of the price of gold into 2 components. One part shows you how much of that change can be attributed to US Dollar strength, or lack of it. The other portion is indicative of how much the price changed as a result of normal trading. Interestingly whatever changes happen to the price of gold as a result of US Dollar strength/weakness also occurs to every other US Dollar denominated commodity by the exact same proportion."
Government eyes bonds for rebuilding
Government eyes bonds for rebuilding: "Written by Max V. de Leon and Mia Gonzalez / Reporters
Wednesday, 14 October 2009 23:58
THE National Development Co. (NDC) will issue a P50-billion “reconstruction bond” next week to augment monies from grants and donations from abroad meant to help the country recover from recent typhoons, according to NDC Chairman and Trade Secretary Peter Favila.
Favila unveiled the plan on the sidelines of the Mid-Year Philippine Economic Briefing at the Makati Shangri-La Hotel, but, in the same forum, President Arroyo indicated that issuance of the bonds was a “last financing option” that may or may not happen.
This, as the Philippines will prioritize seeking grants for its post-calamity reconstruction program as it believes itself to be a “victim of climate change” that should “not be penalized” with high interest rates, President Arroyo stressed.
Keynoting the Mid-Year Briefing, the President said the government would also avail itself of concessional loans and if necessary—and only as a last option—commercial loans and the possible issuance of “reconstruction bonds” to fill in funding gaps.
“We will be pushing first for more grants on nonrepayable inflows. The underlying doctrine is that the Philippines is a victim of climate change, not a culprit. We are not a climate maker, but we certainly are a climate taker....Victims are compensated, not penalized with high interest rates or conditionalities,” she said.
‘Anything tied to reconstruction’
Meanwhile, Favila, also the NDC chairman, said the proceeds from the bond issuance will be used to fund “anything that has to do with the reconstruction,” be they revenue- or nonrevenue-generating projects.
He mentioned, in particular, the roads that were damaged, including Marcos Highway and other access major thoroughfares in the northern part of the country.
Favila said a legal team is now formulating a new executive order that details the type of projects that will qualify and the specific agencies that will be allowed to draw from it.
“Once the legal works are completed, we can issue the bond next week. The availability of funds will depend on the subscription,” he said at the sidelines of the economic briefing.
He is confident the government will generate the funds and has instructed NDC officials to start inviting government financial institutions and private banks to support it.
“The system is awash with so much liquidity and the bonds carry the guarantee of the national government,” he said.
Bonds issuance in tranches
He stressed, however, that the “reconstruction bond” will only be used to augment the grants and donations from international donors, so the NDC will probably do the issuance in tranches depending on the amount needed.
President Arroyo, Favila said, will sign on Friday the order amending executive order (EO) 824 that originally calls for the use of P50 billion from NDC bonds for some infrastructure projects.
He said the EO would change the focus of the funding and have it specifically devoted for reconstruction purposes.
‘Climate-change victim’
The President said that the government will also push for concessional loans, but for the local counterpart, it will await Congress action on a joint resolution authorizing the Executive to access the so-called unprogrammed funds in the General Appropriations Act.
The “last financing options” for the reconstruction program will be to have Trade Secretary Favila issue other financial instruments such as reconstruction bonds.
“Depending on the recommendation of the special national [public-private reconstruction] commission, we may issue reconstruction bonds,” she said.
“Why the NDC? Why a government corporation? Because of the impact of the global crisis on the fiscal capacity of the national government of the Philippines. But even then, we’d rather that the primary response of our administration to the enormous calamities which climate change is bringing to our vulnerable country cannot just be another borrowing program,” she said.
The President explained that “even if we resort to bonds in bringing in exogenous resources, we will go beyond a mere borrowing program to provide a developing framework that is required by ODA [official development assistance] programs.”
Mrs. Arroyo said she has also asked Finance Secretary Margarito Teves, who cochairs the reconstruction commission with PLDT chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan and Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, to organize an international pledging session for reconstruction efforts “with a higher international profile.”
This special pledging session would tap, she said, “into the huge underlying global constituencies for climate- change adaptation. It would capitalize on the ongoing discussions and negotiations leading to Copenhagen.” She was referring to the Copenhagen Climate Change talks in December, where a new climate-change protocol is hoped to be sealed.
Grants over loans
The President said the Philippines, which has been experiencing unusual and destructive weather disturbances attributed to climate change, “is being cited as proof for the need for adaptation financing.”
She stressed that the government is bent on reducing its debt-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio even with its reconstruction program, hence its preference for grants than loans and “a government agency issuing bonds than the national government itself.”
She said the government wants “to reduce the debt-to-GDP ratio so we can stop wasting our resources on debt service and so we can maintain higher spending for infrastructure and human capital, as we have done before and during the global food, economic and now climate-change crisis.”
Deputy Presidential Spokesman for Economic Affairs Gary Olivar said in an interview after a news briefing that grants are preferred over loans and bond floats as such financial instruments affect the country’s credit rating, and “raise the cost of our other borrowings as well as the cost of all Filipino borrowers, not just the government, because all are tied up to the borrowing cost of the government.”
“The administration is very careful about borrowing for anything, even in calamity, because any adverse effect on our economy hits everybody and especially the poor, not just those who are affected by the calamity,” Olivar said.
Meanwhile, Press Secretary Cerge Remonde told reporters that the President chose Pangilinan to cochair the reconstruction commission as he is “one of the most respected business leaders not only in the country but internationally.”
He (Pangilinan) “has proven his leadership and executive capability, and his dedication and devotion to public service and corporate social responsibility is already well known,” Remonde said.
Olivar said that among senior business leaders in the country, Pangilanan “has probably the most extensive resumé working abroad...not only within the region, also North America in terms of the deals he’s done and the relationships he has formed.”
This, he added, will be useful in “winning the support of the international community, both government and private sector as well.”
Asked to comment on concerns about the proper disbursement of funds to be raised by the reconstruction commission, Remonde said the body was designed to be a “multisectoral, public-private commission” to ensure transparency.
Asean meeting pitch
President Arroyo is expected to take up the effects of climate change at the 15th Asean Summit to be held from October 23 to 25 in Thailand’s oldest beach resort of Hua Hin.
An Asean Declaration on Climate Change is among the three expected summit results.
In December last year, the President took over the Presidential Task Force on Climate Change so she can have a “hands-on approach in crafting and implementing initiatives for environmental security.”
“And with the unexplained volume of rains that caused flooding in many parts of Luzon, the President said a landmark bill institutionalizing the government’s response to climate change will be signed into law this month.
The Climate Change Act of 2009 aims to make climate change a centerpiece of the government’s disaster-preparedness program on the national and local levels."
Wednesday, 14 October 2009 23:58
THE National Development Co. (NDC) will issue a P50-billion “reconstruction bond” next week to augment monies from grants and donations from abroad meant to help the country recover from recent typhoons, according to NDC Chairman and Trade Secretary Peter Favila.
Favila unveiled the plan on the sidelines of the Mid-Year Philippine Economic Briefing at the Makati Shangri-La Hotel, but, in the same forum, President Arroyo indicated that issuance of the bonds was a “last financing option” that may or may not happen.
This, as the Philippines will prioritize seeking grants for its post-calamity reconstruction program as it believes itself to be a “victim of climate change” that should “not be penalized” with high interest rates, President Arroyo stressed.
Keynoting the Mid-Year Briefing, the President said the government would also avail itself of concessional loans and if necessary—and only as a last option—commercial loans and the possible issuance of “reconstruction bonds” to fill in funding gaps.
“We will be pushing first for more grants on nonrepayable inflows. The underlying doctrine is that the Philippines is a victim of climate change, not a culprit. We are not a climate maker, but we certainly are a climate taker....Victims are compensated, not penalized with high interest rates or conditionalities,” she said.
‘Anything tied to reconstruction’
Meanwhile, Favila, also the NDC chairman, said the proceeds from the bond issuance will be used to fund “anything that has to do with the reconstruction,” be they revenue- or nonrevenue-generating projects.
He mentioned, in particular, the roads that were damaged, including Marcos Highway and other access major thoroughfares in the northern part of the country.
Favila said a legal team is now formulating a new executive order that details the type of projects that will qualify and the specific agencies that will be allowed to draw from it.
“Once the legal works are completed, we can issue the bond next week. The availability of funds will depend on the subscription,” he said at the sidelines of the economic briefing.
He is confident the government will generate the funds and has instructed NDC officials to start inviting government financial institutions and private banks to support it.
“The system is awash with so much liquidity and the bonds carry the guarantee of the national government,” he said.
Bonds issuance in tranches
He stressed, however, that the “reconstruction bond” will only be used to augment the grants and donations from international donors, so the NDC will probably do the issuance in tranches depending on the amount needed.
President Arroyo, Favila said, will sign on Friday the order amending executive order (EO) 824 that originally calls for the use of P50 billion from NDC bonds for some infrastructure projects.
He said the EO would change the focus of the funding and have it specifically devoted for reconstruction purposes.
‘Climate-change victim’
The President said that the government will also push for concessional loans, but for the local counterpart, it will await Congress action on a joint resolution authorizing the Executive to access the so-called unprogrammed funds in the General Appropriations Act.
The “last financing options” for the reconstruction program will be to have Trade Secretary Favila issue other financial instruments such as reconstruction bonds.
“Depending on the recommendation of the special national [public-private reconstruction] commission, we may issue reconstruction bonds,” she said.
“Why the NDC? Why a government corporation? Because of the impact of the global crisis on the fiscal capacity of the national government of the Philippines. But even then, we’d rather that the primary response of our administration to the enormous calamities which climate change is bringing to our vulnerable country cannot just be another borrowing program,” she said.
The President explained that “even if we resort to bonds in bringing in exogenous resources, we will go beyond a mere borrowing program to provide a developing framework that is required by ODA [official development assistance] programs.”
Mrs. Arroyo said she has also asked Finance Secretary Margarito Teves, who cochairs the reconstruction commission with PLDT chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan and Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, to organize an international pledging session for reconstruction efforts “with a higher international profile.”
This special pledging session would tap, she said, “into the huge underlying global constituencies for climate- change adaptation. It would capitalize on the ongoing discussions and negotiations leading to Copenhagen.” She was referring to the Copenhagen Climate Change talks in December, where a new climate-change protocol is hoped to be sealed.
Grants over loans
The President said the Philippines, which has been experiencing unusual and destructive weather disturbances attributed to climate change, “is being cited as proof for the need for adaptation financing.”
She stressed that the government is bent on reducing its debt-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio even with its reconstruction program, hence its preference for grants than loans and “a government agency issuing bonds than the national government itself.”
She said the government wants “to reduce the debt-to-GDP ratio so we can stop wasting our resources on debt service and so we can maintain higher spending for infrastructure and human capital, as we have done before and during the global food, economic and now climate-change crisis.”
Deputy Presidential Spokesman for Economic Affairs Gary Olivar said in an interview after a news briefing that grants are preferred over loans and bond floats as such financial instruments affect the country’s credit rating, and “raise the cost of our other borrowings as well as the cost of all Filipino borrowers, not just the government, because all are tied up to the borrowing cost of the government.”
“The administration is very careful about borrowing for anything, even in calamity, because any adverse effect on our economy hits everybody and especially the poor, not just those who are affected by the calamity,” Olivar said.
Meanwhile, Press Secretary Cerge Remonde told reporters that the President chose Pangilinan to cochair the reconstruction commission as he is “one of the most respected business leaders not only in the country but internationally.”
He (Pangilinan) “has proven his leadership and executive capability, and his dedication and devotion to public service and corporate social responsibility is already well known,” Remonde said.
Olivar said that among senior business leaders in the country, Pangilanan “has probably the most extensive resumé working abroad...not only within the region, also North America in terms of the deals he’s done and the relationships he has formed.”
This, he added, will be useful in “winning the support of the international community, both government and private sector as well.”
Asked to comment on concerns about the proper disbursement of funds to be raised by the reconstruction commission, Remonde said the body was designed to be a “multisectoral, public-private commission” to ensure transparency.
Asean meeting pitch
President Arroyo is expected to take up the effects of climate change at the 15th Asean Summit to be held from October 23 to 25 in Thailand’s oldest beach resort of Hua Hin.
An Asean Declaration on Climate Change is among the three expected summit results.
In December last year, the President took over the Presidential Task Force on Climate Change so she can have a “hands-on approach in crafting and implementing initiatives for environmental security.”
“And with the unexplained volume of rains that caused flooding in many parts of Luzon, the President said a landmark bill institutionalizing the government’s response to climate change will be signed into law this month.
The Climate Change Act of 2009 aims to make climate change a centerpiece of the government’s disaster-preparedness program on the national and local levels."
BBC NEWS | Technology | Berners-Lee 'sorry' for slashes
BBC NEWS | Technology | Berners-Lee 'sorry' for slashes:
Berners-Lee 'sorry' for slashes
Tim Berners-Lee, AP
Tim Berners-Lee started the web to help scientists communicate
The forward slashes at the beginning of internet addresses have long annoyed net users and now the man behind them has apologised for using them.
Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of the World Wide Web, has confessed that the // in a web address were actually 'unnecessary'.
He told the Times newspaper that he could easily have designed URLs not to have the forward slashes.
'There you go, it seemed like a good idea at the time,' he said.
He admitted that when he devised the web, almost 30 years ago, he had no idea that the forward slashes in every web address would cause 'so much hassle'.
His light-hearted apology even had a green angle as he accepted that having to add // to every address had wasted time, printing and paper.
Sir Tim is currently director of the World Wide Web Consortium and he is also working with the UK government to help open up access to government data."
Berners-Lee 'sorry' for slashes
Tim Berners-Lee, AP
Tim Berners-Lee started the web to help scientists communicate
The forward slashes at the beginning of internet addresses have long annoyed net users and now the man behind them has apologised for using them.
Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of the World Wide Web, has confessed that the // in a web address were actually 'unnecessary'.
He told the Times newspaper that he could easily have designed URLs not to have the forward slashes.
'There you go, it seemed like a good idea at the time,' he said.
He admitted that when he devised the web, almost 30 years ago, he had no idea that the forward slashes in every web address would cause 'so much hassle'.
His light-hearted apology even had a green angle as he accepted that having to add // to every address had wasted time, printing and paper.
Sir Tim is currently director of the World Wide Web Consortium and he is also working with the UK government to help open up access to government data."
BBC NEWS | Europe | Global hunger worsening, warns UN
BBC NEWS | Europe | Global hunger worsening, warns UN:
"Targets to cut the number of hungry people in the world will not be met without greater international effort, UN food agencies have warned.
The UN's annual report on global food security confirms that more than one billion people - a sixth of the world's population - are undernourished.
It says the number of hungry people was growing before the economic crisis, which has made the situation worse.
The report comes ahead of World Food Day on Friday.
'No nation is immune and, as usual, it is the poorest countries and the poorest people that are suffering the most,' said the annual report of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme."
"Targets to cut the number of hungry people in the world will not be met without greater international effort, UN food agencies have warned.
The UN's annual report on global food security confirms that more than one billion people - a sixth of the world's population - are undernourished.
It says the number of hungry people was growing before the economic crisis, which has made the situation worse.
The report comes ahead of World Food Day on Friday.
'No nation is immune and, as usual, it is the poorest countries and the poorest people that are suffering the most,' said the annual report of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme."
Habitat for Humanity's Asia-Pacific Update 14th October 2009 - marflora@gmail.com - Gmail
Habitat for Humanity's Asia-Pacific Update 14th October 2009 - marflora@gmail.com - Gmail: "Top Stories
Habitat responds to Asia-Pacific disasters
HFH Indonesia’s national director Tri Budiardjo talking to an earthquake survivor in Sumatra; (center) this sanitary/toilet facility is one of a number which HFH Philippines has built for typhoon-affected families at an evacuation center in Marikina City; (bottom) Cambodian families in Prasath Sambo district have put up make-shift tents from tree branches and plastic sheeting.
Habitat for Humanity has started to meet immediate shelter needs and is seeking funding for a range of longer-term initiatives to help families rebuild their homes and lives after a spate of disasters round the Asia-Pacific region last month. In the island of Sumatra, Indonesia, which was struck by an earthquake in late September, Habitat has unveiled an earthquake-resilient core house design and has an initial target to rebuild for 2,500 families. HFH Indonesia has already started on rebuilding homes in West Java, which was hit by an earthquake at the beginning of September.
Habitat is responding in three countries affected by Typhoon Ketsana, In the Philippines, Habitat volunteers have been mobilized to build much-needed sanitation facilities at evacuation centers in Metro Manila. The next phase of the response envisages providing house repair kits for up to 10,000 families. In Vietnam, Habitat will use a US$100,000 grant to provide roofing materials for 600 families in flood-hit Quang Nam province. Plans are being worked on for transitional housing solutions including new roofs, house repairs and addressing water and sanitation needs. In Cambodia, which also lay in the path of the typhoon, Habitat is set to offer technical and construction assistance.
HFH New Zealand, which is leading Habitat’s response to the tsunami which devastated the Samoan islands, has received offers of help from more than 500 volunteers, mainly builders and tradespeople. HFH New Zealand is looking at building 500 traditional Samoan houses with disaster-mitigation elements.
HFH India is working out how best to respond to one of the worst-ever floods to hit Karnataka in the south and Andhra Pradesh in the east. In Karnataka, torrential rains destroyed or damaged close to 240,000 houses. More than 200,000 people were left homeless in Vijayawada district, Andhra Pradesh state. In the same area, 152 Habitat home partners were also affected: Habitat for Humanity India will undertake a further survey to determine the full extent of this damage.
More details and photographs here.
Singapore TV charity show in aid of disaster-hit families
Singaporean media company MediaCorp will air a TV charity show on 19th October across multi-media platforms in aid of Habitat for Humanity and Singapore Red Cross. More than 100 MediaCorp, local and Southeast Asian artistes will take part in Project Hope, to raise funds for families affected by Typhoon Ketsana and the Sumatra earthquake in Indonesia. The show will be broadcast live over Singapore’s English and Malay television channels, digital television on public buses, taxis, ferries to Indonesia’s Bintan island and on outdoor screens at Orchard Central mall. Separately, HFH New Zealand and HFH Korea are calling for donations to support Habitat’s rebuilding of lives and homes in the disaster-affected areas. Click here to donate through HFH Korea. Click to support HFH New Zealand in Samoa. Habitat for Humanity International is collecting online donations for all the September disasters at www.habitat.org
First-hand accounts from volunteers
In the Philippines, volunteer Mika Palileo penned her thoughts about Habitat for Humanity’s response in areas badly affected by Typhoon Ketsana. Read more. In Samoa, HFH New Zealand’s finance manager Lou Maea, who is of Samoan descent, visited the Pacific Island nation soon after the tsunami struck and wrote a first-hand account in his blog. Read on.
In memory of Bert Jugo
As HFH Philippines CEO, the late Bert Jugo made a lasting impact of the growth of Habitat in the country.
Habitat for Humanity Philippines’ chief executive officer Bert Jugo passed away last Thursday (8th October) following complications from a heart attack. Rick Hathaway, area vice-president, Habitat for Humanity, Asia-Pacific, said: “Bert had made a lasting impact on the growth of Habitat in the Philippines and has played a key part of the overall growth of Habitat for Humanity across the area. His commitment to empowering his staff; passion for Habitat; and vision for service has been inspiring. God has used him well in building His Kingdom here on earth.” Read what HFH Philippines says of its visionary leader with a big heart. Our prayers are with Bert’s wife Ginny and their children, and the staff and partners of HFH Philippines.
Habitat marks International Day of Prayer
Several Habitat for Humanity programs in the Asia-Pacific region marked the International Day of Prayer recently. This annual event engages tens of hundreds of churches and faith-based organizations in praying or building for families in need of shelter. In India, more than 3,000 churches participated. HFH India staff and representatives from local partners built in Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh state in the southeast to mark the occasion. In Fiji, Habitat representatives were invited on radio talk shows to encourage prayers for its ministry of helping families in need of decent and affordable housing. Over in Indonesia, about 35 churches with a total of more than 2,700 people took part in the event while South Korea had over 220 churches praying for Habitat’s cause and work. In Mongolia, 35 churches sent volunteers to build houses under Habitat’s Building on Faith program.
2009 Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project
Cambodia site in the limelight
Thousands of television viewers in Cambodia were introduced to the 2009 Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project, thanks to the country’s first reality TV series, “You’re the Man”. A recent segment on the show featured contestants taking part in three challenges including how to make soil blocks in Oudong, the Carter Work Project site in Cambodia. The program also included a heartfelt speech by Chea Chandy, leader of the New Life Community, who is working with Habitat for Humanity Cambodia to build 21 houses during the one-week build. Watch the video made in Khmer language.
Former beauty queen among volunteers on Thai build
Volunteers Helen and James Berger are keen to join the Carter Work Project in November.
Two teams comprising volunteers from the US embassy based in Bangkok and from national satellite and cable broadcaster True Visions, worked with Habitat for Humanity to build two houses recently. The builds took place in Kanlan village in Chonburi province, about 150 km. east of Bangkok. Helen Berger, former Miss Thailand World 1989, and her husband James joined a 20-member team from True Visions. True Visions is the lead media partner for the 2009 Carter Work Project in Thailand. Having experienced a Habitat build, the Bergers were keen to sign up for the 2009 Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project. The second team, with 25 embassy volunteers, demonstrated teamwork. Volunteer Jacqueline Matthews said: “Since few of us had any experience in building, we all worked together and helped one another.” More details later on www.habitat.org/ap."
Habitat responds to Asia-Pacific disasters
HFH Indonesia’s national director Tri Budiardjo talking to an earthquake survivor in Sumatra; (center) this sanitary/toilet facility is one of a number which HFH Philippines has built for typhoon-affected families at an evacuation center in Marikina City; (bottom) Cambodian families in Prasath Sambo district have put up make-shift tents from tree branches and plastic sheeting.
Habitat for Humanity has started to meet immediate shelter needs and is seeking funding for a range of longer-term initiatives to help families rebuild their homes and lives after a spate of disasters round the Asia-Pacific region last month. In the island of Sumatra, Indonesia, which was struck by an earthquake in late September, Habitat has unveiled an earthquake-resilient core house design and has an initial target to rebuild for 2,500 families. HFH Indonesia has already started on rebuilding homes in West Java, which was hit by an earthquake at the beginning of September.
Habitat is responding in three countries affected by Typhoon Ketsana, In the Philippines, Habitat volunteers have been mobilized to build much-needed sanitation facilities at evacuation centers in Metro Manila. The next phase of the response envisages providing house repair kits for up to 10,000 families. In Vietnam, Habitat will use a US$100,000 grant to provide roofing materials for 600 families in flood-hit Quang Nam province. Plans are being worked on for transitional housing solutions including new roofs, house repairs and addressing water and sanitation needs. In Cambodia, which also lay in the path of the typhoon, Habitat is set to offer technical and construction assistance.
HFH New Zealand, which is leading Habitat’s response to the tsunami which devastated the Samoan islands, has received offers of help from more than 500 volunteers, mainly builders and tradespeople. HFH New Zealand is looking at building 500 traditional Samoan houses with disaster-mitigation elements.
HFH India is working out how best to respond to one of the worst-ever floods to hit Karnataka in the south and Andhra Pradesh in the east. In Karnataka, torrential rains destroyed or damaged close to 240,000 houses. More than 200,000 people were left homeless in Vijayawada district, Andhra Pradesh state. In the same area, 152 Habitat home partners were also affected: Habitat for Humanity India will undertake a further survey to determine the full extent of this damage.
More details and photographs here.
Singapore TV charity show in aid of disaster-hit families
Singaporean media company MediaCorp will air a TV charity show on 19th October across multi-media platforms in aid of Habitat for Humanity and Singapore Red Cross. More than 100 MediaCorp, local and Southeast Asian artistes will take part in Project Hope, to raise funds for families affected by Typhoon Ketsana and the Sumatra earthquake in Indonesia. The show will be broadcast live over Singapore’s English and Malay television channels, digital television on public buses, taxis, ferries to Indonesia’s Bintan island and on outdoor screens at Orchard Central mall. Separately, HFH New Zealand and HFH Korea are calling for donations to support Habitat’s rebuilding of lives and homes in the disaster-affected areas. Click here to donate through HFH Korea. Click to support HFH New Zealand in Samoa. Habitat for Humanity International is collecting online donations for all the September disasters at www.habitat.org
First-hand accounts from volunteers
In the Philippines, volunteer Mika Palileo penned her thoughts about Habitat for Humanity’s response in areas badly affected by Typhoon Ketsana. Read more. In Samoa, HFH New Zealand’s finance manager Lou Maea, who is of Samoan descent, visited the Pacific Island nation soon after the tsunami struck and wrote a first-hand account in his blog. Read on.
In memory of Bert Jugo
As HFH Philippines CEO, the late Bert Jugo made a lasting impact of the growth of Habitat in the country.
Habitat for Humanity Philippines’ chief executive officer Bert Jugo passed away last Thursday (8th October) following complications from a heart attack. Rick Hathaway, area vice-president, Habitat for Humanity, Asia-Pacific, said: “Bert had made a lasting impact on the growth of Habitat in the Philippines and has played a key part of the overall growth of Habitat for Humanity across the area. His commitment to empowering his staff; passion for Habitat; and vision for service has been inspiring. God has used him well in building His Kingdom here on earth.” Read what HFH Philippines says of its visionary leader with a big heart. Our prayers are with Bert’s wife Ginny and their children, and the staff and partners of HFH Philippines.
Habitat marks International Day of Prayer
Several Habitat for Humanity programs in the Asia-Pacific region marked the International Day of Prayer recently. This annual event engages tens of hundreds of churches and faith-based organizations in praying or building for families in need of shelter. In India, more than 3,000 churches participated. HFH India staff and representatives from local partners built in Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh state in the southeast to mark the occasion. In Fiji, Habitat representatives were invited on radio talk shows to encourage prayers for its ministry of helping families in need of decent and affordable housing. Over in Indonesia, about 35 churches with a total of more than 2,700 people took part in the event while South Korea had over 220 churches praying for Habitat’s cause and work. In Mongolia, 35 churches sent volunteers to build houses under Habitat’s Building on Faith program.
2009 Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project
Cambodia site in the limelight
Thousands of television viewers in Cambodia were introduced to the 2009 Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project, thanks to the country’s first reality TV series, “You’re the Man”. A recent segment on the show featured contestants taking part in three challenges including how to make soil blocks in Oudong, the Carter Work Project site in Cambodia. The program also included a heartfelt speech by Chea Chandy, leader of the New Life Community, who is working with Habitat for Humanity Cambodia to build 21 houses during the one-week build. Watch the video made in Khmer language.
Former beauty queen among volunteers on Thai build
Volunteers Helen and James Berger are keen to join the Carter Work Project in November.
Two teams comprising volunteers from the US embassy based in Bangkok and from national satellite and cable broadcaster True Visions, worked with Habitat for Humanity to build two houses recently. The builds took place in Kanlan village in Chonburi province, about 150 km. east of Bangkok. Helen Berger, former Miss Thailand World 1989, and her husband James joined a 20-member team from True Visions. True Visions is the lead media partner for the 2009 Carter Work Project in Thailand. Having experienced a Habitat build, the Bergers were keen to sign up for the 2009 Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project. The second team, with 25 embassy volunteers, demonstrated teamwork. Volunteer Jacqueline Matthews said: “Since few of us had any experience in building, we all worked together and helped one another.” More details later on www.habitat.org/ap."
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Next apocalypse? Mayan year 2012 stirs doomsayers - USATODAY.com
Next apocalypse? Mayan year 2012 stirs doomsayers - USATODAY.com: "By Mark Stevenson, Associated Press Writer
MEXICO CITY — Apolinario Chile Pixtun is tired of being bombarded with frantic questions about the Mayan calendar supposedly 'running out' on Dec. 21, 2012. After all, it's not the end of the world.
Or is it?
Definitely not, the Mayan Indian elder insists. 'I came back from England last year and, man, they had me fed up with this stuff.'
It can only get worse for him. Next month Hollywood's '2012' opens in cinemas, featuring earthquakes, meteor showers and a tsunami dumping an aircraft carrier on the White House.
At Cornell University, Ann Martin, who runs the 'Curious? Ask an Astronomer' website, says people are scared.
'It's too bad that we're getting e-mails from fourth-graders who are saying that they're too young to die,' Martin said. 'We had a mother of two young children who was afraid she wouldn't live to see them grow up.'
Chile Pixtun, a Guatemalan, says the doomsday theories spring from Western, not Mayan ideas.
A significant time period for the Mayas does end on the date, and enthusiasts have found a series of astronomical alignments they say coincide in 2012, including one that happens roughly only once every 25,800 years.
But most archaeologists, astronomers and Maya say the only thing likely to hit Earth is a meteor shower of New Age philosophy, pop astronomy, Internet doomsday rumors and TV specials such as one on the History Channel which mixes 'predictions' from Nostradamus and the Mayas and asks: 'Is 2012 the year the cosmic clock finally winds down to zero days, zero hope?'
It may sound all too much like other doomsday scenarios of recent decades — the 1987 Harmonic Convergence, the Jupiter Effect or 'Planet X.' But this one has some grains of archaeological basis.
One of them is Monument Six.
Found at an obscure ruin in southern Mexico during highway construction in the 1960s, the stone tablet almost didn't survive; the site was largely paved over and parts of the tablet were looted.
It's unique in that the remaining parts contain the equivalent of the date 2012. The inscription describes something that is supposed to occur in 2012 involving Bolon Yokte, a mysterious Mayan god associated with both war and creation.
However — shades of Indiana Jones — erosion and a crack in the stone make the end of the passage almost illegible.
Archaeologist Guillermo Bernal of Mexico's National Autonomous University interprets the last eroded glyphs as maybe saying, 'He will descend from the sky.'
Spooky, perhaps, but Bernal notes there are other inscriptions at Mayan sites for dates far beyond 2012 — including one that roughly translates into the year 4772.
And anyway, Mayas in the drought-stricken Yucatan peninsula have bigger worries than 2012.
'If I went to some Mayan-speaking communities and asked people what is going to happen in 2012, they wouldn't have any idea,' said Jose Huchim, a Yucatan Mayan archaeologist. 'That the world is going to end? They wouldn't believe you. We have real concerns these days, like rain.'
The Mayan civilization, which reached its height from 300 A.D. to 900 A.D., had a talent for astronomy
Its Long Count calendar begins in 3,114 B.C., marking time in roughly 394-year periods known as Baktuns. Thirteen was a significant, sacred number for the Mayas, and the 13th Baktun ends around Dec. 21, 2012.
'It's a special anniversary of creation,' said David Stuart, a specialist in Mayan epigraphy at the University of Texas at Austin. 'The Maya never said the world is going to end, they never said anything bad would happen necessarily, they're just recording this future anniversary on Monument Six.'
Bernal suggests that apocalypse is 'a very Western, Christian' concept projected onto the Maya, perhaps because Western myths are 'exhausted.'
If it were all mythology, perhaps it could be written off.
But some say the Maya knew another secret: the Earth's axis wobbles, slightly changing the alignment of the stars every year. Once every 25,800 years, the sun lines up with the center of our Milky Way galaxy on a winter solstice, the sun's lowest point in the horizon.
That will happen on Dec. 21, 2012, when the sun appears to rise in the same spot where the bright center of galaxy sets.
Another spooky coincidence?
'The question I would ask these guys is, so what?' says Phil Plait, an astronomer who runs the 'Bad Astronomy' blog. He says the alignment doesn't fall precisely in 2012, and distant stars exert no force that could harm Earth.
'They're really super-duper trying to find anything astronomical they can to fit that date of 2012,' Plait said.
But author John Major Jenkins says his two-decade study of Mayan ruins indicate the Maya were aware of the alignment and attached great importance to it.
'If we want to honor and respect how the Maya think about this, then we would say that the Maya viewed 2012, as all cycle endings, as a time of transformation and renewal,' said Jenkins.
As the Internet gained popularity in the 1990s, so did word of the 'fateful' date, and some began worrying about 2012 disasters the Mayas never dreamed of.
Author Lawrence Joseph says a peak in explosive storms on the surface of the sun could knock out North America's power grid for years, triggering food shortages, water scarcity — a collapse of civilization. Solar peaks occur about every 11 years, but Joseph says there's evidence the 2012 peak could be 'a lulu.'
While pressing governments to install protection for power grids, Joseph counsels readers not to 'use 2012 as an excuse to not live in a healthy, responsible fashion. I mean, don't let the credit cards go up.'
Another History Channel program titled 'Decoding the Past: Doomsday 2012: End of Days' says a galactic alignment or magnetic disturbances could somehow trigger a 'pole shift.'
'The entire mantle of the earth would shift in a matter of days, perhaps hours, changing the position of the north and south poles, causing worldwide disaster,' a narrator proclaims. 'Earthquakes would rock every continent, massive tsunamis would inundate coastal cities. It would be the ultimate planetary catastrophe.'
The idea apparently originates with a 19th century Frenchman, Charles Etienne Brasseur de Bourbourg, a priest-turned-archaeologist who got it from his study of ancient Mayan and Aztec texts.
Scientists say that, at best, the poles might change location by one degree over a million years, with no sign that it would start in 2012.
While long discredited, Brasseur de Bourbourg proves one thing: Westerners have been trying for more than a century to pin doomsday scenarios on the Maya. And while fascinated by ancient lore, advocates seldom examine more recent experiences with apocalypse predictions.
'No one who's writing in now seems to remember that the last time we thought the world was going to end, it didn't,' says Martin, the astronomy webmaster. 'There doesn't seem to be a lot of memory that things were fine the last time around.'
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed."
MEXICO CITY — Apolinario Chile Pixtun is tired of being bombarded with frantic questions about the Mayan calendar supposedly 'running out' on Dec. 21, 2012. After all, it's not the end of the world.
Or is it?
Definitely not, the Mayan Indian elder insists. 'I came back from England last year and, man, they had me fed up with this stuff.'
It can only get worse for him. Next month Hollywood's '2012' opens in cinemas, featuring earthquakes, meteor showers and a tsunami dumping an aircraft carrier on the White House.
At Cornell University, Ann Martin, who runs the 'Curious? Ask an Astronomer' website, says people are scared.
'It's too bad that we're getting e-mails from fourth-graders who are saying that they're too young to die,' Martin said. 'We had a mother of two young children who was afraid she wouldn't live to see them grow up.'
Chile Pixtun, a Guatemalan, says the doomsday theories spring from Western, not Mayan ideas.
A significant time period for the Mayas does end on the date, and enthusiasts have found a series of astronomical alignments they say coincide in 2012, including one that happens roughly only once every 25,800 years.
But most archaeologists, astronomers and Maya say the only thing likely to hit Earth is a meteor shower of New Age philosophy, pop astronomy, Internet doomsday rumors and TV specials such as one on the History Channel which mixes 'predictions' from Nostradamus and the Mayas and asks: 'Is 2012 the year the cosmic clock finally winds down to zero days, zero hope?'
It may sound all too much like other doomsday scenarios of recent decades — the 1987 Harmonic Convergence, the Jupiter Effect or 'Planet X.' But this one has some grains of archaeological basis.
One of them is Monument Six.
Found at an obscure ruin in southern Mexico during highway construction in the 1960s, the stone tablet almost didn't survive; the site was largely paved over and parts of the tablet were looted.
It's unique in that the remaining parts contain the equivalent of the date 2012. The inscription describes something that is supposed to occur in 2012 involving Bolon Yokte, a mysterious Mayan god associated with both war and creation.
However — shades of Indiana Jones — erosion and a crack in the stone make the end of the passage almost illegible.
Archaeologist Guillermo Bernal of Mexico's National Autonomous University interprets the last eroded glyphs as maybe saying, 'He will descend from the sky.'
Spooky, perhaps, but Bernal notes there are other inscriptions at Mayan sites for dates far beyond 2012 — including one that roughly translates into the year 4772.
And anyway, Mayas in the drought-stricken Yucatan peninsula have bigger worries than 2012.
'If I went to some Mayan-speaking communities and asked people what is going to happen in 2012, they wouldn't have any idea,' said Jose Huchim, a Yucatan Mayan archaeologist. 'That the world is going to end? They wouldn't believe you. We have real concerns these days, like rain.'
The Mayan civilization, which reached its height from 300 A.D. to 900 A.D., had a talent for astronomy
Its Long Count calendar begins in 3,114 B.C., marking time in roughly 394-year periods known as Baktuns. Thirteen was a significant, sacred number for the Mayas, and the 13th Baktun ends around Dec. 21, 2012.
'It's a special anniversary of creation,' said David Stuart, a specialist in Mayan epigraphy at the University of Texas at Austin. 'The Maya never said the world is going to end, they never said anything bad would happen necessarily, they're just recording this future anniversary on Monument Six.'
Bernal suggests that apocalypse is 'a very Western, Christian' concept projected onto the Maya, perhaps because Western myths are 'exhausted.'
If it were all mythology, perhaps it could be written off.
But some say the Maya knew another secret: the Earth's axis wobbles, slightly changing the alignment of the stars every year. Once every 25,800 years, the sun lines up with the center of our Milky Way galaxy on a winter solstice, the sun's lowest point in the horizon.
That will happen on Dec. 21, 2012, when the sun appears to rise in the same spot where the bright center of galaxy sets.
Another spooky coincidence?
'The question I would ask these guys is, so what?' says Phil Plait, an astronomer who runs the 'Bad Astronomy' blog. He says the alignment doesn't fall precisely in 2012, and distant stars exert no force that could harm Earth.
'They're really super-duper trying to find anything astronomical they can to fit that date of 2012,' Plait said.
But author John Major Jenkins says his two-decade study of Mayan ruins indicate the Maya were aware of the alignment and attached great importance to it.
'If we want to honor and respect how the Maya think about this, then we would say that the Maya viewed 2012, as all cycle endings, as a time of transformation and renewal,' said Jenkins.
As the Internet gained popularity in the 1990s, so did word of the 'fateful' date, and some began worrying about 2012 disasters the Mayas never dreamed of.
Author Lawrence Joseph says a peak in explosive storms on the surface of the sun could knock out North America's power grid for years, triggering food shortages, water scarcity — a collapse of civilization. Solar peaks occur about every 11 years, but Joseph says there's evidence the 2012 peak could be 'a lulu.'
While pressing governments to install protection for power grids, Joseph counsels readers not to 'use 2012 as an excuse to not live in a healthy, responsible fashion. I mean, don't let the credit cards go up.'
Another History Channel program titled 'Decoding the Past: Doomsday 2012: End of Days' says a galactic alignment or magnetic disturbances could somehow trigger a 'pole shift.'
'The entire mantle of the earth would shift in a matter of days, perhaps hours, changing the position of the north and south poles, causing worldwide disaster,' a narrator proclaims. 'Earthquakes would rock every continent, massive tsunamis would inundate coastal cities. It would be the ultimate planetary catastrophe.'
The idea apparently originates with a 19th century Frenchman, Charles Etienne Brasseur de Bourbourg, a priest-turned-archaeologist who got it from his study of ancient Mayan and Aztec texts.
Scientists say that, at best, the poles might change location by one degree over a million years, with no sign that it would start in 2012.
While long discredited, Brasseur de Bourbourg proves one thing: Westerners have been trying for more than a century to pin doomsday scenarios on the Maya. And while fascinated by ancient lore, advocates seldom examine more recent experiences with apocalypse predictions.
'No one who's writing in now seems to remember that the last time we thought the world was going to end, it didn't,' says Martin, the astronomy webmaster. 'There doesn't seem to be a lot of memory that things were fine the last time around.'
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed."
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