Turbo Timmy’s Sneaky Scam (Part Two)

Justice Litle, Editorial Director, Taipan Publishing Group

In part two of “Turbo Timmy’s Sneaky Scam,” Justice looks at the ways and means by which a giant Treasury-orchestrated con job might succeed.

In part one of this series on Friday, we talked about why the Geithner “rescue plan” can’t work as advertised… and why any honest attempt to implement this thing is doomed to fail (as a number of credentialed economists are predicting will happen).

But we closed part one with the following caveat (more or less): While no honest version of this turkey will fly, a flat-out con job might actually succeed.

There are lots of ways to skin a cat… or a U.S. taxpayer, as it were. To explain what I mean, we’ll turn to analogy one more time…

A Classic Con

As the great housing bubble turned to bust, ugly stories arose of slick con men (and women) ripping off community bankers, wide-eyed innocents, and pretty much anyone else they could steal from, with targeted real estate scams.

These scams typically revolved around phony or fraudulent transactions – deliberately inflating the value of a property, then initiating a bogus exchange between buyer and seller with later intent to defraud.

There were many different variations on the scam, but the endgame was always the same. The original buyer, the original seller, and or sometimes even both with the appraiser thrown in for good measure, were revealed to be on the take. The charlatans would keep a low profile, get paid as discreetly as possible, and try to be long gone by the time the truth came to light.

How does this apply to the Geithner rescue plan?

Well, remember the crux of the problem: The “public-private” partnership is a nonstarter because honest investors have no natural compunction to throw good money after bad. They won’t make the high bids necessary to keep the banks solvent. (What we have here, by the way, is not a liquidity problem but a solvency problem – something that Turbo Timmy, Sheila Bair at the FDIC, and Team Obama on the whole refuse to admit.)

So honest private investors would tell Turbo Timmy to forget it. But dishonest investors… well now, that’s another story.

Dishonest investors just might be willing to buy up the banks’ bad assets at inflated prices, knowingly setting themselves up for a loss… with further knowledge that the real payoff will come later.

Remember Franky Flipper from Friday? Once again, Franky, your pal, is in trouble, and you are a government official.

Did I mention you are a very powerful government official? So you call up your friend Harry Hedgie – a big-shot private investor – and this is what you say:

“Say, Harry old buddy! How’s things? Listen Harry, have I got a deal for you. You’re gonna love this, I  promise… Our mutual friend Franky – you know Franky – is in a real bind. So here’s what I need you to do. I need you to buy a couple spec houses off him, and I need you to mark up your bid good and high… pay him a very nice price. I know it’s a fire-sale market, but a fire-sale bid won’t do. Franky is good people and we just can’t let him go under. He’s a bit too connected himself if you know what I mean. What kind of bid price are we talking, you ask? Well let’s see. He got in to these dogs around 0K apiece… so I need you to bid, say, 0-0K  minimum, maybe even a touch more.

“Whoa, whoa! Don’t yell into the phone Harry, I’m right here. Believe me, I know. I know the properties are crap. I know they might not even be worth half what I’m asking you to bid. And I know you wouldn’t flush money down the toilet on purpose. That’s why you’re Harry Hedgie, the big-shot investor that you are. But give me a little credit too, huh? Would I even be calling you without a way to make it worth your while?

“So here’s the deal… all we need to do is give Franky the appearance of solvency. Once he’s looking good again, we’ll have time and room to shuffle money around to the serious benefit of a few connected folks – including you, Harry ol’ pal. If you take a small guaranteed loss on this set-up, I’ll make it well worth your while. You’ll only have to put up a tiny fraction of the total price – we’re talking less than ,000 per house. That little slice is the most you’ll be at risk for. All the other leverage, roughly 85% of the losses, are for Uncle Sam and John Q. Taxpayer to worry about.

“You’ll probably wind up losing your upfront collateral. That’s how it goes with making an inflated bid… eventually the true value of the asset comes out in the wash. But Harry old buddy, if you do this, if you take this short-term hit, then  I swear I’ll make it worth your while.

“If you hold your nose and make this bid for me, Harry my friend, in my capacity as a government official I will make sure you get a sweet return on your investment in some other, shall we say, ‘alternative’ way. I’m a pretty powerful guy… getting more powerful by the day too… so  you know there are all kinds of things I can do for you. Think of all the different ways we could put that money back in your pocket. Heck, we can dream up some payback plans before you even give me a verbal. What do you say?”

The Cloak of Complexity

Once the fix is in, with both sides clued in to the sham and the government enabling it, the rest is just detail work.

After all, Congress and the public are all too easy to hoodwink. Just keep ‘em distracted with a bunch of populist guff about bonuses… throw a high profile scapegoat or two (like the head of AIG) to the media wolves… then get on to the real business of grand larceny and financial highway robbery under the cover of boring acronyms and complicated spreadsheet manipulations.

Just think of all the angles crafty mortgage cons came up with to milk the housing boom. Then think about the fact that those guys were small time, without the benefit of Ivy League business school training or decades of immersion in the esoterica of high finance.

In other words: When you get Wall Street’s best and brightest motivated to put money in their pockets under cover of darkness, the prestidigitation that follows could put David Copperfield to shame.

My general expectation, if things go according to Turbo Timmy’s liking, is that the rescue plan will be billed as more or less a success. There will be strange numbers, strange accounting, and dubious happenings popping up here and there, but by and large it won’t be enough to cause a media problem. A few sharp-eyed observers might squawk… but overall the public’s eyes will glaze over.

And then, if Nouriel Roubini’s present assessment is correct – that the banks are still stuffed with rotten apple assets – most of those rotten apples will be transferred directly into the taxpayer’s lap.

The thrust of the Geithner plan is to give the private participants 14X leverage (roughly 7 cents out of every dollar). The government provides the leverage and takes liability (on behalf of the taxpayer) for the rest. That means for every dollar that vaporizes, you and I as taxpayers will pay almost 93 cents.

If we see a further blowup later this year or next year, as Roubini expects, the total bill could come to trillions of additional dollars. Under more honest circumstances, this would count as more (lots more) additional bailout money the Fed and Treasury would have to request from Congress.

But thanks to the bait-and-switch rescue plan – scam that it is, with the private investors functioning as paid shills – Turbo Timmy has set things up so that the American people have no more say in the matter. The banks will be saved in very slick fashion… including the current crop of shareholders, bondholders and executives… while you and I pay through the nose on a scale that makes the AIG bonuses look like a fight over a stick of bubblegum.

A Pretty Good Scam

So that’s my take on the Geithner rescue plan. I didn’t bother with the specific details because you can read about those in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today and what have you.

Understanding the scam-like nature of this thing might also account for the different notes being struck in the media… take guys like Paul Krugman and James K. Galbraith for example. These two are as left-wing liberal as they come.

I’m not insulting Krugman or Galbraith in saying that – it’s simply an open orientation and a point of pride for them. Krugman’s blog is even called “the conscience of a liberal.” Being proud left-wingers, they are natural Team Obama fans. If anyone were in the “hope and change” camp, it would be them.

And yet, these guys (Krugman and Galbraith) loathe and despise the Geithner plan because they see it for what it is… an utter betrayal of the shining left-wing idealism Barack Obama’s whole candidacy represented to committed idealists like them.

Krugman and Galbraith know that the only two fair moral assessments of the Geithner plan are “bad” and “worse:” Either the thing just flat out fails to work, or if it does work, it works by selling out all the principles that a good left-wing idealist stand for.

And then you have cynical, gleeful hand-rubbers like Bill Gross, a.k.a. “the Bond King.” Gross heads up

You Have to Kid Around With Your Romance in Order to Have a Successful Making Up Relationship With Your Ex Love Partner

You have to kid around with your romance in order to have a successful making up relationship with your ex love partner

Youthful and playful activities can add spark to your relationship. Being playful in adult relationships is a good thing. It’s perfect for a first date and can even help light a fire under long-term couples whose affections have cooled. Life happens in a blink! Take advantage of it. Your childhood is calling! Love is eaten away by routine! Be playful. Being playful isn’t something logical. It’s being the little kid in a big body, having fun, being happy and enjoying each other without concern about whether what you’re doing is proper.

It’s doing things with a sparkle in our eyes and with a laughing face. It’s being a free-soul, with a sense of humour and in action with one another. It’s having an “I can hardly wait” attitude and taking a break from the fixed framework of your everyday life; it’s celebrating distraction. It’s having the self-confidence to be or do something without the concern of what others might think. It’s being okay with looking dumb, acting silly or stupid in a childlike way.

Bankrupt in the playful department? Spend an afternoon watching children play. It’s childlike frolicking and drawing gleefully outside the lines. It’s being spontaneous with a childlike curiosity. Being playful is to be more candid, intimate, and outrageous. Being playful is being full of high-spirited fun: frisky, frolicsome, impish, and mischievous. It’s letting your playful spirit come out and play.

If they’re not okay with you being who you are, that might be a clue as to whether you have a second date. Is that a great time saver or what?

You can also schedule a “PlayDate!” where you only play and focus on fun; no conversation about issues. Being playful is a great icebreaker, especially if sharing childhood memories – or favourite foods, worst nightmares, most embarrassing moments – is involved. Such honest revelations sometimes help determine if this is someone with whom you’d enjoy spending more time or you can learn more about the partner you’re with. Select a special day each week to compliment your mate. Be sure the compliment is personal and handmade; send an e-mail, a card or love poster, or a handwritten sweet note.

Take crayons to a family-friendly restaurant and draw pictures or write notes to each other on the placemats. Go to a Kids Cartoon Movie together.

Go out for ice cream, a movie, a concert or just take a walk. Attend church together. Play Frisbee in a park. Visit a local high school football game on the spur of the moment. Make it a weekly activity for you and your love partner to share throughout the year.

Slide down the hill on a large, flattened cardboard box or, in the summer, on a large block of ice. Go bicycling together. Have a food fight. Jump rope. Read a Dr. Seuss book together. Get down on the floor and spend an evening together playing children’s games or playing with children’s toys. Have some fresh-air fun. Get outside for a change. Wade in a stream. If you are brave, climb a tree. Notice the shape of the clouds. Pitch a tent (rent one for the night) and relax in each other’s arms listening to a symphony of crickets or other sounds of nature.

Skip flat rocks across a pond. Mix up some soapy water and blow bubbles. Buy some bubblegum. Have a bubble blowing contest.

Blow bubbles during a slight breeze before sundown. Blow them big and let each one carry a secret wish. Go out and buy a music CD together. When you return home, turn on the music, sit on the back porch and enjoy hot cider or a cold crink and each other’s company. Plan a picnic on a playground for children and play on the swings. Enjoy the feeling of flying through the breeze. Play on the slide or in the sand box. Blindfold your date, drive him to an ice cream parlour and make him guess the flavour of as many samples as they’ll let you try.

Power walk through the park, then stop for some social lubricant, relax and catch your breath. Go to the library. Each quietly read a children’s book, then go sit under a tree and take turns telling each other the story you read. Buy a couple of disposable cameras and snap a few pictures of you and your partner “just being a kid again.” Drop them off at a one-hour photo shop, and then check out your adventure over some yummy desert. Go jump in the lake (or pool)! Take a splashy, childlike swim. Remember to take your rubber ducky!

Visit a candy store. Suck on a lollipop. Sit under a tree and watch the squirrels. Recall a childhood memory or activity and engage your partner in reliving it. Whistle a happy tune. Create some lively conversation. Take a hike! Leave your destination to chance. Carry a penny with you and when you come to a corner, flip the coin to see whether to go left (heads) or right (tails). Make a “spur-of-the-moment” bouquet of freshly picked wild flowers or weeds with flowers and spontaneously present them to your partner.

The best things in life are free. Flinging dollars on a date is not what fun-focused dating is about. Sunsets, picnics in the park, walks on the beach, celebrating Love together and are all priced right! The same is true about special occasions and gifts. Design some of your own memorable moments. You don’t have to be a “big spender” to have fun. Make your date the luck-of-the-draw. Have each partner take some crayons and draw several possible dates, put them in a hat and pick one. Date your mate! Plan it in advance. Preparation is the key to successful dating. Focus on having fun. Committed love partners know it is wise to plan their time together. Go on a date. Let’s talk about it. Don’t wait until the last moment.

Slow down the pace a little. Moving 70 mph through a date is not a good idea. Give yourself time to focus on fun. Take turns planning these events. Lovers show their consideration for each other this way. To do otherwise is to take your togetherness for granted. It’s never too late to begin a new, playful tradition. Being playful is a good thing!

Indeed, life is short. Don’t let another day go by without taking a chance on happiness. You will never know until you try, so remember to make a move today. It can change or affect the rest of your life, therefore, at the very least, you can try to come out something for your ex love partner during your weekend plans. With a little practice, perseverance and patience, I believe that your relationship could be enhanced with the tips that I have shared earlier. If you have faced any problems with your loved ones, do not hesitate to visit this piece of article again.

I really have a strong belief that if you can understand what I have explained and applied what you have learnt from this piece of article, your problems can be eventually solved and your making up relationship can become more stable and stronger. I wish all the best for your making up relationship with your partner. Do always remember to spread word of mouth to your fellow friends for supporting the decision of having making up than breaking up.

Any tips on getting my girlfriend back? Maybe your situation is not covered in this article?

Watch a video that shows you exactly what you must NEVER do, what you should do to get your ex back and why at http://hubpages.com/hub/howshouldiwoomyexback

You will also learn how to reverse the situation if you have already done those things that should NEVER be done.

Get A Closer Look At Your Favorites With Satellite Broadband

You can’t help but be curious about a few of your favorite things.  Your passions and interests are what separate you from other people.  Many have found that the internet is a terrific source of information and extra material on the things they love the most.  Are you getting that access with a dialup connection?  Satellite broadband subscribers are reporting their happiness after switching over to this high speed service.  Here are some examples of how you can get a better picture of your favorites with satellite internet.

The entertainment world: Is there any shortage of fascination with celebrities and movie stars?  If there is, it’s hard to discern such a trend these days.  The internet is the place for fans to find out all they want about those movie stars enchanting them on screen.  On what day does his or her birthday fall?  What are the other movies they have coming out soon?  Caution: if you are working on dialup, you might not be able to see the movie trailers.  Satellite broadband can get you a look at these pictures, if you’re interested.

Statistics, statistics, statistics: Sports fans can sound like computers sometimes, spouting out statistics as if they had spent all night studying the backs of bubblegum cards.  Baseball fans may be the guiltiest of the bunch, as the sport is devoted to such bewildering figures – 3,000 hits, 4,000 strikeouts, 1,600 RBI – they really have no choice.  Even the greatest player in the game for three years’ time can become a nobody if his career is cut short by injury.  Everyone is always weighing career stats.  Team and network websites have a lot of information available.  Unfortunately for dialup users, they also have a lot of video material included, making connections all but impossible.

The out-of-market fan: Some people think satellite television solved all of the problems encountered by the out-of-market sports fan.  However, what happens when there is no TV around and/or you are not on your home turf?  Satellite broadband may represent the final option in terms of watching or listening to your favorite team play the big game.  You can’t count on anyone in the vicinity broadcasting the game and you can’t watch it wherever you are, so what now?  Miss out entirely?  By connecting to the team or league website with sufficient bandwidth, you can stream games live or access radio broadcasts.

The handyman on the prowl: For the home renovator, the DIY-er, the handyman on the lookout for the next big project, there are so many resources online you will find yourself trying to choose between jobs.  As we all know, there is no greater example than seeing someone manage a project before your eyes.  You’ll be able to download how-to videos with ease when you are working with satellite broadband.  Before you start hacking away at your next opus, see what might be in store around the bend.

GTAIV: The Ballad of Gay Tony Princess Robot Bubblegum Trailer [HD] Developer: Rockstar North Release: 10/29/2009 Genre: Action/3rd Person Platform: X360 Publisher: Rockstar Games Website: www.rockstargames.com/theballadofgaytony The Ballad of Gay Tony is the second DLC for GTA 4, you play as Luis Lopez, an assistant to nightclub manager Tony Prince.
Video Rating: 5 / 5

Xbox Evolved www.xe360.com Follow us on Twitter www.twitter.com Along with a new story, characters, weapons, vehicles, and music, The Ballad of Gay Tony adds a ton of original content for the couch potatoes of Liberty City. Check out the video for a sneak peek at Princess Robot Bubblegum, the hit anime show taking Liberty City by storm. Also, dont forget to check out brand-new episodes of other classic shows including Republican Space Rangers, The Mens Room, and Im Rich.

The Ballad of Gay Tony – Princess Robot Bubblegum Trailer. www.konsolowisko.pl
Video Rating: 0 / 5

Alternative payment methods

While I was getting ready for bed last night, I gazed at my rolled-up tube of toothpaste sitting on the bathroom counter, and as my eyes rolled over the brand – Aquafresh Extreme CleanTM – I thought about how consumer- buying behaviour toward toothpaste has changed in the past three decades. Remember when toothpaste was simply there to clean your teeth and prevent cavities? Today, however, toothpaste has morphed into that whole mouth-clean trend. It whitens, brightens, freshens breath, fights plaque, fights cavities, controls tartar build-up, tastes like mint or cinnamon or bubblegum.

Changing business models

The toothpaste industry has matured to satisfy the consumer. So, if a toothpaste manufacturer sticks to offering fluoride-only paste with none of the other bells and whistles, chances are that toothpaste will no longer be in demand. Today, consumers are expecting more from their toothpaste.

Gaming operators are starting to move in the same direction. Many operators are looking to offer the whole gaming product mix as opposed to one game in order to stay competitive, which partly explains why we continue to see consolidation in the online gaming sector – it allows for operators to broaden their product offerings. They may have one core product, but the movers and shakers are offering sideline activities so as not to lose their already acquired customers (that want to play a different game) to other operators.

Likewise, payment gateways, which in their simplest form used to be the switch between the merchants and the banks for credit card processing, are now offering other forms of online payment to satisfy their customers. Those that differentiate themselves will gain market share and continue to lead the online payment space, while those that stick to credit card processing only will surely fall behind.

Apart from secure and reliable credit card processing, the leaders are providing other forms of payment through their platform such as debit card processing, PayPal, virtual cash in the form of Ukash and/or Paysafecard, inbound bank transfers and payout solutions such as cheque and bank transfer issuing services and prepaid cards.

The top payment solution providers also facilitate the set up of your merchant account(s) with the bank(s) and provide premium fraud-management tools and data with which to protect your business from fraud.

Embracing alternative online payment methods

We have seen robust growth in alternative online payment solutions for all online merchants in the past decade, and the alternative payment market continues to grow its share of the acquiring business. Interestingly, just a decade ago, analysts and merchants did not hold up much hope for the alternative payment industry. Yankee Group analyst Christine Loebar told the Ecommerce Times in 2001 that alternative payment methods in the US, for example, were “not gathering steam”. She said it was a typical catch-22 in that consumers were reluctant to adopt a new web payment method if not widely accepted online, and merchants were reluctant to set up alternative systems until consumers were comfortable using them. I should note here that emerging markets were ahead of the industrialised world in terms of alternative payment method acceptance because credit card penetration is traditionally low in these markets, especially within South America and China. However, these markets were also slower to adopt online sales in general.

Today, merchants are embracing all sorts of alternative payment methods in an effort to acquire and retain their customers. It is more a question of which alternative payment methods to implement as opposed to whether or not to use them at all.

Consumers and merchants are driving the alternative payment option market as they search for new ways to pay and get paid. For both, alternative payment offers convenience, flexibility and security. Merchants are finding that offering alternative payment options can lower their overall transaction costs, increase conversions and create new revenue streams, while reducing charge-backs and fraudulent activity.

Consumers want the merchant to accept the payment method they want to use. We know that different demographic groups tend to gravitate toward different payment options. And while alternative payment methods certainly appeal to the under-banked and un-banked for obvious reasons, all types of consumers including those that hold credit cards, are adopting convenient alternative payment methods.

The economic downturn has also contributed to alternative payments use as credit cardholders are more conscious of their credit-based spending.

As expected, online gaming operators and their players are even more driven to alternative payment platforms. The reasons are varied from the basic motive of anonymity, player profiles, and of course, the 7995-coded transaction and decline issues. Nevertheless, credit cards will continue to be crucial to an online payment strategy, and, even though “improving economy will lead some consumers back to credit card products, which may slow the growth of alternative payments”, according to Javelin Strategy & Research, alternative payments are also here to stay.

Working with the right payment provider

By partnering with an international, internet payment solutions provider that understands and provides credit card processing and alternative payment options, operators can continue to focus on their game, while leveraging key benefits such as access to new global markets and payment types via one source.

As an example, if merchants want to capture the Chinese market, they must support China UnionPay (debit) since it is the predominant payment card in China. Similarly, debit card use in Germany and Poland is much higher than credit card usage so merchants doing business in these geographies must have access to the local payment brands and currencies (local currency support increases the capture rate in local markets as many cards are issued for use only with local currency). The right international payment provider can help.

Through a single integration, a good payment partner will enable merchants to work with various acquiring banks in different jurisdictions around the world for card processing (thereby lowering costs to entry) as well as enable them access to various payment types in multiple currencies, which lowers the costs and time associated with direct integrations to each payment method.

Gaining access to alternative payment options via one implementation is key. Not only is it a cost saver in terms of integration time and IT resources from the outset, but it allows the operator to spend less time on managing these payment infrastructures going forward.

One should remember, however, that it is never possible for one vendor to offer every global payment type. Operators need to zero in on what they require for their business and compare those needs against other payment requirements. Many payment solution providers, for example, do not facilitate direct merchant accounts for credit card processing, which means that the merchant will not have direct control of their funds. Other payment providers may not offer a full suite of fraud management tools, so it is important for an operator to weigh out its needs.

But clearly, there is an expectation now for payment gateways to offer a full portfolio of payment solutions. Just as the toothpaste industry transformed consumer preferences by introducing added features, best-in-breed online payment gateways shifted the thinking behind online businesses

Watch Princess Robot Bubblegum, part of the new TV lineup in Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony. Multiplayer in The Ballad of Gay Tony – the new episode in Grand Theft Auto: Episodes From Liberty City for Xbox 360® – takes the classic fan-favorite modes from the mayhem of Grand Theft Auto IV multiplayer and overhauls every aspect for an action packed, over-the-top experience. New weapons for greater diversity and impact. New, tighter Deathmatch arenas for more fierce matches. And the addition of new gameplay features including parachutes, kill streaks and assisted kills. It’s Grand Theft Auto multiplayer made more intense than ever. Its the Sprunk Xtreme Basejumping Competition. Head to the top, jump, and let er rip. Use the rotor blades of a helicopter to take out parachuting players. It’s tricky to do, but extremely satisfying when you get it right. Get two players on a superbike with a friend, find the biggest, highest jump you can, and hit it full speed. Jump off the bike in mid-air and parachute down. You can shoot and kill players that are using a parachute with normal weapons. You can’t shoot when using a parachute. So choose your team mates carefully. Every helicopter in The Ballad of Gay Tony comes equipped with a parachute, which will be automatically selected if you bail in mid-air. The fan-favorite Race and GTA Race checkpoint racing multiplayer modes return in The Ballad of Gay Tony – now upgraded with the intensity of nitrous available in every vehicle …

The latest video for the upcoming GTA episode. *NOTE* ALL IMAGES AND SOUNDTRACK ARE COPYRIGHT TO ROCKSTAR GAMES AND TAKE TWO INTERACTIVE
Video Rating: 5 / 5

© Take 2 Games ( www.take2games.com ) and © Rockstar North ( www.rockstargames.com )
Video Rating: 4 / 5