Completing a bill with an autopen brings about controversy

The contentious Patriot Act has been given a new lease on life, thanks to President Obama. It went to the White House for approval, though President Obama is currently in Europe. The president’s signature is creating debate, as he authorized an autopen signature, which is a mechanical device that produces an exact copy of a persons’ signature.

Not ending government surveillance just yet

Unless a new bill was created and passed by Congress and signed by the president, some Patriot Act provisions would have expired. The controversial surveillance was passed and finalized into law by President Obama at the last minute. This was despite all the debate on it, states the Christian Science Monitor. The government can still use the internet, wiretaps and business records whenever they want without permission. Senator Paul did rally against the bill though, without any luck. Apparently the president used a robotic pen though which caused anger in Congress, reports CNN.

Refill the ink if you need to live

Since the president is currently in France, and the signature was needed urgently, the document had to be signed using an autopen. The autopen is a system that could be used. A person’s signature could be reproduced with it. It is almost extremely hard to tell the difference between the signatures. It might as well have been the same. Some of the machines are very complex. Some are not complex at all though, reports MSNBC. There are two companies in the U.S. that make them, and a brief interview with Bob Olding, owner of one of those companies, is being reproduced on many news sites. ABC spoke with Damillic Corp., owner Olding who said that the technology hasn’t changed much since the 1930s when it came out. He also stresses that Damillic goes out of its way to properly vet its customers and make sure that his goods are being used ethically.

Whether or not it is legal

The Constitution states “he shall sign it” in reference to the president signing the bill. As long as a signature is directed to be attached to a document, it is valid, according to the Department of Justice. As long as a president gives his consent of signature, it is legal and valid to auto sign something. This was the response the Justice Department had in 2005 when an autopen for President Bush was being looked into. V.P. Quayle admits that he used an autopen in 1992 while Donald Rumsfeld used one in 2004. This was for the letters he sent to families of troops killed. The signature and letter duplication machine was built in the 19th century. Thomas Jefferson was responsible for this. Government officials, astronauts and business executives all have used autopens in the past.

Articles cited

Christian Science Monitor

csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2011/0527/Patriot-Act-three-controversial-provisions-that-Congress-voted-to-keep

CNN

whitehouse.blogs.cnn.com/2011/05/27/rise-of-the-machines-autopen-puts-bill-into-law/?hpt=T2

MSNBC

firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/05/27/6731197-the-great-presidential-autopen-hullabaloo

ABC

blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2011/05/robama-is-it-ok-for-a-president-to-autopen-a-bill-into-law.html

Damillic Inc

realsig.com/index.htm

The Credit Card Act is able to help, but individuals aren't using it

In 2009, Obama agreed upon the Credit Card Act into legislation. Part of the legislation required card businesses to work in conjunction with the National Foundation for Credit Counseling to provide free assistance to customers in danger of delinquency, commonly in the form of advising. In spite of this, credit-constrained consumers simply are not using the resources, per NFCC reports.

Not many chances for free credit card counseling

Only 150,000 U.S. consumers struggling with charge card debt have accessed the nonprofit help to which banks and the NFCC have access, said NFCC spokeswoman Gail Cunningham. The contact number is toll-free and printed on credit card statements. As credit card debt still weighs heavily on the average, recession-weary American, the lack of initiative is troubling.

“I certainly think one of the reasons for the low response rate from consumers could be attributed to a lack of prominence,” said Cunningham. “Perhaps the number is buried somewhere.”

The number is likely buried in the recess of public prejudice. Several consumers think the toll-free Credit Card Act number is just a “service” that the charge card business has put together so they can get even more money from them. Some statements haven’t put the number on statements, which is illegal now, states Cunningham.

Less credit card debt last year

A study by Credit Karma indicates that from Jan to December, U.S. customer credit card debt decreased by 8 percent nationally, to an average of $7,404 per person. As much as an 11 percent improvement was shown in eight states including CT, Indiana, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Nevada, California and Colorado. There was a 31 percent improvement shown from 2009 to 2010 in Wisconsin making is the biggest in charge card debt change.

On the other side of the scale, states like Delaware, Iowa, LA, Missouri, Nebraska and New Mexico grew their credit card debt by as much as 6 percent. The Credit Karma Survey states that Mississippi had the biggest increase in charge card debt. It had an 8 percent increase.

Looking for credit card help?

If you need information on non-profits, go to nfcc.org which is the National Foundation for Credit Counseling website. If you just make minimum monthly payments, you will still have a balance on your charge card debt. You can find out what this balance is at the Federal Reserve’s website. You can go to the Android Market for tools as well. The Personal Financial Calculator should be downloaded. Or, if you are seeking to compare overdraft APRs of personal financing and other customer loan goods, have a look at Personal Money Network’s “Loan Overdraft Calculator,” connected below.

Articles cited

Android Market

market.android.com/details?id=com.adworkz.pms.mobile.tools.calculators_2001.com

Bankrate

bankrate.com/financing/credit-cards/nfcc-credit-card-help-unused/

Federal Reserve

federalreserve.gov/creditcardcalculator/

Personal Money Store

tools.personalmoneystore.com/free-payday-loan-calculator/

National Foundation for Credit Counseling

nfcc.org/

Obama signed the Credit Card Act. Are you using its programs?

youtube.com/watch?v=OVFj2p8JeKo

ClearXchange is large bank competition for PayPal

The Associated Press states that PayPal should watch out right about now, because three cut-throat banking giants are getting even closer. Bank of America, Chase and Wells Fargo now are offering clearXchange as a cheaper, easier option to mobile payment businesses like PayPal. Three United States banking companies anticipate that clearXchange will eventually replace traditional money transfers altogether.

Pay more for prepaid debit and PayPal to work

Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo are suggesting that the Charlotte, N.C. clearXchange has fewer fees than prepaid debit cards and eBay’s PayPal, even though banks bring on the fees. The person-to-person clearXchange will only be given to the three banks’ consumer base, but it will change to the mobile payment program soon.

The Associated Press reports that Jack Stephenson believes the clearXchange is very simple. Stephenson is JPMorgan’s Director of Mobile, eCommerce and Payments.

“Customers will be able to send and receive money even more quickly and easily,” he said, “with full confidence their funds are in a bank account without worrying about cash, checks or higher-cost services.”

PayPal is quite big

In the first quarter of 2011, PayPal processed $27.4 billion in payments with its 100 million active users that currently using it, reports eBay, which is a 28 percent increase from last year. EBay is sure that PayPal will make more money than its parent company annually soon as PayPal’s revenue hit $992.3 million.

‘An innovative game-changer’

Wells Fargo Executive Vice President Mike Kennedy told Business Wire that clearXchange’s simplicity will change the mobile payments game.

“This is an innovative game-changer in electronic payments,” he said. “We want our customers to be able to easily send money to anyone without having to establish a new account outside their primary bank. All our customers need to know is the email address or mobile number of a friend or family member and (clearXchange) takes care of the rest.”

Citations

Reuters

reuters.com/article/2011/05/25/idUS131437+25-May-2011+BW20110525

USA Today

usatoday.com/money/industries/banking/2011-05-25-banks-cash-transfer-cell-email_n.htm

ROAM Data, Inc.’s Rob Stringer on end-to-end encryption

youtube.com/watch?v=2NU-E0Ul59I

Strauss-Kahn not given bail in IMF sex scandal case

The head of the IMF, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, was brought up on sexual assault charges recently and has been denied bail. While boarding a flight to France, Strauss-Kahn was detained for allegedly trying to rape a maid at the hotel he was staying at. Strauss-Kahn will stay in a holding cell at Riker’s Island.

International financier in Riker’s Island

One of the highest profile sex scandals in years has just been announced as the head of the International Monetary Fund was arraigned for charges of sexual attack and false imprisonment in a NYC courtroom on Monday, May 16, states the Guardian. Dominique Strauss-Kahn was detained on Saturday for sexual assault and false imprisonment after he was accused of sexually assaulting a hotel maid at Sofitel, the Times Square hotel he had been staying at. Officers detained him as he was boarding a plane for France, according to Reuters, and he appeared before a judge on Monday. Prosecuting attorneys labeled him a flight risk and observed that France wouldn’t extradite him if he was able to leave. He is at the Riker’s Island Correctional Facility right now after being denied bail.

Still having IMF operations in his absence

The imprisonment of the International Monetary Fund has not changed it much. The LA Times states that it is still running. Kahn missed a meeting with several finance ministers in Europe in Brussels because he was in arraignment. This meeting discussed the possibility of a joint bailout package for the Portugal debt crisis between the European Union and International Monetary Fund. The Greece debt crisis is still ongoing, and more aid to the struggling country was also slated to be topic for discussion. A newspaper in Athens carried the headline “the chambermaid blocks Greece!” in reaction to the scandal, and Strauss-Kahn is already a reviled figure there for forcing austerity measures to give the country emergency financial assistance. The Guardian reports that Strauss-Kahn is in The Tombs holding cells near Riker’s Island Courthouse while all of this is happening.

Response to scandal

Dominique Strauss-Kahn is a prominent figure in the Socialist party in his native France and had been anticipated to challenge current president Nikolas Sarkozy in the coming elections. It is possible that Francois Hollande or Marine Aubry will replace him. The Telegraph reports that his job at IMF is up for grabs. Several people are ready to take the position too. The previous English pm Gordon Brown is said to covet the job, however it is said that current P.M. David Cameron won’t endorse him. Other possibilities include finance minister of France, Christine Lagarde, and previous Germany finance minister Axel Weber.

Articles cited

The Telegraph

telegraph.co.uk/finance/dominique-strauss-kahn/8517119/Christine-Lagarde-and-Axel-Weber-front-runners-for-Dominique-Strauss-Kahns-IMF-role.html

Los Angeles Times

latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2011/05/ron-paul-imf-dominique-strauss-kahn.html

Reuters

reuters.com/article/2011/05/16/us-strausskahn-arrest-idUSTRE74D29F20110516

Los Angeles Times

latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-euro-talks-20110517,0,2339845.story

The Guardian

guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/17/dominique-strauss-kahn-court-appearance

The Guardian

guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/15/strauss-kahn-arrest-hits-french-elections

Nissan and Toyota fire up the incentive engine yet again

Japan is ramping up production in the wake of the 9.0 March 11 earthquake, and major factory-to-dealer rewards are on the way from Toyota and Nissan to move the expected inventory wave. Automotive News states that the Japanese automakers will offer cash, interest rate holidays and significant lease incentives in the United States market. Sagging May sales numbers have made the incentive push a priority.

Supply is back meaning vehicles must move

Before May is over, Toyota and Nissan both expect to be producing normally again by the end of May, meaning vehicles need to sell. Incentive spending is the mechanism through which an overstock will theoretically be avoided. There will have to be even more automobiles sold since Nissan believes its Japanese factories will be up and running normally again by June.

The plan is something Nissan Division Manager Al Castignetti believes will work. He thinks that there will be tent sales by Memorial Day on Altima and Maxima automobiles which will have good deals.

Sales fallen in May

Compared with May sales in 2010, Toyota and Honda sales have fallen on hard times this May. Toyota sales have dropped by 56 percent (Lexus by 45 percent). Honda sales are down 41 percent overall, with the Acura division showing a 46 percent drop-off. Both Nissan and Infiniti aren’t doing too badly with only a 12 percent drop. A 37 percent increase in Hyundai Motors sales was shown in May as one of the only Asian automakers to do so.

The high gas costs, Japan earthquake shortages and low rebates are all attributed to the low Japan May sales according to J.D. Power and Associates forecaster Jeff Schuster.

Change from Feb. to Mar. in rewards

According to Edmunds.com, the decline in dealer incentives has been occurring for a few months, even in the U.S. From February 2011 to March 2011, there was a decrease in the average manufacturer incentive $220, or 8.6 percent, from $2,346 per new vehicle sold.

That was a huge drop in rewards. Ivan Drury as an Edmunds analysis spoke about this.

“These latest numbers show by far the biggest February-to-March incentives decline since Edmunds.com started tracking in 2002,” Drury said. “The decline is mostly likely a result of a 26 percent month-over-month sales jump in subcompact and compact cars which typically have a much lower level of incentives compared to large trucks and SUVs.”

The automakers may have changed from incentives

Whether or not GM, Ford Motors and Chrysler, also known as Detroit’s Big Three, stand idle or produce as many automobiles as possible, the fixed production and labor costs are the same. This was suggested by a team of researchers in a report called “The Effect of Customer Rebates and Retailer incentives on Manufacturer Profitability and Sales” that did a statistical analysis. There was overstock and more incentives since the Big Three produced more than they needed to. These rewards pumped up sales, often at a loss.

Articles cited

Auto News

autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110512/RETAIL01/110519951/1422

The Effect of Customer Rebates and Retailer Incentives on Manufacturer Profitability and Sales

isye.gatech.edu/|jswann/teaching/6230/6230 Swann Rebate (L13).pdf

Dealer Magazine

dealer-magazine.com/home/single-article/edmundscom-reports-true-cost-of-incentives-down-16/c11329d180.html

Pre-owned dealer incentives at Star Nissan

youtube.com/watch?v=2XJ9UW1VM24

Recent launch of Space Shuttle without practice

National Aeronautics and Space Administration occasionally has to break with practice and think outside the box. For a while, the Space Shuttle has launched was delayed, until National Aeronautics and Space Administration broke with that paradigm and the Space Shuttle took to the sky. The Space Shuttle Endeavour finally launched after weeks of delays. The launch was not all great, however. It is the last trip of the Endeavour.

Endeavor launch

CNN reports that the Space Shuttle Endeavor went up at 9 a.m. Eastern standard time. The last attempt at a launch was made on April 29, however had to be canceled because of a problem with a heating unit aboard the shuttle that is located in the hydraulic system, according to Reuters. The okay to go was given to the launch. That occurred just recently. The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, which is a $2 billion instrument 60 nations worked together to build, is being delivered in Endeavor to the International Space Station in STS-134. The machine is a particle detection and analysis machine that will try to find particles that aren’t detectable by normal telescopes and other instruments.

Last mission

The general tone around Mission Control was bittersweet. After the 16-day mission where the ISS will also get some parts, the Endeavor will be retired. The shuttle program will then launch its last journey in late June, according to the Christian Science Monitor, when the Shuttle Atlantis goes on the program’s last journey. After the Shuttle Columbia exploded on its way back to the atmosphere, the shuttle program was stopped by the Bush administration. There have been 14 astronauts killed during the shuttle program; three astronauts total lost their lives in all other National Aeronautics and Space Administration programs.

Where National Aeronautics and Space Administration goes from here

Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was present at the launch to view Mark Kelly, her husband, take off as mission commander, according to CBS. After almost dying from a gunshot to the head several months ago, Giffords has recovered quite well. The Soyuz spacecraft will be the only way an astronaut will be able to get to the ISS soon. This will be the case after Atlantis returns. Private contractors are intended to start creating spacecraft which astronauts will “rent” for flights into space. NASA had been working on a replacement for the shuttle dubbed the Constellation program, which was nearly identical to the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs using a capsule set atop a very large rocket. However, the program was scrubbed in lieu of handing responsibility to private firms. It will be several years before any such craft are accessible.

Articles cited

CNN

cnn.com/2011/US/05/16/nasa.shuttle.endeavour/?hpt=C1

Reuters

reuters.com/article/2011/05/16/us-space-shuttle-idUSTRE74E2II20110516

Christian Science Monitor

csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2011/0516/After-the-space-shuttle-astronaut-corps-awaits-a-new-mission

CBS

cbsnews.com/stories/2011/05/16/scitech/main20063171.shtml?tag=stack

Tricks to stay away from rental auto gas penalties and other fees

Gas costs nearly $4 per gallon average in the U.S. today. However did you know it will cost more than double per gallon needed if you do not return the rental with a full tank? This and other “hidden” fees can cost you an excellent deal of money. Equip yourself with knowledge now so that your rental auto bill won’t sting your wallet later.

Gas costs $9.29 a gallon for a rental auto

Auto rental companies at 13 United States airports were studied by USA Today. It found out that $9.29 a gallon is what Hertz charges to top off your gas tank while $8.99 a gallon is what Dollar and Thrifty charges. With low base fees, rental businesses often charge these extra fees. They can be avoided if you pay for the additional gasoline ahead of time though.

Adding on even more fees

1. Additional driver fees – Every driver on the auto adds on. It typically is about $10 per driver that is added on.

2. Insurance – Never purchase additional insurance for those who have a vehicle insurance policy of your own, particularly if you already have comprehensive coverage on your policy. See if your losses could be insured by the credit card company too.

3. Early/late return fees – It is always significant that you return the vehicle on time. Each day that you are late, it can cost $10 or more. Typically, rental companies will charge for early return as well. It costs about $15.

4. Child car seats – Make sure you bring your own vehicle seats into your rental. Otherwise, you’ll pay about $7 per day for each child safety seat rented through the company.

5. Toll bypass – Some rental corporations will sell you an electronic toll road pass. Just say no if you don’t want one or already have one.

6. Mileage – Watch the mileage limit. Are you going to be driving long distances? If this is the case, you should make sure you have an unlimited mileage rental to keep away from additional fees for going over your miles.

7. Cleaning – Clean up your mess, leave the cat with family and do not smoke as part of your rental automobile. It can cost a lot to have the vehicle cleaned.

Finding cheap cars to rent

To discover the least expensive rental vehicles, start by searching travel web sites like Travelocity.com, Expedia.com, Priceline.com and Hotwire.com for deals on rental cars. You really should try planning ahead. You may get good airline ticket, rental auto and hotel deals put together. You might be able to save even more with entertainment coupon books and websites like RetailMeNot.com. Make sure you rent for what you need. Do not go any longer. As long as you do not have too much stuff, you may be okay with an economy compact which will get you there safely.

Citations

Bankrate.com

bankrate.com/financing/cars/rental-car-gas-costs-9-a-gallon/

MSNBC

today.msnbc.msn.com/id/23471992/ns/today-money/t/secrets-renting-car-without-overspending/

Dollar Rent-A-Car was caught red-handed

youtube.com/watch?v=ZY4A-EJAbZs