Proposals for the reform of mesothelioma claims have been attacked for removing claimant choice, lowering compensation and undermining a claims system that is already working.Last week, the Ministry of Justice launched a consultation that seeks to reform the way mesothelioma claims are processed.
The paper suggested the introduction of a dedicated pre?action protocol, which would establish quicker timescales for claims, the development of a fixed recoverable costs regime – which the MoJ said, would “encourage proportionality in the amount of legal work undertaken and provide greater certainty about the legal costs incurred on behalf of claimants” – and the introduction of an electronic ‘gateway’ for a faster exchange of information.
Briony Krikorian, policy advisor and liability regulation general insurance directorate at the Association of British Insurers, welcomed the proposals: “The focus of these proposals is very much on helping the majority of claims to settle pre-litigation.
“These pre-action protocols request all the information that would be needed by a defendant to settle a claim from the claimant and put timescales both around the information the claimant provides and how quickly the defendant has to respond to those, so it is about making the exchange of information much more systematic and third party merchant account.”
“At the moment claimants have a choice,” he said. “Some clients prefer their cases to be settled in life, while others prefer to receive an interim payment and for the case to be resolved after they die. Mesothelioma claims settled in life tend to be worth 10% to 20% less than claims concluded after death so these proposals reduce compensation and reduce the claimant’s choices.
“Second, it removes defendant lawyers from the process so insurers spend less on their own legal services. Third, it limits the amount claimants can spend on their own legal representation as this is a process designed by and to be run for the benefit of the insurers, providing cheap justice, which the victims can ill afford.”
According to Morgan the mesothelioma fast-track system introduced by Master Whitaker in the High Court, and more widely adopted in April 2008 – which requires the submission of evidence in order to establish the need for an interim payment, while giving priority to cases involving severely limited life expectancy – is already working.
He said: “[The mesothelioma fast-track claims system] has created a level of understanding and cooperation between claimants and defendant lawyers to resolve issues quickly. This process is an example of how litigation should be done, what these proposals do is rip it up completely, they undermine it.”
He added: “Insurers will have to gear up to deal with mesothelioma claims more quickly. At the moment power of a claimant to enforce its response is only through litigation whereas now they can point to the protocol and say insurers need to comply with it.”
The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers added the MoJ proposals would speed up the resolution of third party payment gateway. Matthew Stockwell, president of Apil, said: “We hope this exercise will result in a fairer system, which will benefit people who are dying from a truly awful disease they contracted just because they turned up for work, often many decades ago.”
While John Latter, director of technical centre for UK claims at Zurich, argued the proposals are set to have a positive impact on all the parties involved. “I don’t see any negatives for anyone: insurers will pay the claims in a quicker and transparent way. If passed [as they are] the proposals would bring certainty to the process, take out excessive costs and make sure those that need compensation get it.”
Philippa Craven, partner at Kennedys, added the introduction of the Secure Mesothelioma Claims Gateway would bring these types of claims in line with the recent Jackson reforms for employers’ liability and public liability claims.“Jackson didn’t look to exclude mesothelioma from his reforms. He always thought the conditional fee agreements fixed fees should apply to those claims so it was just decided mesothelioma claims would be looked at as a separate issue,” she said.
However, the MoJ was keen to clarify the fact the proposed gateway is not similar to the road traffic accident portal as initially thought.A spokeswoman for the MoJ said: “It is intended to be an electronic means of exchanging information quickly between interested parties in mesothelioma claims. Its objective is to help speed up the claims process.”
2013年7月31日星期三
The Dixie Group Reports
Commenting on the results, Daniel K. Frierson, chairman and chief executive officer, said, "The second quarter was one of strong performance both residentially and commercially. Dixie had a year-over-year sales improvement of 26% with sales growth in all areas of the business. Our sales growth in the residential business was 27% as compared to the same period a year ago. We believe the residential market grew during the quarter in the high single digits with the market strengthening as the quarter progressed. It appears that the residential carpet market is now being positively impacted by the increase in the housing sector that began in 2012. Sales for our commercial products increased 21% versus the second quarter of 2012. This increase was in comparison to the commercial market being up only slightly in our estimation.
"Our continued growth in excess of 20% in 2013 is a result of the investments we have made over the last several years in new products and sales coverage. The residential growth was a combination of strong results in our mass merchant area, continued growth of our Stainmaster(R) TruSoft(R) and SolarMax(R) products, strength in our wool business and momentum gained from the integration of the Gulistan products purchased late last year. The shift to softer products, as demonstrated by the growth of our Stainmaster(R) TruSoft(R) products, continued throughout the quarter. In addition, the success of our high performance Stainmaster(R) SolarMax(R) products has led us to expand manufacturing capacity to fulfill rising demand. Sales for all of our residential brands were up for the quarter and all retail channels are showing strength early in the third quarter. In the commercial market, we had growth in both our modular carpet tile and broadloom product categories. Our market strength in the store planning sector was of particular note during the high risk merchant account.
The response to our SPEAK modular carpet tile and FIT office remodel collections has been very favorable. These high performance products give us added breadth in our line and fulfill the need for high styled modular and broadloom carpet products in today's market. We implemented the planned expansion of both our residential and commercial sales forces in the first half of the year to give us more strategic focus in select markets. Avant Contract, our newest commercial brand, launched its first series of products during the quarter. The Avant Contract brand is primarily focused on the fastest growing commercial segment, the modular office market. The initial impressions of Avant's edgier use of patterns, textures and colors combined with the marketing campaign promoting local and regional Artisans is being well received by the Architectural and Design community. We expect Avant to positively impact our sales in 2014. Our continued investment in products, processes and people has positioned us to continue to outperform the industry at the high end of the marketplace.
"The quarter had a gross profit margin of 26.7% and an operating income of 3.9% of net sales. Our growth initiatives begun in 2012 resulted in increased operating utilization but also added expense as we responded quickly to the increased demand. The additional costs from our Roanoke yarn expansion, the Crown Rug and Colormaster continuous dye house integrations, and the higher sampling costs as we accelerated our investment in new products in 2013, negatively impacted our operating income by over $1 million during the quarter. Our tax rate was 27% for the period.
"Working capital increased by $8,851,000 during the quarter due to higher receivables and inventory to support our higher level of sales. Our inventory turns improved 11% versus the same period in the prior year. Capital leases and expenditures were $3,441,000, while depreciation and amortization was $2,559,000 for the period. We anticipate capital leases and expenditures to be $13,500,000 and depreciation and amortization to be $10,300,000 for the entire year of 2013. Total debt increased $7,873,000 during the quarter. Availability under our credit lines was $25.0 million at quarter end. Subsequent to quarter end, we amended and extended our senior credit facility to accommodate the growth in working capital as we continue to grow our sales. In addition, in early July we completed the acquisition of Robertex Associates, a maker of fine wool products.
"We are pleased to see residential industry growth in the second quarter as this signals to us that the recovery in the housing sector has finally impacted the carpet market. Despite potential macro-economic issues, we believe that conditions in the upper-end residential portion of our industry will continue to improve during 2013. The commercial market appears to be stable with the highest growth in the modular carpet tile segment. We continue our commitment to growing our market share with innovative products, refinement of our manufacturing processes and investment in our people," Frierson concluded.
After taking into account the $5.3 million, preferred interest in net income attributable to the offshore merchant account of the 24,655,554 outstanding Class B Convertible Preferred Units as of June 30, 2013, which were issued during the second quarter of 2012 and the first quarter of 2013 (the "Class B Units" and the "Class B Unitholders"), the result for the quarter ended June 30, 2013, was $0.48 net income per limited partnership unit, which is $0.20 higher than the $0.28 net income per unit of the previous quarter ended March 31, 2013, and $0.49 higher than the $0.01 net loss per unit in the second quarter of 2012.
Operating surplus for the quarter ended June 30, 2013 was $56.6 million, which is $34.0 million higher than the $22.6 million from the first quarter of 2013, and $39.7 million higher than the $16.9 million of the second quarter of 2012. The operating surplus adjusted for the payment of distributions to the Class B Unitholders was $51.4 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2013. Operating surplus is a non-GAAP financial measure used by certain investors to measure the financial performance of the Partnership and other master limited partnerships. Please refer to the section "Appendix A" at the end of the press release, for a reconciliation of this non-GAAP measure to net income.
Revenues for the second quarter of 2013 were $41.8 million compared to $37.8 million in the second quarter of 2012.
Total expenses for the second quarter of 2013 were $30.8 million compared to $25.7 million in the second quarter of 2012 due to higher operating expenses incurred as a result of the higher number of vessels in our fleet. Vessel operating expenses for the second quarter of 2013 amounted to $13.4 million, compared to $11.2 million in the second quarter of 2012. The total expenses for the second quarter of 2013 also include $12.8 million in depreciation and amortization, compared to $12.0 million in the second quarter of 2012. General and administrative expenses for the second quarter of 2013 amounted to $3.4 million, which include a $1.6 million non-cash charge related to the Partnership's Omnibus Incentive Compensation Plans.
In the second quarter of 2013, we reported a gain of $32.0 million related to the sale to a third party of the Partnership's claims against OSG and certain of OSG's subsidiaries regarding the long term bareboat charters of three of the Partnership's product tanker vessels.
Excluding the gain of $32.0 million, total other expense net for the second quarter of 2013 amounted to $3.6 million compared to $8.8 million for the second quarter of 2012. The decrease in the interest expense and finance cost for the second quarter of 2013 reflects the expiration of all interest rate swaps and the reduction of the Partnership's total debt when compared to the second quarter of 2012.
"Our continued growth in excess of 20% in 2013 is a result of the investments we have made over the last several years in new products and sales coverage. The residential growth was a combination of strong results in our mass merchant area, continued growth of our Stainmaster(R) TruSoft(R) and SolarMax(R) products, strength in our wool business and momentum gained from the integration of the Gulistan products purchased late last year. The shift to softer products, as demonstrated by the growth of our Stainmaster(R) TruSoft(R) products, continued throughout the quarter. In addition, the success of our high performance Stainmaster(R) SolarMax(R) products has led us to expand manufacturing capacity to fulfill rising demand. Sales for all of our residential brands were up for the quarter and all retail channels are showing strength early in the third quarter. In the commercial market, we had growth in both our modular carpet tile and broadloom product categories. Our market strength in the store planning sector was of particular note during the high risk merchant account.
The response to our SPEAK modular carpet tile and FIT office remodel collections has been very favorable. These high performance products give us added breadth in our line and fulfill the need for high styled modular and broadloom carpet products in today's market. We implemented the planned expansion of both our residential and commercial sales forces in the first half of the year to give us more strategic focus in select markets. Avant Contract, our newest commercial brand, launched its first series of products during the quarter. The Avant Contract brand is primarily focused on the fastest growing commercial segment, the modular office market. The initial impressions of Avant's edgier use of patterns, textures and colors combined with the marketing campaign promoting local and regional Artisans is being well received by the Architectural and Design community. We expect Avant to positively impact our sales in 2014. Our continued investment in products, processes and people has positioned us to continue to outperform the industry at the high end of the marketplace.
"The quarter had a gross profit margin of 26.7% and an operating income of 3.9% of net sales. Our growth initiatives begun in 2012 resulted in increased operating utilization but also added expense as we responded quickly to the increased demand. The additional costs from our Roanoke yarn expansion, the Crown Rug and Colormaster continuous dye house integrations, and the higher sampling costs as we accelerated our investment in new products in 2013, negatively impacted our operating income by over $1 million during the quarter. Our tax rate was 27% for the period.
"Working capital increased by $8,851,000 during the quarter due to higher receivables and inventory to support our higher level of sales. Our inventory turns improved 11% versus the same period in the prior year. Capital leases and expenditures were $3,441,000, while depreciation and amortization was $2,559,000 for the period. We anticipate capital leases and expenditures to be $13,500,000 and depreciation and amortization to be $10,300,000 for the entire year of 2013. Total debt increased $7,873,000 during the quarter. Availability under our credit lines was $25.0 million at quarter end. Subsequent to quarter end, we amended and extended our senior credit facility to accommodate the growth in working capital as we continue to grow our sales. In addition, in early July we completed the acquisition of Robertex Associates, a maker of fine wool products.
"We are pleased to see residential industry growth in the second quarter as this signals to us that the recovery in the housing sector has finally impacted the carpet market. Despite potential macro-economic issues, we believe that conditions in the upper-end residential portion of our industry will continue to improve during 2013. The commercial market appears to be stable with the highest growth in the modular carpet tile segment. We continue our commitment to growing our market share with innovative products, refinement of our manufacturing processes and investment in our people," Frierson concluded.
After taking into account the $5.3 million, preferred interest in net income attributable to the offshore merchant account of the 24,655,554 outstanding Class B Convertible Preferred Units as of June 30, 2013, which were issued during the second quarter of 2012 and the first quarter of 2013 (the "Class B Units" and the "Class B Unitholders"), the result for the quarter ended June 30, 2013, was $0.48 net income per limited partnership unit, which is $0.20 higher than the $0.28 net income per unit of the previous quarter ended March 31, 2013, and $0.49 higher than the $0.01 net loss per unit in the second quarter of 2012.
Operating surplus for the quarter ended June 30, 2013 was $56.6 million, which is $34.0 million higher than the $22.6 million from the first quarter of 2013, and $39.7 million higher than the $16.9 million of the second quarter of 2012. The operating surplus adjusted for the payment of distributions to the Class B Unitholders was $51.4 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2013. Operating surplus is a non-GAAP financial measure used by certain investors to measure the financial performance of the Partnership and other master limited partnerships. Please refer to the section "Appendix A" at the end of the press release, for a reconciliation of this non-GAAP measure to net income.
Revenues for the second quarter of 2013 were $41.8 million compared to $37.8 million in the second quarter of 2012.
Total expenses for the second quarter of 2013 were $30.8 million compared to $25.7 million in the second quarter of 2012 due to higher operating expenses incurred as a result of the higher number of vessels in our fleet. Vessel operating expenses for the second quarter of 2013 amounted to $13.4 million, compared to $11.2 million in the second quarter of 2012. The total expenses for the second quarter of 2013 also include $12.8 million in depreciation and amortization, compared to $12.0 million in the second quarter of 2012. General and administrative expenses for the second quarter of 2013 amounted to $3.4 million, which include a $1.6 million non-cash charge related to the Partnership's Omnibus Incentive Compensation Plans.
In the second quarter of 2013, we reported a gain of $32.0 million related to the sale to a third party of the Partnership's claims against OSG and certain of OSG's subsidiaries regarding the long term bareboat charters of three of the Partnership's product tanker vessels.
Excluding the gain of $32.0 million, total other expense net for the second quarter of 2013 amounted to $3.6 million compared to $8.8 million for the second quarter of 2012. The decrease in the interest expense and finance cost for the second quarter of 2013 reflects the expiration of all interest rate swaps and the reduction of the Partnership's total debt when compared to the second quarter of 2012.
2013年7月29日星期一
Merchant Warehouse Hires
Merchant Warehouse, a leading innovator of payment technologies and merchant account services, recently announced the addition of Russell Harty as Senior Vice President, Key Accounts and Partner Channel. With more than 20 years in the payments industry, Harty will focus on evaluating and adding new partners and expanding the footprint of Merchant Warehouse solutions, including the Genius Customer Engagement Platform, with partners, value-added resellers and key accounts.
“Technology presents an incredible opportunity for merchants of all sizes today, but not all know how to leverage these capabilities in the most effective way. Merchant Warehouse recognized this struggle and developed solutions that let merchants evolve with the payments space,” said Harty. “Merchant Warehouse is a great example of a company that can effectively respond to their customers’ needs and I’m really looking forward to being part of the high risk merchant account.”
“We’re thrilled to have an industry leader like Russell on board,” said Greg Cohen, chief revenue and strategy officer, Merchant Warehouse. “His sales and leadership experience will prove to be a valuable addition to our partner activities, allowing us to expand Merchant Warehouse’s footprint.”
Harty joins Merchant Warehouse from Hibu, where he served the organization as the Head of U.S. Sales Operations, Payments Division. Prior to Hibu, Harty was Senior Vice President, Retail and Retail Banking Solutions for Ingenico, where he was accountable for tier one, mid-tier, channel (developer/ISV) and banking business development and sales. He also held senior leadership roles at VeriFone and Triton, and has a BA from Lynchburg College.
She maintained that, although she was just a 15-year-old schoolgirl at the time of the killing, the chief suspect in Erroll’s murder, Sir Jock Delves Broughton (whose wife, Diana, was Erroll’s mistress and a friend of Juanita’s stepmother) had confessed his guilt to her shortly after the murder.
“By the way, Juanita, I don’t want you to be afraid, but the police are following me,” the world-weary Broughton allegedly told her. When she asked why, Broughton explained that they believed he had been responsible for murdering Erroll. “Well, actually I did,” he added. Furthermore, according to Juanita Carberry, Broughton went on to tell her how he shot Erroll and disposed of the gun.
Juanita Carberry said the police wanted her to testify at Broughton’s trial for murder, but she pretended to “act as a stupid child” because she disagreed with the way such cases were conducted. Eventually they branded her an “unreliable witness” and she was not called.
According to Juanita Carberry, Broughton had confided in her only hours after Erroll’s murder, at a lunch party he hosted at his house in Karen, a suburb of Nairobi, attended by Juanita, her stepmother, June, and her governess.
Knowing that the teenager liked horses, Broughton invited Juanita to look at his stables. As they walked out, she was surprised to see a pair of gym shoes with white rubber soles in the smouldering embers of a bonfire in the garden. This struck her as odd, because it was not usual in Kenya to burn even worn-out gym shoes: they would have been given to a servant. Marks made by white pipeclay, used in the manufacture of such shoes, were found on the back seat of the crashed Buick car in which Erroll’s body was found. He had been shot in the head.
Nearly a year later, after a jury in Nairobi had acquitted Broughton, he committed suicide at the Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool.Juanita Carberry believed that Broughton probably also told her stepmother about the murder because the gun — having been recovered by her stepmother’s servants — was found many years later in a shoebox at Malindi, on the coast north of Mombasa, in a workshop owned by her father.
Juanita Carberry revealed none of this until 1971, when she gave an interview to the journalist Cyril Connolly, who had been at Eton with Lord Erroll, and who, with a young reporter, James Fox, had written an article about the case for The Sunday Times . But she withheld Broughton’s confession from Connolly, telling him that she did not want anything she said to be used against him. Only when James Fox interviewed her in 1980, after Connolly’s death, did she blurt out: “There is no mystery. He [Broughton] did it. I can tell you that now. He told me himself the following day.
“We walked down to the stables,” she recalled. “He told me then that he had shot Erroll... He told me not to be frightened when the police came, and he told me about the gun, which he said he had thrown into the Thika falls. He thought the police had followed him and had seen him stop there.”
She told Fox that Broughton had been provoked into murdering Erroll because of his affair with Diana. Although Broughton knew that his wife was planning to divorce him, something finally snapped after she and Erroll had dined and danced together on the night of the murder. “They had gone too far,” Juanita told Fox. “That last dinner was too much and brought home to him that he had really lost. And the fact is that he was in love with Diana.”
The Erroll murder was a gripping and glamorous scandal that shook the decadent Happy Valley coterie and marked the beginning of the end for Kenya’s hedonistic colonial elite, with its heavy drinking and cocaine-fuelled adulterous liaisons.
In his bestselling book about the Erroll affair, White Mischief (1982), Fox ascribed Juanita Carberry’s four decades of reticence to her protective feelings for Broughton, “the only adult who had taken her side in the midst of a host of hard-drinking grown-ups, who were constantly pushing her aside and sending her away”.
The daughter of the 10th Lord Carbery of Castle Freke, a renegade Irish peer, and his second wife (Ma?a), a noted beauty, Juanita Virginia Sistare Carberry was born on May 7 1925 at Nyeri, about 100 miles from Nairobi, and grew up on her father’s coffee farm. When she was three, her mother, a pioneering aviatrix, was killed when her plane crashed at Nairobi airfield, and Juanita was brought up by her promiscuous stepmother, June, and a series of nannies; she was sent to eight boarding schools, attending — from the age of 11 — various Swiss finishing schools, and finally Roedean, a sister school to the one in Sussex, in the Parktown area of Johannesburg.
Her childhood was harsh; her sadistic father, who had dropped his title out of a violent hatred of Britain and had embraced pro-Nazi views, disliked children, especially girls. Juanita recalled: “I was an unwanted brat .” She was dressed and treated as a boy , and confined to a separate wing of the house. Her governess, Isabel Rutt (whom she called “the Rutt”), was often ordered by Juanita’s father to strip her naked and beat her; aged 15, and after one particularly frenzied beating, Juanita left home to live with an uncle, saying she had no wish to grow up “like the rest of that Happy Valley lot”.
In the early 1950s she discovered that her father had been impotent and that her biological parent was probably Maxwell Trench, a white Jamaican who managed her father’s coffee estate, although DNA tests proved inconclusive.
Click on their website http://austpay.com/.
“Technology presents an incredible opportunity for merchants of all sizes today, but not all know how to leverage these capabilities in the most effective way. Merchant Warehouse recognized this struggle and developed solutions that let merchants evolve with the payments space,” said Harty. “Merchant Warehouse is a great example of a company that can effectively respond to their customers’ needs and I’m really looking forward to being part of the high risk merchant account.”
“We’re thrilled to have an industry leader like Russell on board,” said Greg Cohen, chief revenue and strategy officer, Merchant Warehouse. “His sales and leadership experience will prove to be a valuable addition to our partner activities, allowing us to expand Merchant Warehouse’s footprint.”
Harty joins Merchant Warehouse from Hibu, where he served the organization as the Head of U.S. Sales Operations, Payments Division. Prior to Hibu, Harty was Senior Vice President, Retail and Retail Banking Solutions for Ingenico, where he was accountable for tier one, mid-tier, channel (developer/ISV) and banking business development and sales. He also held senior leadership roles at VeriFone and Triton, and has a BA from Lynchburg College.
She maintained that, although she was just a 15-year-old schoolgirl at the time of the killing, the chief suspect in Erroll’s murder, Sir Jock Delves Broughton (whose wife, Diana, was Erroll’s mistress and a friend of Juanita’s stepmother) had confessed his guilt to her shortly after the murder.
“By the way, Juanita, I don’t want you to be afraid, but the police are following me,” the world-weary Broughton allegedly told her. When she asked why, Broughton explained that they believed he had been responsible for murdering Erroll. “Well, actually I did,” he added. Furthermore, according to Juanita Carberry, Broughton went on to tell her how he shot Erroll and disposed of the gun.
Juanita Carberry said the police wanted her to testify at Broughton’s trial for murder, but she pretended to “act as a stupid child” because she disagreed with the way such cases were conducted. Eventually they branded her an “unreliable witness” and she was not called.
According to Juanita Carberry, Broughton had confided in her only hours after Erroll’s murder, at a lunch party he hosted at his house in Karen, a suburb of Nairobi, attended by Juanita, her stepmother, June, and her governess.
Knowing that the teenager liked horses, Broughton invited Juanita to look at his stables. As they walked out, she was surprised to see a pair of gym shoes with white rubber soles in the smouldering embers of a bonfire in the garden. This struck her as odd, because it was not usual in Kenya to burn even worn-out gym shoes: they would have been given to a servant. Marks made by white pipeclay, used in the manufacture of such shoes, were found on the back seat of the crashed Buick car in which Erroll’s body was found. He had been shot in the head.
Nearly a year later, after a jury in Nairobi had acquitted Broughton, he committed suicide at the Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool.Juanita Carberry believed that Broughton probably also told her stepmother about the murder because the gun — having been recovered by her stepmother’s servants — was found many years later in a shoebox at Malindi, on the coast north of Mombasa, in a workshop owned by her father.
Juanita Carberry revealed none of this until 1971, when she gave an interview to the journalist Cyril Connolly, who had been at Eton with Lord Erroll, and who, with a young reporter, James Fox, had written an article about the case for The Sunday Times . But she withheld Broughton’s confession from Connolly, telling him that she did not want anything she said to be used against him. Only when James Fox interviewed her in 1980, after Connolly’s death, did she blurt out: “There is no mystery. He [Broughton] did it. I can tell you that now. He told me himself the following day.
“We walked down to the stables,” she recalled. “He told me then that he had shot Erroll... He told me not to be frightened when the police came, and he told me about the gun, which he said he had thrown into the Thika falls. He thought the police had followed him and had seen him stop there.”
She told Fox that Broughton had been provoked into murdering Erroll because of his affair with Diana. Although Broughton knew that his wife was planning to divorce him, something finally snapped after she and Erroll had dined and danced together on the night of the murder. “They had gone too far,” Juanita told Fox. “That last dinner was too much and brought home to him that he had really lost. And the fact is that he was in love with Diana.”
The Erroll murder was a gripping and glamorous scandal that shook the decadent Happy Valley coterie and marked the beginning of the end for Kenya’s hedonistic colonial elite, with its heavy drinking and cocaine-fuelled adulterous liaisons.
In his bestselling book about the Erroll affair, White Mischief (1982), Fox ascribed Juanita Carberry’s four decades of reticence to her protective feelings for Broughton, “the only adult who had taken her side in the midst of a host of hard-drinking grown-ups, who were constantly pushing her aside and sending her away”.
The daughter of the 10th Lord Carbery of Castle Freke, a renegade Irish peer, and his second wife (Ma?a), a noted beauty, Juanita Virginia Sistare Carberry was born on May 7 1925 at Nyeri, about 100 miles from Nairobi, and grew up on her father’s coffee farm. When she was three, her mother, a pioneering aviatrix, was killed when her plane crashed at Nairobi airfield, and Juanita was brought up by her promiscuous stepmother, June, and a series of nannies; she was sent to eight boarding schools, attending — from the age of 11 — various Swiss finishing schools, and finally Roedean, a sister school to the one in Sussex, in the Parktown area of Johannesburg.
Her childhood was harsh; her sadistic father, who had dropped his title out of a violent hatred of Britain and had embraced pro-Nazi views, disliked children, especially girls. Juanita recalled: “I was an unwanted brat .” She was dressed and treated as a boy , and confined to a separate wing of the house. Her governess, Isabel Rutt (whom she called “the Rutt”), was often ordered by Juanita’s father to strip her naked and beat her; aged 15, and after one particularly frenzied beating, Juanita left home to live with an uncle, saying she had no wish to grow up “like the rest of that Happy Valley lot”.
In the early 1950s she discovered that her father had been impotent and that her biological parent was probably Maxwell Trench, a white Jamaican who managed her father’s coffee estate, although DNA tests proved inconclusive.
Click on their website http://austpay.com/.
Bankers still worried with Aadhaar authentication
According to a report in the Economic Times on Monday, the Unique Identification Authority of India is pushing for biometric authentication for credit card and ATM transactions, but bankers are reluctant to make changes since technology costs are high. Bankers argue that upgrading every ATM and point of sale terminal at thousands of merchant outlets will not come cheap, besides travails and risks of a new technology, says the report. But aren’t we forgetting something here? ATM with biometrics is not a new idea. It has been tried and discarded as a failure when the ATMs did not authenticate the biometrics of many underprivileged persons and left them without access to their own funds, especially when banks were closed.
While use of biometric ATMs looks good on paper, its implementation so far has proved costly for the banks as well as for the end-users. On 1 December 2006, Citibank had issued a global release about the launch of its biometric ATM with multi-language voice instruction capability. It had tied up with a NGO called Swadhar FinAccess and a microfinance firm for Citibank Pragati for accounts. The experiment ended in a whimper. In fact, the drumbeat for biometric ATMs began in 2005 as suggested by this report in The Financial Express. In 2007, Andhra Bank had launched biometric ATMs and wanted to make the mobile, to cater to the burgeoning microfinance business.
Canara Bank set up its first biometric-based ATM at Dharavi, in Mumbai in 2008 with much fanfare. It was a dual purpose ATM, which accepted cards as well as thumbprints for banking transaction (mostly cash withdrawals). The biometric-based ATM was expected to cater to the needs of working class, especially housemaids and other people in Dharavi. In fact, even after the global financial crisis, the biometric ATMs and tie-ups continued because micro-finance firms were still seen as saviours and had not revealed their exploitative and rapacious side.
The ground reality turned out to be completely different. According to information provided by several non-government organisations (NGOs) spreading financial literacy in that area, the biometric ATMs in Dharavi failed from day one. The reason? Working class there, especially housemaids and other labours do not have fingerprints without which they could not operate the ATM!
Not having fingerprints is just one of the issues with the biometric-based ATMs. The more serious issue is the danger it may pose to the user as thieves may stalk and assault the person to gain access. If the item is secured with a biometric device, the damage to the owner could be irreversible, and potentially cost more than the high risk merchant account. For example, in 2005, Malaysian car thieves cut off the finger of a Mercedes-Benz S-Class owner when attempting to steal his car.
In addition, the biometric-based passwords are irreversible. That means it cannot be re-issued in case of loss or theft. If a token or a password is lost or stolen, it can be cancelled and replaced by a newer version. This is not naturally available in biometrics. If someone's face or fingerprint is compromised from a database, it cannot be cancelled or reissued.
Another problem associated with the biometric-based ATM is its cost, both installation and operations. The biometric-based ATMs, as proposed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) that would facilitate use to Aadhaar data, are more costly than the regular card-based ATMs. While consumers are increasingly complaining about reasonableness of bank charges, the banks themselves are lobbying hard with the RBI, claiming that high cost of technology is making each transaction very expensive. For instance, having encouraged and pushed to obtain corporate accounts of companies, banks are now cribbing about high transaction costs on small withdrawals from ATMs.
For instance, a senior central banker says that each balance inquiry at an ATM costs the bank Rs11 while each transaction costs around Rs18. However, this calls for a serious discussion on the cost-benefit of technology to consumers, since the solution cannot be to load higher costs on to consumers.
And while the UIDAI and RBI are still thinking about using Aadhaar number or fingerprints collected under the UID scheme, for authentication of transactions, the world has moved ahead. World over, fingerprint based ATMs are being replaced by biometric ATMs, which use ‘finger vein scanning’ technology to authenticate the customer's ID. Unlike current fingerprint scanners, the finger vein scanner, developed by Japanese company Hitachi, uses infrared light to analyse the micro veins beneath the surface of the finger. According to Hitachi, it is impossible to fool its machine, as it is not possible to replicate an individual's finger veins. In addition, it does not work with fingers that have been chopped off, the company had said.
In addition, several experts have pointed out that using Aadhaar for identification is completely different than using it for authentication. Especially, when it comes to using biometric data of Aadhaar for payment transactions, the facts are not too encouraging. Several poor people like housemaids and construction labourers are finding it difficult to even enrol for Aadhaar due to lack of a clean fingerprint sample. Some could not even submit sample of their iris due to cataract. In such cases, how will the Aadhaar help in authenticating the card present transaction? Also, why burden the entire banking system with high costs, which will have to be paid by hundreds of million account holders who have no need for biometric identification and have no reason to support biometric authentication systems?
Coming back to the issue of using Aadhaar or UID for authentication card present transactions, it looks good only on paper. As per the latest census, 58.7% households were availing banking services in 2011 as compared with 35.5% in 2001. Notwithstanding these efforts by the RBI and the offshore merchant account, the challenges are enormous. Providing banking coverage to a population of 120 crore and ensuring transactions in these accounts is a daunting task.
While, the government and the RBI have asked banks to accept the Aadhaar number as one of the identification proofs for opening an account, the lenders are not sure about the authentication and verification of these numbers for payment system. The RBI itself was not confident about Aadhaar as it felt that the UID project is not ready for handling secure payment transactions.
According to the Economic Times report, there was a distinct possibility that RBI would ask banks to gradually roll out Aadhaar-based biometric authentication as an additional authentication for card transactions. RBI may not mandate banks immediately, but may nonetheless ask them to upgrade the technology. This is happening at such a time when banks are issuing credit and debit cards based on Europay, MasterCard and Visa (EMV) chip technology, the report said quoting a banker.
According to a report by a "Working Group on Securing Card Present Transactions" of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), there is a need to put in place a series of measures to strengthen the payments’ infrastructure and ecosystem in the country. Inferences drawn from case studies clearly indicate the need to have a much stronger authentication mechanism and reiterate the need for a second factor (2FA) for card present transactions.
The report discusses new systems like EMV chip cards with PIN that has been adopted by many countries and enhancing the current MSD card system with help from biometric identification.
"Aadhaar (issued by UIDAI) authentication using biometrics, provides a strong 'Who you are' factor of authentication. This can be combined with a second 'What you have' or 'What you know' factor to achieve strong customer identification at the point of sale," the report said.
While the option to use biometrics from the UIDAI database looks good, it may, in practice, due to insufficient feasibility tests, may not be a viable option. "The working committee considered biometric, or UID, as the second factor in one of the solution sets; however, the decision to adopt this would depend on various factors like the number of UIDs issued to the population which transacts through cards, the error rates, authentication network capability to handle transaction volumes, network capability to handle enhanced transaction size and acquiring infrastructure," the report said.
According to the Economic Times report, another working group set up to study the recommendation of the previous group has recently submitted its report to the RBI. “(the) panel has pegged the cost of banks' readiness for Aadhaar at Rs4,259 crore compared with Rs3,556 crore the banking industry has to spend to upgrade machines to match a different technology they think lowers the risk of card frauds,” the report says.
Unfortunately, instead of addressing all the problems related with the Aadhaar, the UPA government is forcing its usage and acceptance, that too without any Parliamentary approval for the UIDAI scheme. The hard push for biometric ATMs is just one of the examples about how technology is being used to exclude the needy, without even thinking about the cost.
While use of biometric ATMs looks good on paper, its implementation so far has proved costly for the banks as well as for the end-users. On 1 December 2006, Citibank had issued a global release about the launch of its biometric ATM with multi-language voice instruction capability. It had tied up with a NGO called Swadhar FinAccess and a microfinance firm for Citibank Pragati for accounts. The experiment ended in a whimper. In fact, the drumbeat for biometric ATMs began in 2005 as suggested by this report in The Financial Express. In 2007, Andhra Bank had launched biometric ATMs and wanted to make the mobile, to cater to the burgeoning microfinance business.
Canara Bank set up its first biometric-based ATM at Dharavi, in Mumbai in 2008 with much fanfare. It was a dual purpose ATM, which accepted cards as well as thumbprints for banking transaction (mostly cash withdrawals). The biometric-based ATM was expected to cater to the needs of working class, especially housemaids and other people in Dharavi. In fact, even after the global financial crisis, the biometric ATMs and tie-ups continued because micro-finance firms were still seen as saviours and had not revealed their exploitative and rapacious side.
The ground reality turned out to be completely different. According to information provided by several non-government organisations (NGOs) spreading financial literacy in that area, the biometric ATMs in Dharavi failed from day one. The reason? Working class there, especially housemaids and other labours do not have fingerprints without which they could not operate the ATM!
Not having fingerprints is just one of the issues with the biometric-based ATMs. The more serious issue is the danger it may pose to the user as thieves may stalk and assault the person to gain access. If the item is secured with a biometric device, the damage to the owner could be irreversible, and potentially cost more than the high risk merchant account. For example, in 2005, Malaysian car thieves cut off the finger of a Mercedes-Benz S-Class owner when attempting to steal his car.
In addition, the biometric-based passwords are irreversible. That means it cannot be re-issued in case of loss or theft. If a token or a password is lost or stolen, it can be cancelled and replaced by a newer version. This is not naturally available in biometrics. If someone's face or fingerprint is compromised from a database, it cannot be cancelled or reissued.
Another problem associated with the biometric-based ATM is its cost, both installation and operations. The biometric-based ATMs, as proposed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) that would facilitate use to Aadhaar data, are more costly than the regular card-based ATMs. While consumers are increasingly complaining about reasonableness of bank charges, the banks themselves are lobbying hard with the RBI, claiming that high cost of technology is making each transaction very expensive. For instance, having encouraged and pushed to obtain corporate accounts of companies, banks are now cribbing about high transaction costs on small withdrawals from ATMs.
For instance, a senior central banker says that each balance inquiry at an ATM costs the bank Rs11 while each transaction costs around Rs18. However, this calls for a serious discussion on the cost-benefit of technology to consumers, since the solution cannot be to load higher costs on to consumers.
And while the UIDAI and RBI are still thinking about using Aadhaar number or fingerprints collected under the UID scheme, for authentication of transactions, the world has moved ahead. World over, fingerprint based ATMs are being replaced by biometric ATMs, which use ‘finger vein scanning’ technology to authenticate the customer's ID. Unlike current fingerprint scanners, the finger vein scanner, developed by Japanese company Hitachi, uses infrared light to analyse the micro veins beneath the surface of the finger. According to Hitachi, it is impossible to fool its machine, as it is not possible to replicate an individual's finger veins. In addition, it does not work with fingers that have been chopped off, the company had said.
In addition, several experts have pointed out that using Aadhaar for identification is completely different than using it for authentication. Especially, when it comes to using biometric data of Aadhaar for payment transactions, the facts are not too encouraging. Several poor people like housemaids and construction labourers are finding it difficult to even enrol for Aadhaar due to lack of a clean fingerprint sample. Some could not even submit sample of their iris due to cataract. In such cases, how will the Aadhaar help in authenticating the card present transaction? Also, why burden the entire banking system with high costs, which will have to be paid by hundreds of million account holders who have no need for biometric identification and have no reason to support biometric authentication systems?
Coming back to the issue of using Aadhaar or UID for authentication card present transactions, it looks good only on paper. As per the latest census, 58.7% households were availing banking services in 2011 as compared with 35.5% in 2001. Notwithstanding these efforts by the RBI and the offshore merchant account, the challenges are enormous. Providing banking coverage to a population of 120 crore and ensuring transactions in these accounts is a daunting task.
While, the government and the RBI have asked banks to accept the Aadhaar number as one of the identification proofs for opening an account, the lenders are not sure about the authentication and verification of these numbers for payment system. The RBI itself was not confident about Aadhaar as it felt that the UID project is not ready for handling secure payment transactions.
According to the Economic Times report, there was a distinct possibility that RBI would ask banks to gradually roll out Aadhaar-based biometric authentication as an additional authentication for card transactions. RBI may not mandate banks immediately, but may nonetheless ask them to upgrade the technology. This is happening at such a time when banks are issuing credit and debit cards based on Europay, MasterCard and Visa (EMV) chip technology, the report said quoting a banker.
According to a report by a "Working Group on Securing Card Present Transactions" of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), there is a need to put in place a series of measures to strengthen the payments’ infrastructure and ecosystem in the country. Inferences drawn from case studies clearly indicate the need to have a much stronger authentication mechanism and reiterate the need for a second factor (2FA) for card present transactions.
The report discusses new systems like EMV chip cards with PIN that has been adopted by many countries and enhancing the current MSD card system with help from biometric identification.
"Aadhaar (issued by UIDAI) authentication using biometrics, provides a strong 'Who you are' factor of authentication. This can be combined with a second 'What you have' or 'What you know' factor to achieve strong customer identification at the point of sale," the report said.
While the option to use biometrics from the UIDAI database looks good, it may, in practice, due to insufficient feasibility tests, may not be a viable option. "The working committee considered biometric, or UID, as the second factor in one of the solution sets; however, the decision to adopt this would depend on various factors like the number of UIDs issued to the population which transacts through cards, the error rates, authentication network capability to handle transaction volumes, network capability to handle enhanced transaction size and acquiring infrastructure," the report said.
According to the Economic Times report, another working group set up to study the recommendation of the previous group has recently submitted its report to the RBI. “(the) panel has pegged the cost of banks' readiness for Aadhaar at Rs4,259 crore compared with Rs3,556 crore the banking industry has to spend to upgrade machines to match a different technology they think lowers the risk of card frauds,” the report says.
Unfortunately, instead of addressing all the problems related with the Aadhaar, the UPA government is forcing its usage and acceptance, that too without any Parliamentary approval for the UIDAI scheme. The hard push for biometric ATMs is just one of the examples about how technology is being used to exclude the needy, without even thinking about the cost.
2013年7月24日星期三
New phone upgrade plans akin to renting
The phone companies call them installment plans, but I think of them as phone rental. Before you pay off the cost of the phone, you're entitled to hand it back in to get a new one -- every six months with Verizon Wireless or T-Mobile or every year with AT&T.It's a good deal for some people on T-Mobile. Unlike the rival plans, T-Mobile's Jump comes with insurance to cover loss and damage. And it doesn't add that much to the cost of the phone. With Verizon's Edge and AT&T's Next, you're essentially paying for the same phone twice.
When you buy an iPhone 5, you might pay $200 for it, but it actually costs $650. Your phone company covers the difference and makes it up over the life of the two-year service contract. On the phone bill, it just appears as a service fee for voice, text and data. But that fee actually includes an amount that helps the phone companies cover the difference. The service fee doesn't go down, however, even after you've covered the third party payment gateway, or paid the phone off.
With AT&T's and Verizon's installment plans, you're paying the full $650 for the iPhone, spread out over 20 or 24 months. But once again, the service fee doesn't go down, even though there's no "difference" the phone companies need to make up. So you're paying for the phone through the installment payments, plus what's baked into the service fee.
Earlier this year, T-Mobile broke the service fee into two fees -- one for the actual service, and one for the phone. So once you've paid off the phone, your total bill goes down. And if you sign up for Jump, you're paying a $10 monthly fee for that, mostly for the insurance, but you're not paying for the phone twice.Even though you're paying more for the phone with Verizon's and AT&T's plans, it might still be worthwhile if you're already planning to upgrade more frequently than every other year. Both take the hassle out of trying to sell your old device.
Here's a closer look at the three plans to see if they are right for you. I'm using prices for Samsung's Galaxy S4 in the calculations, so actual costs may vary. Keep in mind all three plans are optional, so you can still buy phones the old way.Six months after you first sign up for Jump, you're entitled to two phone upgrades every 12 months. You can upgrade twice in the same month, but you'd have to wait a full year for the next one. It's better to spread upgrades out to about six months apart.
If you lose or damage your phone: No problem. The Jump plan replaces insurance, which typically costs $8 a month. So it's just $2 a month more for those who already get insurance to replace phones that get lost, don't work, have water damage or have cracked screens.If you just want an upgrade: Simply turn in your old phone when you get your new one. T-Mobile will refurbish and resell it.
The catch: T-Mobile charges a down payment -- $150 in the case of Galaxy S4. It's the same as you pay when you get your first phone, but you'll be paying that each time you upgrade. If your phone is lost or damaged, and it's not covered by warranty, you pay a deductible of up to $175. In that case, there's no down payment if you are replacing it with the same model, but you have to pay both the deductible and the down payment if you want to upgrade to a different model.
Cost analysis: You break even at 16 months. That is, you have $160 left in payments for your phone, which gets waived when you upgrade through Jump. But you have paid $160 for Jump by that point. At month 17, you pay more for Jump than what you would have to make up in remaining installments. But Jump gives you insurance during that period.You're better off with Jump if you upgrade before the 16-month mark, but it's still more expensive than waiting out the two years, when the phone is normally due for an upgrade. Let's say you upgrade the maximum twice a year. That's three extra phones over those two years. The fourth is the one you would have gotten anyway when the two years are up. At Galaxy S4 prices, that works out to $690 over two years for the luxury -- $450 for the phones and $240 for the cost of Jump. If you would have gotten insurance anyway, figure you're paying just $498 more.
ou're essentially paying twice for the phone. In order to upgrade, you must already have paid at least 50 percent of the cost of the phone. You hit that threshold after one year, so if you upgrade six months early, you have six months of payments to make right away to be eligible. Your new phone comes with new installment payments, even though you've just covered the next six months of payments. You're essentially doubling the payments over those six months.
Also, it's open only to those on Share Everything plans. Customers still on Verizon's older, unlimited data plans are not eligible and must switch to a limited-use plan to participate.Normally, you pay $200 up front, so for a $650 phone, $450 is the minimum premium you pay to upgrade more frequently. If you haven't reached the 50 percent threshold yet, you'll be paying even more. Upgrade every six months as allowed, and you face 12 additional monthly payments over two years (six each year). Those 12 payments add up to $325, assuming the same retail price for the Galaxy S4 replacement. With the additional $450 you're already paying over the normal way of buying phones, you're paying an extra $775 over two years to upgrade every six months. As is the case with third party merchant account, you might be better off breaking a contract and trying to resell the old phone, but Edge removes the hassle.
In a matter of a few years, Smith went from paying out-of-pocket for school – attending when he could afford it, working when he could not – to staring down more than $40,000 in student loan debt.Instead of living paycheck-to-paycheck and putting any extra in savings, he was suddenly flush with cash. His financial aid allowed him to live an expensive lifestyle in college, he says.The tipping point was when he approached the school's student loan office to get help with his $3,000 tuition payment, he says. He walked away with $16,000 for that quarter, starting a cycle that would continue for the rest of his undergraduate career.
"Every quarter I got more free money," he says. "I needed new clothes. I needed a cool car. I needed a nice place to stay.""I always took out way more than I needed," Meehan said in an email. "I thought if it as 'free money' that I would eventually have to pay back when I was living like Carrie from Sex and the City."
Now 31, with a bachelor's and two master's under her belt, Meehan's student loans total nearly $200,000. She currently works as an online media manager at Rosemont College in Pennsylvania, but said she makes less now than she did straight out of undergrad.In some cases, the borrowers are so-called nontraditional students. Over the age of 25, these undergrads are considered financially independent from their parents. More than 50 percent of students pursuing a bachelor's degree fall into this category.
Some, like Smith, have families of their own. Others are saddled with expenses such as medical bills and car payments.With minimal income – either because of unemployment or underemployment – they have little-to-no expected family contribution, a figure the U.S. Department of Education uses to calculate need. This often allows students to take out federal student loans to cover the full cost of attendance, including housing, personal and living expenses.
The University of Oregon estimates the total cost for undergraduates living off campus at nearly $24,000 for the 2013-2014 school year. Less than $10,000 of that goes to tuition, leaving students with refund checks of roughly $14,000 each year.While these refunds are intended to go toward educational expenses and living expenses – food, rent and utilities – no one monitors how students spend this money.
When you buy an iPhone 5, you might pay $200 for it, but it actually costs $650. Your phone company covers the difference and makes it up over the life of the two-year service contract. On the phone bill, it just appears as a service fee for voice, text and data. But that fee actually includes an amount that helps the phone companies cover the difference. The service fee doesn't go down, however, even after you've covered the third party payment gateway, or paid the phone off.
With AT&T's and Verizon's installment plans, you're paying the full $650 for the iPhone, spread out over 20 or 24 months. But once again, the service fee doesn't go down, even though there's no "difference" the phone companies need to make up. So you're paying for the phone through the installment payments, plus what's baked into the service fee.
Earlier this year, T-Mobile broke the service fee into two fees -- one for the actual service, and one for the phone. So once you've paid off the phone, your total bill goes down. And if you sign up for Jump, you're paying a $10 monthly fee for that, mostly for the insurance, but you're not paying for the phone twice.Even though you're paying more for the phone with Verizon's and AT&T's plans, it might still be worthwhile if you're already planning to upgrade more frequently than every other year. Both take the hassle out of trying to sell your old device.
Here's a closer look at the three plans to see if they are right for you. I'm using prices for Samsung's Galaxy S4 in the calculations, so actual costs may vary. Keep in mind all three plans are optional, so you can still buy phones the old way.Six months after you first sign up for Jump, you're entitled to two phone upgrades every 12 months. You can upgrade twice in the same month, but you'd have to wait a full year for the next one. It's better to spread upgrades out to about six months apart.
If you lose or damage your phone: No problem. The Jump plan replaces insurance, which typically costs $8 a month. So it's just $2 a month more for those who already get insurance to replace phones that get lost, don't work, have water damage or have cracked screens.If you just want an upgrade: Simply turn in your old phone when you get your new one. T-Mobile will refurbish and resell it.
The catch: T-Mobile charges a down payment -- $150 in the case of Galaxy S4. It's the same as you pay when you get your first phone, but you'll be paying that each time you upgrade. If your phone is lost or damaged, and it's not covered by warranty, you pay a deductible of up to $175. In that case, there's no down payment if you are replacing it with the same model, but you have to pay both the deductible and the down payment if you want to upgrade to a different model.
Cost analysis: You break even at 16 months. That is, you have $160 left in payments for your phone, which gets waived when you upgrade through Jump. But you have paid $160 for Jump by that point. At month 17, you pay more for Jump than what you would have to make up in remaining installments. But Jump gives you insurance during that period.You're better off with Jump if you upgrade before the 16-month mark, but it's still more expensive than waiting out the two years, when the phone is normally due for an upgrade. Let's say you upgrade the maximum twice a year. That's three extra phones over those two years. The fourth is the one you would have gotten anyway when the two years are up. At Galaxy S4 prices, that works out to $690 over two years for the luxury -- $450 for the phones and $240 for the cost of Jump. If you would have gotten insurance anyway, figure you're paying just $498 more.
ou're essentially paying twice for the phone. In order to upgrade, you must already have paid at least 50 percent of the cost of the phone. You hit that threshold after one year, so if you upgrade six months early, you have six months of payments to make right away to be eligible. Your new phone comes with new installment payments, even though you've just covered the next six months of payments. You're essentially doubling the payments over those six months.
Also, it's open only to those on Share Everything plans. Customers still on Verizon's older, unlimited data plans are not eligible and must switch to a limited-use plan to participate.Normally, you pay $200 up front, so for a $650 phone, $450 is the minimum premium you pay to upgrade more frequently. If you haven't reached the 50 percent threshold yet, you'll be paying even more. Upgrade every six months as allowed, and you face 12 additional monthly payments over two years (six each year). Those 12 payments add up to $325, assuming the same retail price for the Galaxy S4 replacement. With the additional $450 you're already paying over the normal way of buying phones, you're paying an extra $775 over two years to upgrade every six months. As is the case with third party merchant account, you might be better off breaking a contract and trying to resell the old phone, but Edge removes the hassle.
In a matter of a few years, Smith went from paying out-of-pocket for school – attending when he could afford it, working when he could not – to staring down more than $40,000 in student loan debt.Instead of living paycheck-to-paycheck and putting any extra in savings, he was suddenly flush with cash. His financial aid allowed him to live an expensive lifestyle in college, he says.The tipping point was when he approached the school's student loan office to get help with his $3,000 tuition payment, he says. He walked away with $16,000 for that quarter, starting a cycle that would continue for the rest of his undergraduate career.
"Every quarter I got more free money," he says. "I needed new clothes. I needed a cool car. I needed a nice place to stay.""I always took out way more than I needed," Meehan said in an email. "I thought if it as 'free money' that I would eventually have to pay back when I was living like Carrie from Sex and the City."
Now 31, with a bachelor's and two master's under her belt, Meehan's student loans total nearly $200,000. She currently works as an online media manager at Rosemont College in Pennsylvania, but said she makes less now than she did straight out of undergrad.In some cases, the borrowers are so-called nontraditional students. Over the age of 25, these undergrads are considered financially independent from their parents. More than 50 percent of students pursuing a bachelor's degree fall into this category.
Some, like Smith, have families of their own. Others are saddled with expenses such as medical bills and car payments.With minimal income – either because of unemployment or underemployment – they have little-to-no expected family contribution, a figure the U.S. Department of Education uses to calculate need. This often allows students to take out federal student loans to cover the full cost of attendance, including housing, personal and living expenses.
The University of Oregon estimates the total cost for undergraduates living off campus at nearly $24,000 for the 2013-2014 school year. Less than $10,000 of that goes to tuition, leaving students with refund checks of roughly $14,000 each year.While these refunds are intended to go toward educational expenses and living expenses – food, rent and utilities – no one monitors how students spend this money.
Fake money is so common all should beware
Technology has made it easier for criminals to produce counterfeit U.S. currency, and local merchants are saying that they see plenty of fake bills these days. It is not an epidemic, but there are so many instances of people trying to pass off counterfeit bills that many businesses are starting to scrutinize even the lower denominations, like $5 bills, before accepting them from customers.
My research shows that of all U.S. currency in circulation, about one to two percent of it is counterfeit, which accounts for an estimated $261 million in counterfeit money. I have my doubts (the numbers are likely to be much higher), but it may be that areas like ours experience a higher concentration of phony money. In any event, even if the numbers seem to suggest that the problem is not a big one, a bit of caution is certainly in order. One merchant in Modesto told me that she encounters phony bills almost every day, so it seems that being careful is the prudent thing to do. I recently sold a small boat and was paid in $20 bills. Needless to say, all of them were legitimate, but it was worth the extra few minutes to examine each bill before accepting it.
Interestingly, the mass producers of counterfeit money do not use it for their own purchasing purposes. Instead, they sell the currency for approximately 20-30 cents on the dollar. The very-high-quality fakes go for as high a 50 percent of the face value of each bill. In addition, while there are plenty of people using home computers and printers to produce phony money, their impact on the economy and individual victims appears to be less than that of the bigger operators.
The U.S. government has a high stake in protecting the integrity of its currency and to maintain public confidence in its legal tender; high risk merchant account, it takes painstaking measures to make it difficult to produce counterfeit bills. Some of these measures include using color-shifting ink, red and blue threads embedded in the paper and watermark images that can be seen with enhanced lighting. Still, technology allows counterfeiters to produce near-perfect counterfeits. It seems like the most skilled counterfeiters are always able to stay just a step or two ahead the government's efforts to foil their efforts.
Many businesses still only pay attention to denominations of 20s, 50s and 100s, yet I see criminals taking advantage of this practice and using fake 5s and 10s to commit their crimes. People and merchants would do well to check $5 bills and larger to help stop this trend. Keep in mind that when you accept a counterfeit bill, even unknowingly, you are stuck with it. It is illegal to pass that bill on, and if you do, at minimum you may end up being named in a criminal investigation. If the government can prove that you knew it was counterfeit, criminal charges will be likely.
The rule for protecting yourself is to check currency (especially $20 or larger bills) before accepting them during purchasing transactions. The quickest ways include checking for the normally distinctive feel of the paper. If it feels smooth, it is probably fake. The newer bills contain a security thread that is embedded in the paper and runs vertically on one side of the note. This thread contains tiny letters spelling out the value of the note. So, for a twenty dollar bill, you will see the words, in barely 1/10 of an inch in size, "USA Twenty." In addition, the $20 note will contain a watermark image, depicting former president Andrew Jackson on the lower right hand side. It can be seen when holding the note up to a light. The ink on U.S. currency does not run when exposed to water and the color of the "20" on the lower right corner of the note will shift from copper to green, depending on the angle viewed.
When getting cash from the bank or ATM do not assume that all of the bills have been screened - there may well be counterfeit bills, so take time to examine them. Do not delay in reporting any counterfeit bill finds immediately to the bank or other entity that transferred it to you. And be particularly careful when receiving a large amount of cash for such things as appliances, boats, cars, etc., as it is a matter of odds when it comes to the risk as a particular transaction involves higher numbers of bills.
If you wish more information on this subject, there are many resources on the web to help you get all the facts and protect yourself. Taking a few seconds to check the currency during purchasing or selling transactions may well save you a lot of hard-earned money.
Thanks, Bill. Good afternoon, everyone, and thanks for joining us today. After the market closed, we reported quarterly diluted earnings per share of $1.20, up 21% over the prior year, driven primarily by loan growth and share repurchases. During the quarter, we generated return on equity of 23% and returned approximately $440 million of capital to shareholders through repurchases and common dividends.
Our Direct Banking business again delivered strong results during the second quarter. Slide 4 of the earnings presentation shows Discover total loan growth at 6% over the prior year. This organic growth was driven by a 5% increase in card receivables and a combined 10% increase in private, student and personal loans.Card receivables growth continues to outpace our primary peers. This strong growth was driven by increased wallet share with existing customers and also new accounts.
Discover it, our new flagship card product drove strong new account growth in the quarter, even while relying less on promotional balance transfers. Discover it's position in the market continues to be highly differentiated with superior customer value and service and the early results of our advertising campaign are positive. This campaign, offshore merchant account, other card marketing initiatives, and our strength and rewards have not only helped us grow new accounts, but have also encouraged our large loyal customer base to spend and revolve with us.
Also in card, I want to announce that Discover has become the exclusive affinity card issuer for 5 universities, including the University of Nebraska. We are excited about the affinity channel for long-term new account and sales growth, as we leverage our cash rewards and customer service.
My research shows that of all U.S. currency in circulation, about one to two percent of it is counterfeit, which accounts for an estimated $261 million in counterfeit money. I have my doubts (the numbers are likely to be much higher), but it may be that areas like ours experience a higher concentration of phony money. In any event, even if the numbers seem to suggest that the problem is not a big one, a bit of caution is certainly in order. One merchant in Modesto told me that she encounters phony bills almost every day, so it seems that being careful is the prudent thing to do. I recently sold a small boat and was paid in $20 bills. Needless to say, all of them were legitimate, but it was worth the extra few minutes to examine each bill before accepting it.
Interestingly, the mass producers of counterfeit money do not use it for their own purchasing purposes. Instead, they sell the currency for approximately 20-30 cents on the dollar. The very-high-quality fakes go for as high a 50 percent of the face value of each bill. In addition, while there are plenty of people using home computers and printers to produce phony money, their impact on the economy and individual victims appears to be less than that of the bigger operators.
The U.S. government has a high stake in protecting the integrity of its currency and to maintain public confidence in its legal tender; high risk merchant account, it takes painstaking measures to make it difficult to produce counterfeit bills. Some of these measures include using color-shifting ink, red and blue threads embedded in the paper and watermark images that can be seen with enhanced lighting. Still, technology allows counterfeiters to produce near-perfect counterfeits. It seems like the most skilled counterfeiters are always able to stay just a step or two ahead the government's efforts to foil their efforts.
Many businesses still only pay attention to denominations of 20s, 50s and 100s, yet I see criminals taking advantage of this practice and using fake 5s and 10s to commit their crimes. People and merchants would do well to check $5 bills and larger to help stop this trend. Keep in mind that when you accept a counterfeit bill, even unknowingly, you are stuck with it. It is illegal to pass that bill on, and if you do, at minimum you may end up being named in a criminal investigation. If the government can prove that you knew it was counterfeit, criminal charges will be likely.
The rule for protecting yourself is to check currency (especially $20 or larger bills) before accepting them during purchasing transactions. The quickest ways include checking for the normally distinctive feel of the paper. If it feels smooth, it is probably fake. The newer bills contain a security thread that is embedded in the paper and runs vertically on one side of the note. This thread contains tiny letters spelling out the value of the note. So, for a twenty dollar bill, you will see the words, in barely 1/10 of an inch in size, "USA Twenty." In addition, the $20 note will contain a watermark image, depicting former president Andrew Jackson on the lower right hand side. It can be seen when holding the note up to a light. The ink on U.S. currency does not run when exposed to water and the color of the "20" on the lower right corner of the note will shift from copper to green, depending on the angle viewed.
When getting cash from the bank or ATM do not assume that all of the bills have been screened - there may well be counterfeit bills, so take time to examine them. Do not delay in reporting any counterfeit bill finds immediately to the bank or other entity that transferred it to you. And be particularly careful when receiving a large amount of cash for such things as appliances, boats, cars, etc., as it is a matter of odds when it comes to the risk as a particular transaction involves higher numbers of bills.
If you wish more information on this subject, there are many resources on the web to help you get all the facts and protect yourself. Taking a few seconds to check the currency during purchasing or selling transactions may well save you a lot of hard-earned money.
Thanks, Bill. Good afternoon, everyone, and thanks for joining us today. After the market closed, we reported quarterly diluted earnings per share of $1.20, up 21% over the prior year, driven primarily by loan growth and share repurchases. During the quarter, we generated return on equity of 23% and returned approximately $440 million of capital to shareholders through repurchases and common dividends.
Our Direct Banking business again delivered strong results during the second quarter. Slide 4 of the earnings presentation shows Discover total loan growth at 6% over the prior year. This organic growth was driven by a 5% increase in card receivables and a combined 10% increase in private, student and personal loans.Card receivables growth continues to outpace our primary peers. This strong growth was driven by increased wallet share with existing customers and also new accounts.
Discover it, our new flagship card product drove strong new account growth in the quarter, even while relying less on promotional balance transfers. Discover it's position in the market continues to be highly differentiated with superior customer value and service and the early results of our advertising campaign are positive. This campaign, offshore merchant account, other card marketing initiatives, and our strength and rewards have not only helped us grow new accounts, but have also encouraged our large loyal customer base to spend and revolve with us.
Also in card, I want to announce that Discover has become the exclusive affinity card issuer for 5 universities, including the University of Nebraska. We are excited about the affinity channel for long-term new account and sales growth, as we leverage our cash rewards and customer service.
2013年7月22日星期一
President Aquino's SONA 2013
This is my fourth SONA; only two remain. Almost four years have passed since I was approached by various camps to urge me to run for the presidency. They said: “We know that our country’s problems cannot be solved in the blink of an eye, in one year, or even within the six-year term of a President. But just begin, and we will be one with you in nurturing change.”
Even then, I was aware of the significant problems that I would have to face. From being a candidate, to being President, or even after I step down from office, the difficulties I will have to face are no joke. Widespread transformation of society is my objective, and I am aware that there are many things and many people I would have to confront in order to achieve this. But I was not raised by my parents to back down in the face of challenges. I would not be able to live with myself if I had refused the chance to alleviate the suffering the Filipino should not have to endure.
We have answered the call, and those who have been with us from the start have only grown in number. I believe that if what I have been doing is right, then our allies will only grow. Just this May, I asked you, Boss, are we going in the right direction? Your reply: “Yes, and let us accelerate the transformation of society.” I asked for allies that would help steer the country in one direction, and you delivered. The truth is, not only the majority, not even nine of twelve, but nine of the offshore merchant account are individuals that I recommended to you. The message of the past election is clear: Yes, let us keep going, let us add to the 8,581 sitios that we have electrified; let us add to the 28,398 families who were once informal settlers but who finally have, or will soon have, decent homes; let us increase the not less than 40 billion pesos in additional funds that go to education, health, social services, and many others because of the right and more efficient collection of taxes; we feel all the other tangible signs that society is truly changing. I have become even more optimistic because of your message; it is clear that I am not alone in carrying these responsibilities. How can I not be encouraged, when even the likes of Mr. Ni?o Aguirre are helping shape our future? Just think: Though unable to walk, he climbed all the way to his fourth-floor precinct, just so that he could vote and contribute to true social transformation. Thank you, Mr. Aguirre.
There is no shortage of Filipinos who are ready to pitch in, and this is the source of the change we now experience. The strategy—maximize opportunities for all, especially for those most in need. We are not content to wait for the trickle-down effect; we cannot leave their fate—their receiving the benefits of progress—to chance. What we call inclusive growth—this all-encompassing progress—is the principle that drives every initiative, every action, and every decision of your government. The only ones who will be left behind are those who chose not to venture onwards with us, simply because they did not seize the opportunity.
The basis for this principle: Widespread opportunity is the key to comprehensive and sustained progress. Let us not forget that these opportunities are but seeds. We must water them with diligence, nourish them with determination, and cultivate them with dedication. Let us take a look at our TESDA-DOLE scholars. Of the 503,521 people who have graduated from their programs, an estimated six out of ten have found jobs. Before this, according to studies conducted by DBM, from 2006 to 2008, only 28.5 percent of TESDA graduates found jobs. Last year, under TESDA’s IT-BPO program, 70.9 percent of the graduates found employment. Under the electronics and semiconductor program, the percentage of employed graduates reached 85 percent. It is clear: You are the ones who will shape this growth, you are the ones who will determine whether the fruits of our labors become sweet and ripe for the picking, or if you will let them rot away and waste the chances that this new chapter in our history has given us.
Let us go through everything one by one. Our objective to expand the reach of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program: achieved. The over 700,000 household beneficiaries we found upon coming into office in 2010 have now grown to almost 4 million households in the three years of our administration.
There is more: According to research conducted by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies, compared with those who only finished the elementary level, the income of high school graduates is 40 percent higher. Is it not right that we maximize the help we give these families, so that our young beneficiaries can finish high school, thereby helping them make the most out of the benefits of this program? That is why next year, families with children up to 18 years old will be included in this program so that their children will be able to finish high school.
Let us move on to education. Our goal is to raise the quality of learning that our children undertake, so that once they finish their schooling, they can seize the opportunities now opening up in society: accomplished. We have finally erased the backlog we inherited in books and high risk merchant account , and if Secretary Armin Luistro continues to demonstrate true grit, even the backlog we inherited in classrooms will also be erased this year. And there is even more good news: Now, we also have the ability to prepare for the additional needs that the implementation of the K to 12 program will require.
The problems that plagued Brother Armin in the DepEd are no laughing matter. Just think: one textbook used to be priced at 58 pesos; since he assumed office, the price of the exact same textbook has gone down to 30 pesos. What would have happened if we had been paying the proper price from the beginning? If we had saved the difference of 28 pesos for all the books bought, at five textbooks for each of the estimated 20.7 million students in our public school system, the equivalent would amount to almost 2.9 billion pesos. These savings alone could have funded our plans to repair and rehabilitate around 9,502 classrooms.
If Brother Armin didn’t have strength of will, he could have just left this culture of negligence in his agency for his successor to deal with. He could have also left the backlog, as well as the growing gap of needs because of the rising number of enrollees each year. But instead of being content, instead of saying, “This will do. My job is done,” Brother Armin will build even more chairs and classrooms, and will buy even more books, to ensure that even the needs in future years will also be met.
The proof is in the data: This sector grew 3.3 percent in the first three months of 2013. This is triple the 1.1 percent growth it recorded in the same time period in 2012. That is why we continue to sow initiatives that will certainly bear the fruits of even greater progress for our farmers.
For example, the coconut sector. According to research conducted in 2009, coconut farmers make up one of the poorest sectors in the country. Let us look at the process of growing coconuts: Once planted, farmers wait seven years for the coconut tree to bear fruit; but after this, two generations will be able to benefit without doing anything else apart from harvesting the fruit. We have the potential to vastly increase the income of this sector if we can foster a culture that truly encourages hard work and productivity. The solution: intercropping.
That is why various government initiatives are in place to help free our fisherfolk from the broad net cast by poverty. An example would be our initiative for Bataraza in Palawan. The waters here brim with fish. But because the fish cannot be brought to the merchants on time, still fresh, the fishermen end up having to dry the fish and sell tuyo instead. It is such a waste, because every three kilos of lapu-lapu is only equivalent to one kilo of tuyo. What if the freshness of the fish could be preserved in a cold storage facility? You could go to the merchant and still sell your catch at full price. You would exert the same amount of effort, but you would receive the right compensation for it. That is why the cold storage facility in Bataraza has already been built. In addition, we are also constructing new piers in strategic areas to raise productivity and income. We are constructing and adding new roads, bridges, and other kinds of infrastructure, including various services, for our fisherfolk.
If there is one topic my name is often associated with, that would have to be Hacienda Luisita. I would like to inform you that back in February, in compliance with the decision of the Supreme Court, the Department of Agrarian Reform has completed the list of qualified beneficiaries for the land in Luisita. According to Secretary Gil de los Reyes, the process to determine the beneficiaries’ lots began last week, and the turnover of these lots will begin in September of this year.
Even then, I was aware of the significant problems that I would have to face. From being a candidate, to being President, or even after I step down from office, the difficulties I will have to face are no joke. Widespread transformation of society is my objective, and I am aware that there are many things and many people I would have to confront in order to achieve this. But I was not raised by my parents to back down in the face of challenges. I would not be able to live with myself if I had refused the chance to alleviate the suffering the Filipino should not have to endure.
We have answered the call, and those who have been with us from the start have only grown in number. I believe that if what I have been doing is right, then our allies will only grow. Just this May, I asked you, Boss, are we going in the right direction? Your reply: “Yes, and let us accelerate the transformation of society.” I asked for allies that would help steer the country in one direction, and you delivered. The truth is, not only the majority, not even nine of twelve, but nine of the offshore merchant account are individuals that I recommended to you. The message of the past election is clear: Yes, let us keep going, let us add to the 8,581 sitios that we have electrified; let us add to the 28,398 families who were once informal settlers but who finally have, or will soon have, decent homes; let us increase the not less than 40 billion pesos in additional funds that go to education, health, social services, and many others because of the right and more efficient collection of taxes; we feel all the other tangible signs that society is truly changing. I have become even more optimistic because of your message; it is clear that I am not alone in carrying these responsibilities. How can I not be encouraged, when even the likes of Mr. Ni?o Aguirre are helping shape our future? Just think: Though unable to walk, he climbed all the way to his fourth-floor precinct, just so that he could vote and contribute to true social transformation. Thank you, Mr. Aguirre.
There is no shortage of Filipinos who are ready to pitch in, and this is the source of the change we now experience. The strategy—maximize opportunities for all, especially for those most in need. We are not content to wait for the trickle-down effect; we cannot leave their fate—their receiving the benefits of progress—to chance. What we call inclusive growth—this all-encompassing progress—is the principle that drives every initiative, every action, and every decision of your government. The only ones who will be left behind are those who chose not to venture onwards with us, simply because they did not seize the opportunity.
The basis for this principle: Widespread opportunity is the key to comprehensive and sustained progress. Let us not forget that these opportunities are but seeds. We must water them with diligence, nourish them with determination, and cultivate them with dedication. Let us take a look at our TESDA-DOLE scholars. Of the 503,521 people who have graduated from their programs, an estimated six out of ten have found jobs. Before this, according to studies conducted by DBM, from 2006 to 2008, only 28.5 percent of TESDA graduates found jobs. Last year, under TESDA’s IT-BPO program, 70.9 percent of the graduates found employment. Under the electronics and semiconductor program, the percentage of employed graduates reached 85 percent. It is clear: You are the ones who will shape this growth, you are the ones who will determine whether the fruits of our labors become sweet and ripe for the picking, or if you will let them rot away and waste the chances that this new chapter in our history has given us.
Let us go through everything one by one. Our objective to expand the reach of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program: achieved. The over 700,000 household beneficiaries we found upon coming into office in 2010 have now grown to almost 4 million households in the three years of our administration.
There is more: According to research conducted by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies, compared with those who only finished the elementary level, the income of high school graduates is 40 percent higher. Is it not right that we maximize the help we give these families, so that our young beneficiaries can finish high school, thereby helping them make the most out of the benefits of this program? That is why next year, families with children up to 18 years old will be included in this program so that their children will be able to finish high school.
Let us move on to education. Our goal is to raise the quality of learning that our children undertake, so that once they finish their schooling, they can seize the opportunities now opening up in society: accomplished. We have finally erased the backlog we inherited in books and high risk merchant account , and if Secretary Armin Luistro continues to demonstrate true grit, even the backlog we inherited in classrooms will also be erased this year. And there is even more good news: Now, we also have the ability to prepare for the additional needs that the implementation of the K to 12 program will require.
The problems that plagued Brother Armin in the DepEd are no laughing matter. Just think: one textbook used to be priced at 58 pesos; since he assumed office, the price of the exact same textbook has gone down to 30 pesos. What would have happened if we had been paying the proper price from the beginning? If we had saved the difference of 28 pesos for all the books bought, at five textbooks for each of the estimated 20.7 million students in our public school system, the equivalent would amount to almost 2.9 billion pesos. These savings alone could have funded our plans to repair and rehabilitate around 9,502 classrooms.
If Brother Armin didn’t have strength of will, he could have just left this culture of negligence in his agency for his successor to deal with. He could have also left the backlog, as well as the growing gap of needs because of the rising number of enrollees each year. But instead of being content, instead of saying, “This will do. My job is done,” Brother Armin will build even more chairs and classrooms, and will buy even more books, to ensure that even the needs in future years will also be met.
The proof is in the data: This sector grew 3.3 percent in the first three months of 2013. This is triple the 1.1 percent growth it recorded in the same time period in 2012. That is why we continue to sow initiatives that will certainly bear the fruits of even greater progress for our farmers.
For example, the coconut sector. According to research conducted in 2009, coconut farmers make up one of the poorest sectors in the country. Let us look at the process of growing coconuts: Once planted, farmers wait seven years for the coconut tree to bear fruit; but after this, two generations will be able to benefit without doing anything else apart from harvesting the fruit. We have the potential to vastly increase the income of this sector if we can foster a culture that truly encourages hard work and productivity. The solution: intercropping.
That is why various government initiatives are in place to help free our fisherfolk from the broad net cast by poverty. An example would be our initiative for Bataraza in Palawan. The waters here brim with fish. But because the fish cannot be brought to the merchants on time, still fresh, the fishermen end up having to dry the fish and sell tuyo instead. It is such a waste, because every three kilos of lapu-lapu is only equivalent to one kilo of tuyo. What if the freshness of the fish could be preserved in a cold storage facility? You could go to the merchant and still sell your catch at full price. You would exert the same amount of effort, but you would receive the right compensation for it. That is why the cold storage facility in Bataraza has already been built. In addition, we are also constructing new piers in strategic areas to raise productivity and income. We are constructing and adding new roads, bridges, and other kinds of infrastructure, including various services, for our fisherfolk.
If there is one topic my name is often associated with, that would have to be Hacienda Luisita. I would like to inform you that back in February, in compliance with the decision of the Supreme Court, the Department of Agrarian Reform has completed the list of qualified beneficiaries for the land in Luisita. According to Secretary Gil de los Reyes, the process to determine the beneficiaries’ lots began last week, and the turnover of these lots will begin in September of this year.
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