| Erasing European Credit Card Debts
Statistics show that 35% of Europeans have some form of debt, most of them for a home loan. It is common knowledge amongst bankers that most people do not know how to handle their loan account well and end up paying thousands in unnecessary interest. Banks are making millions in profit because Europeans are unable to take proper care of their Loan Accounts.
Gordon Gecko is an American consultant who is now in Europe and he is advocating the use of Debt Consolidation. This is a totally new concept for Europe. Many people in Europe are paying a house loan, car loan, another loan for appliances and credit card payments. �This is ridiculous� says Gordon Gecko �By utilizing debt consolidation one may take out one loan to pay off many others. This has the added advantage of securing a lower interest rates, and a fixed interest rate whilst conveniently dealing with only one loan agency� he continued.
UPDATE 1-TECHSHOW-Asustek sees strong growth amid economy worry
The PC industry enjoyed stronger-than-expected growth of about 12 percent last year, but many worry that a wave of defaults on high risk, or "subprime," home loans will cause U.S. consumers to spend less on televisions, computers and other electronics. Shih said broad economic problems and component shortages might crimp PC growth this year, though they could be offset by positive factors such as more enthusiastic adoption of Microsoft Corp's (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) Windows Vista operating system. "But we emphasize more relative competitive advantage, so in the past we've still grown very aggressively," Shih said. "We still plan on a very aggressive growth goal" for the year. Shih spoke at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the world's premier event for hardware makers to show off their latest wares.
Could Harvard expansion restore Allston's watery ways?
In the late 19th century, the banks of the Charles River near the Harvard campus were covered with marshes, cut through with small streams that advanced and retreated with the tides. Then engineers took over. The tidal marshes were filled, land was reclaimed, and many of the streams were buried underground in pipes. Now, as Harvard begins its expansion on the Allston side of the Charles, there is a push to return the area to a more natural state - part of an emerging national movement that touts the environmental benefits of landscape restoration. "We have this urban landscape with all this infrastructure that has basically trashed the river," said Kate Bowditch, director of projects for the nonprofit Charles River Watershed Association, which advocates for the protection of the watershed.
Bad news piles up for British economy
The bad news on the British economy piled up further Monday as one report found that activity in the services industry fell at the end of 2007 and another survey revealed that companies are at their most pessimistic in five years. Retail stocks were also hit amid fears that grocer J Sainsbury PLC and department store Marks & Spencer PLC may report weak Christmas trading figures later this week. Sainsbury shares dropped 3.6 percent to 391 pence ($7.71) before its earnings report Thursday, while Marks & Spencer stock fell 3.8 percent to 498.5 ($9.83) before its update Wednesday. Holiday retail figures have so far been mixed. While electronics group DSG International PLC issued a profit warning last week after poor seasonal trading, department stores House of Fraser and John Lewis both reported strong sales.
Harvard Alumni Fault Campus Apathy
Where have all the protesters gone? A group of 1967 Harvard alumni lamented for the days of antiwar marches on Harvard Yard this week in an e-mailed petition to Drew Faust, university president. The 13 alumni, led by a Belgium-based businessman, Gilbert Doctorow, asked Faust to create a task force to figure out the causes behind the "widespread apathy and political indifference of the student body at Harvard College." The group wrote that it was shocked at the lack of campus protests against the Iraqi war. Harvard is either not recruiting enough politically active students or is doing too little to promote "civic courage and political engagement," the group contended. "The idea was to open a dialogue to pose some questions," Doctorow said. Harvard officials said they see their school as no different than most colleges across the country: Big antiwar marches on campuses are rare, and today's students are active but use different methods than Vietnam War-era protesters.
The poor are targets again
Few voices are raised today to protest the federal government's shift from grants to loans as a way of allowing poor students to fund their college education. And families earning six-figure incomes are not pleading the cause of poor students. Instead, they are arguing that they are entitled to just as much financial aid as the poor. There is no doubt that, economically, middle-class families are being squeezed. But let's be clear: They are in much better shape than the poor. During this political season, for example, they have more presidential candidates pandering to their interests than to those of the needy. This whole debate about the supposed lack of values among the poor is, in truth, a referendum on the values of the non-poor. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 35.5 million Americans, or about 1 in 8, live in poverty.
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