Seven To Ten

The economy is bad and if there are opportunities to make extra money, I am always game to give it a try. Right now, there is a very big idea getting around the vine. Turn energy into income by joining the Ignite opportunity.

Energy deregulation has provided consumers with greater choices in their energy providers. Now, they can decide on greater savings, better customer service, and the use of renewable energy. Some entrepreneurs have taken advantage of this situation to benefit customers by creating a unique company, Ignite.

Ignite customers are provided electricity and gas by a parent company, Stream Energy, who delivers more than just low rates. There is a community of Ignite Independent Associates who serve as personal energy points of contact.

If you want to join as an Ignite Independent Associate, you will get a easy-to-understand and heavily incentivised compensation plan. There are many attractive features for the discerning entrepreneur and the first-time business owner.

Isn’t it great that you can earn income while helping your customers save money on their energy bills? Leadership bonuses are awarded when you helping other Associates follow your example – namely, assisting their customers by providing lower energy rates.

The Ignite Compensation Plan is devised in such a way that amateur network marketer has as good a chance as the pros. Last year, the average annual income for all qualified Associates was $615.68. Of course, the higher your rank, the more income you receive.

Whether you are an energy customer looking for better rates and service, or an aspiring entrepreneur looking to create a better way of life, you can depend on Ignite to help you electrify your possibilities.

Responsibility and honesty are core values at Ignite so don’t worry about unprofessional or non-ethical conduct. When you choose Ignite as your financial vehicle, you can be sure that you are teaming up with an organization rooted in a firm foundation of entrepreneurship and integrity.

If you want to join Ignite, visit the site to find out more about getting paid on your energy bill today.

I read with interest this post on Jeflin’s Investment Blog.

Adverse climate changes can potentially derail our economy and stock market as it affects agricultural output, transportation and power supply.

It is a sobering article. Do your part to save the earth today. Without Mother Earth, all our wealth will come to nought in the end.

Even as companies trim their payrolls, they are also watching future expansion by stocking up on summer interns.

Employers, in a sign that they are looking beyond the current economic slowdown, are using intern programs to help build their junior ranks. Certainly interns can provide cheap and eager labor. Moreover, they bring fresh ideas and allow companies to build their talent pools.

Firms are hiring a larger number of their entry-level workers from their intern pool, so they are looking to lure top college students well before graduation. Employers plan this year to increase their internship rosters by 3.7% over 2007.

College administrators report similar findings, saying that most students seeking these posts have been able to secure them, albeit not always in the desired company but at least in the appropriate industry.

The bullish market for interns is good news for those in college, who find that internships are increasingly required for landing that first job. The summer posts allow students to bolster their resumes, learn more about their field of choice and meet executives who could hire them for full-time positions one day. And they often pay a good wage: on average, $16.33 an hour, or $7,850 over 12 weeks.

To be sure, some businesses are cutting back on these training programs. A number of Wall Street firms and banks, which are reeling from the credit crunch, aren’t offering as many opportunities. Some newspapers have eliminated their programs. Likewise, smaller firms struggling with the weak economy and the slowdown in consumer spending say they don’t have the time to find duties for students and to supervise them.

But unlike past economic downturns, when companies slashed both their intern and entry-level employee ranks and found themselves struggling to fill positions when business rebounded, most firms now look at these workers as future full-timers.

Many firms pride themselves on cultivating their interns. Walgreens, the largest employer of interns, likes to point out that its president, Gregory Wasson, started as an intern in 1980. This year, the company plans to hire at least 7,300 pharmacy, corporate and business management interns.

Of course, a key reason interns tend to perform better once they are hired is because companies have three months to evaluate them and pick the best ones for full-time positions. How students do during internships tells recruiters more than interviews or resumes ever could.

Universities are also recognizing the increased importance of internships and are working harder to secure spots for their students, said Richard Bottner, founder of Intern Bridge, a college recruiting research and consulting firm. Some colleges are even requiring students to do at least one internship to graduate.

At Washington University in St. Louis, for instance, career center administrators are more aggressively marketing the school to employers these days. Even with the shaky economy, the university saw an uptick in the number of companies coming to campus for career fairs and information sessions.

The price of milk and gasoline is so high now, filling up the grocery carts and SUV is really frustrating. Most people just wince, pay, and get along as best they can. But has it anything to do with ethanol?

This corn-into-fuel program has been around for years but gained vast new impetus from President Bush’s program to cure America’s “addiction to oil” by using biofuels. We’ll grow our way to self-sufficiency. Not only are oil prices at all-time highs but diverting agricultural land to energy production is a major factor in the rise of worldwide food prices. We’ve had food riots in Mexico and Egypt.

Had the Bush administration and Congress exhibited the wisdom and courage to slap a big honking gasoline tax on drivers after 9/11 - or even in 2006, when the President made his “addiction to oil” speech - it would have been a better energy policy than the corns.

We could have reduced consumption, cut oil imports, supported low-income drivers with income tax breaks, and used the rest of the proceeds for deficit reduction or something else useful. Food would be cheaper. So would fuel, because demand would be lower and we’d probably have fewer financial speculators.

So in avoiding a gas tax, higher prices persist and hundreds of billions of dollars are transferred to oil-producing countries. America need to demonstrate that it is willing to do painful things in the present to ensure future prosperity.

Turning biological waste like wood chips into fuel makes a lot of sense. But devoting vast acreage of America’s breadbasket to fuel - about a third of the U.S. corn crop is dedicated to ethanol - is a really terrible idea, as we’re now seeing.

Oil hit another record high but has since pulled back. The dollar showed some strength and corporate earnings were pretty good.

Boeing blew away earnings estimates. Ford posted a surprise profit. And even though investors were disappointed by Microsoft’s quarterly forecast, they issued a healthy outlook for its next fiscal year. The worst of the credit crunch may finally be behind us.

No more major bombshells from financial institutions, a sign that the Fed’s six rate cuts since last September and massive injections of liquidity into the banking system may be working.

In fact, Merrill Lynch indicated yesterday that it would pay its dividend this quarter, relieving investors who were anticipating a cut. There seems to be cause for optimism about the markets. The Dow is active again and the bond market is not acting as if it is in recession anymore.

Bonds have fallen in recent weeks, raising the yields. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions and lower yields are usually associated as a sign of economic weakness. And for consumers, even though it’s still a painful time because of rising food and gas prices, the first of the government’s tax rebate has hit mailboxes.

Of course, it still is a rough economic environment. The surging price of food threatens to disrupt U.S. consumer spending patterns and the global economy. That’s where the Federal Reserve will hopefully step in. Many fear that more rate cuts could lead to a further weakening of the dollar, which in turn, could fuel more speculation in the commodities markets and drive food and gas prices even higher.

So higher interest rates, not more cuts, might be exactly what this market and economy needs. Hopefully, the Fed will send a strong signal to investors Wednesday that it is getting ready to sit tight.

Stocks futures rose as investors eyed a possible $22 billion deal for chewing gum giant Wrigley, an investor’s $170 million bid for more shares of Ford, and turned their focus to this week’s Federal Reserve meeting.

Investors are expecting the Fed to lower rates yet again at the end of its two-day meeting on Wednesday. Many economists expect the central bank will hold rates steady after that cut in a bid to keep inflation in check.

A slew of high-profile economic reports will come out this week - Tuesday (consumer confidence report), Thursday (Inflation issues for personal and income spending report) and Friday (government’s monthly jobs report).

Oil prices hit another record trading high near $120 a barrel after a refinery strike in the U.K. Shares of automaker Ford soared in pre-market trading after billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian’s Tracinda Corp. said it would make a bid for 20 million shares valued at $170 million. The $8.50 a share offer represents a 13.3% premium to Friday’s close. Kerkorian, who already owns 4.7% of Ford, is looking to control more than 5% of the company.

Verizon posted first-quarter earnings results that met Wall Street’s expectations. Sales were up 5.5%, but shares were flat in pre-market trading.

In major deal news, Mars and Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway are near a deal to buy chewing gum giant Wm. Wrigley Jr. for more than $22 billion. Microsoft’s deadline for Yahoo to respond to its takeover passed on Saturday, which means the three-month battle for Yahoo may soon turn hostile.

Also over the weekend, Continental Airlines said it would not pursue a merger with another carrier. Media conglomerate Walt Disney could be hurt by a controversial photo of 15-year old singing and acting superstar Miley Cyrus which appears in an upcoming June issue of Vanity Fair.

The photo which shows her posing topless, although with her chest covered by a bedsheet, was seen as too racy for the wholesome “Hannah Montana” franchise, which produced $1 billion in sales for Disney last year. Disney shares were up nearly 1% in early trading in Frankfurt despite the news of the photo over the weekend.

In global trade, Asian markets headed mostly higher. European shares also rose in early trading.

Under the government’s economic stimulus plan, 130 million people will receive tax rebate checks for $300 and up, starting April 28.

What do you plan to do with your check?

How do you think the stimulus plan will affect the economy?

Motorola continues to struggle as they posted a first-quarter continuing operations loss of $194 million, or 9 cents a share, compared with a year-ago loss of $218 million. Excluding costs tied to recent job cuts, Motorola lost 5 cents a share, 2 cents better than the Wall Street analyst estimate.

But if the company’s bottom-line performance was slightly better than expected, the rest of its report wasn’t terribly upbeat. Motorola posted sales of $7.45 billion, down 21% from a year ago. Sales in the hard-hit handset unit slumped 39% from a year ago, as Motorola sold 27 million handsets for the quarter.

The drastic decline at that operation prompted Motorola to agree earlier this year to split off its handset and broadband businesses in a new company, as well as to give some board seats to dissident investor Carl Icahn, who has been criticizing Motorola for more than a year and who has called repeatedly for a splitup.

Motorola is also bleeding cash, posting an operating cash outflow of $343 million in the first quarter. The company said it expects to lose 2 to 4 cents a share for the second quarter, excluding costs related to job cuts.

Analysts were looking for a penny-a-share loss. Shares of Motorola, which have lost more than half their value over the past year during the handset unit’s implosion, dropped 35 cents in early trading Thursday to $9.20.

Ford Motor Co. surprised Wall Street with a $100 million profit in the first quarter as strong results from Europe and South America helped offset the impact of a slumping U.S. economy that cut car and truck sales in its main market.

The company also said Thursday its latest round of early retirement and buyout offers netted 4,200 hourly workers, fewer than Ford had targeted.

Ford says it earned 5 cents per share compared to a loss of 15 cents a share in the same period last year.
Excluding special items, the company said it made $525 million after taxes, or 20 cents per share. That beat Wall Street’s expectations. The profit came despite a $45 million pretax loss in Ford’s core North American automotive market.

It was Ford’s first profitable quarter since the second quarter of 2007 when it made $750 million. Ford reported a full-year loss of $2.7 billion last year, and it cautioned that the rest of this year will be tough. Ford also lowered its industrywide U.S. vehicle sales forecast for the full year.

The number of newly laid off workers filing unemployment benefits claims increased, according to the Labor Department. Aside from the period in the fall of 2005 after Hurricane Katrina hit, the four-week average for claims has risen to levels last seen in 2003 when the country was mired in a long jobless recovery after the 2001 recession.

Analysts said that claims have been difficult to read because of the government is trying to adjust the figures for seasonal changes to reflect this year’s unusually early Easter and also because of the impact of a strike at a key parts supplier for General Motors.

The unemployment rate jumped to 5.1% in March as businesses cut 80,000 jobs, the biggest drop in payrolls in five years. Many economists believe that was the most dramatic indication to date that the country has fallen into a recession.

Economists believe that the downturn should be short and mild, ending this summer with the help of the economic stimulus package that will send rebate checks to 130 million households. Still, they are looking for the unemployment rate to rise to 6% before stronger economic growth starts generating renewed hiring.

For the week of April 5, 31 states and territories reported increases in claims while 22 states had declines. The state with the biggest increase was Georgia, where claims rose by 4,306, reflecting higher layoffs in textile plants, carpet and rug factories and in service industries. Michigan was next in line, reflecting higher layoffs in the auto industry, followed by Texas with an increase of 2,377.

The states with the biggest declines in claims applications were New Jersey, down 2,737; New York, down 2,465; and Wisconsin, down 2,075