A friend with a positive cash flow business needed to borrow a measly million bucks to expand his business. With a 30 year relationship and a personal credit score of 820+ he got turned down by BAC.
If the bank is so healthy, why would they not extend the loan ? Certainly banks are holding back on 30 yr fixed mortgages paying them nothing…but a business loan to a high standing never late client of 30 years at 6% ???
BAC= 
[youtube://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-v67LpSz6Ck 450 300]
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Comments »Could your favorite apps soon be banned in your city?
From the online taxi service Uber — which regulators are trying to keep out of Washington, D.C. — to Zipcar.com, tech startups are facing an unexpected challenge: government regulation.
Uber has expanded from its base in San Francisco to other cities: New York, Chicago, Boston, Seattle, and DC. But sometimes, city governments are less than welcoming.
“They’re operating illegally, and we plan to take steps against them,” D.C. Taxi Commissioner Ron Linton warned at a meeting earlier this month.
“What they’re trying to do is be both a taxi and a limousine,” Linton has said. “Under the way the law is written, it just can’t be done.”
Zipcar: The popular car-sharing service says D.C. tax policies are hitting users hardest.
This month, Linton conducted a sting operation. Using Uber’s app to hail a car, Linton took it for a ride, and arranged for inspectors to greet it at the destination. The inspectors fined the driver $1,650 for various violations and impounded the car.
Uber CEO and founder Travis Kalanick calls it outrageous; D.C. has not told him what law Uber violates, he claims.
“You can go on an endless hunt for the regulation or statue forbidding what we do,” he told FoxNews.com. “We haven’t found it yet.”
Kalanick added that he preferred the technology side of his business.
“I’m a tech dude. I kind of like my life outside of politics,” he said. “It’s been a wild ride in D.C. I’m learning how the political game works, but there’s a learning curve.”
Unlike Kalanick, the established industry players have their own lobbyists and decades of experience with politics.
“You have an established taxi industry, and there’s this new technology that’s competing with them. So they’re going to get folks to regulate,” Kalanick said.
While lawyers work things out, Kalanick has kept Uber’s drivers on the streets by offering to pay any fines the city charges them because they work with Uber.
Every year, thousands of tourists, rather than book a hotel at their destination, find accommodations from locals who have an extra room in their apartment — or who have an empty place because they themselves are going on vacation — at sites like Roomorama.com.
Roomorama ensures security by verifying the identities of the people using the site and allowing renters to rate places they’ve stayed at.
But there’s one catch: Last May, New York State made it illegal for anyone to rent out an apartment for a time period of less than a month. Doing so could land you a fine of $800.
Supporters of the ban call such rental arrangements “illegal hotels” and say the Internet has compounded the problem.
“The Internet has made it easier than ever to advertise illegal hotels,” New York state senator Liz Krueger said in testimony to the NYC Committee on Housing and Buildings.
Krueger has also introduced a bill that would raise the fine to a maximum of $25,000.
“This proliferation of illegal hotel operations has … disrupted the lives of countless permanent residents … and ruined many tourists’ visits in New York,” Krueger explained.
Roomorama.com CEO and founder Jia En Teo says that the ban goes too far.
“By slapping a law like this on, it is not allowing markets to run themselves efficiently. Having more options available for consumers is always a good thing,” she said.
Hotel industry groups — which publicly support the ban — are the real reason for the law, Teo said.
“It is the hotel lobby that has been pushing for these laws, so as to stifle the competition.”
Zipcar
Thousands of college students and city-dwellers have ditched owning a car in the last few years for Zipcar — a “carsharing” service that has cars on streets in 13 U.S. cities and 148 college campuses.Everything is done through a smartphone app that shows the locations of available cars. After booking one using the app, you can just get in and drive. An hour-long trip to the store can cost $8 for the cheapest Zipcars.
Rob Weisberg, Zipcar’s chief marketing officer, says prices could be lower if not for government policies.
In D.C., Zipcar and other carsharing companies pay $200 to $400 per space, per month, while the price for a resident to park their private car on the street is just $1.25 per month.
“Policies like those … penalize car-sharing providers,” Weisberg said, adding that tax policy is also rigged.
“In car-sharing, the reservation period is generally just a few hours yet these members are being taxed at the full day rate. Car-sharing is taxed like a sin tax, with members paying 40 percent in taxes for a one-hour trip to the store.”
Zipcar has hired a lobbyist in D.C., and Weisberg hopes to convince politicians that the extra tax revenue isn’t worth it.
“Cities looking … to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reduce traffic congestion and increase the availability of parking spaces should be embracing car-sharing,” he said.
He’s absolutely right; it’s not fair anyone is forced to spend their taxes on a system that directly benefits this guy.
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Comments »A New Jersey teachers union chief whose salary tops $300,000 is under fire for saying in a recent interview that “life’s not always fair” while arguing against vouchers to send poor students to private schools.
New Jersey Education Association Executive Director Vincent Giordano made the comment on the local “New Jersey Capitol Report” program over the weekend. During the interview, he was challenged by the host on why low-income families should not have the same options as other families when their child is in a failing school.
“Those parents should have exactly the same options and they do. We don’t say that you can’t take your kid out of the public school. We would argue not and we would say ‘let’s work more closely and more harmoniously,'” Giordano said.
When told some families cannot afford to finance the shift to private school without government help, Giordano said: “Well, you know, life’s not always fair and I’m sorry about that.”
The interview clip swiftly spread on the web, along with reminders about Giordano’s healthy salary.
The Newark Star-Ledger reported in 2010 that his salary was nearly $422,000, and total compensation roughly $550,000 when deferred compensation and other benefits are counted.
NJEA spokesman Steve Baker, though, said those reports are not accurate. He said the director’s salary is “in the three-hundred thousands, and the low three-hundred thousands.”
The NJEA has since put out a lengthy statement clarifying the director’s remarks.
“While Mr. Giordano acknowledges that his choice of words may be open to misinterpretation, his intent was to make the point that providing vouchers to a select few students is not the way to address the challenges faced by urban school districts,” the statement said.
Giordano went on to say that the union’s “record of support for urban education and disadvantaged children is unimpeachable.”
He said the union does oppose vouchers, but only because “they will take resources from disadvantaged public schools and only exacerbate the challenges faced by students in those communities.”
Giordano said the NJEA supports better funding for urban schools.
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Comments »The week isn’t even half-way done and we’ve already heard at least a quarter’s worth of horror stories out of Europe:
* German industrial production unexpectedly unexpectedly fell in December as Europe’s largest economy continues to whither.
* Greek workers are staging a strike in protest of the austerity measures European authorities are requiring prior to formalizing a long-delayed “make or break” debt write down.
* Retail sales in the UK slumped to their second worst January since 1995 when the country started tracking such data.
Six months ago, any two of the above would have sent global equities tumbling. In 2012 U.S. investors pretended to care by starting the day lower prior to sending the tape lazily higher on Monday and Tuesday. Crazy as it seems the question has to be asked: Does Europe as we know it (in a recession and keeping Greece on life support) still matter to U.S. Stocks?
Tim Speiss of EisnerAmper Wealth Planning LLC gives the natural answer: An emphatic YES. For starters he notes “the EU on a combined basis represents 20% of global GDP.” That doesn’t just have implications for the U.S. According the International Monetary Fund, via Speiss, China’s ability to pull off an economic “soft-landing” relies on Europe stabilizing. The magnitude of China’s exposure is such that the IMF offered China unsolicited advice on what the country should do to stimulate its economy in the likely event that the EU drag worsens.
What really scares Speiss as a wealth adviser, is his observation that the EU recovery will be hampered by the same demographic problem that will become acute in the U.S. over the next two decades: An economy dominated by the elderly and retired, draining resources from a decreasing base of workers.
“The spotlight is on Greece,” notes Speiss, adding that the country represents less than one-half of a percent of global GDP. The diminutive Greek economy is the good news. The bad news is that if it takes the EU this long to deal with Greece, the failure of a larger economy in the remaining nations figures to utterly paralyze the entire continent.
It’s an extensive list of horrors, including the fact that he thinks the ECB is exacerbating matters horribly through inaction. Regardless, Speiss still thinks there are companies that will emerge from the wreckage intact and possibly even thriving; just not in the financial sector.
The bottom line as Tim Speiss sees it is Europe not only matters but its still getting worse. The view from where I’m sitting is a European recession is priced into the tape, reducing developments over there to the loudest sound in a noisy room.
Unless it starts screaming lower, the EU playbook for dealing with an eroding Europe is already laid out: Buy U.S. stocks.
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As a professional matchmaker with an office in New York City, many of my clients are very successful, high profile Wall Street men.
I have spent the better part of 12 years learning all of their habits, their likes and dislikes when it comes to dating, women and relationships and what they want specifically from me, when I am matching them with women.
Hence, I know, better than anyone, what makes Wall Street men tick.
Here are a few tips for the women out there who are dating or would like to be dating a man on Wall Street:
1. Be prepared to charm him out of talking about work when he first arrives to the date. Unfortunately, a lot of guys on Wall Street have a hard time leaving work at the office; it’s your job to get his mind on you and off the S & P.
2. Learn a little something about the financial markets and notice if something huge happens on a given day, negative or positive. Things like the fact that Facebook is going public is not just financial news, it’s world news and you don’t want to seem clueless if you completely missed something like that. You don’t have to become an expert but at least if you know something you can participate in a conversation with your guy. Additionally, you need to be prepared that the volatility of the markets might make your guy’s mood unpredictable, especially on a day that his personal portfolio went down dramatically.
3. While a Wall Street man tends to like a little bit of a challenge when it comes to dating, he still likes things to be convenient and easy for him. A lot of women think that if they play hard to get, they will land a Wall Street man. This is NOT the case. Yes, you should be confident and avoid being a pushover but, at the same time, you shouldn’t be difficult. You need to be accommodating or his schedule and time constraints or he will get frustrated and find another woman.
4. Tell stories that are short and sweet because the mind of a Wall Street man is always moving so rapidly and focusing on so many different things that his attention span for social stories is very short; don’t be insulted by this, just tell your stories in a way that he can listen. Save your long, draw-out stories for chit-chatting with your girlfriends.
5. Be sexy. Wall Street men tend to like women who are attractive and that other men notice when they walk in the room. This does not mean that you should look sleazy or inappropriate, this just means that you should bring your “A game” when you go out with him, whatever that is. Every man is attracted to a different look and a different type of woman so if he’s interested in you, he’s attracted to you but you need to maintain his interest by continuing to look your best.
6. Don’t get upset if he checks his BlackBerry or takes a call during a date; this is very common of a Wall Street man and has nothing to do with whether or not he likes you. The advice that I give Wall Street men about their need to bring business onto the date is that they should forewarn you when they first sit down that a call or a message is coming and apologize in advance. Albeit the fact that this would be an easy thing to do, they won’t always remember to do it, so don’t get offended.
7. Don’t get upset if your Wall Street guy isn’t as romantic as you would like him to be. Men, by nature are never as romantic as women want them to be, but Wall Street men especially are very business-like and think practically not romantically. If you want him to be more romantic, you are probably going to have to lead the way, and teach him what you want.
8. Wall Street men tend to be attracted to women who are in industries other than Wall Street. This does not mean that if you work on Wall Street, you won’t end up with a Wall Street man, however his eye tends to be looking towards non-Wall Street women. Hence, if you are a Wall Street woman and you are interested in dating a Wall Street man, you need to make sure that you let him and others see that you are not all business all the time, that you have a soft, feminine, family-oriented and fun side when you are not in the office.
9. When it comes to getting you a gift, a lot of Wall Street men are all about extravagance over thoughtfulness. If you are a decadent woman, this will work well for you, but if you are a woman who prefers a man to be thoughtful over spending lavishly on something you don’t really want, you might be disappointed. This does not mean that a Wall Street man can’t be thoughtful, many are. However, a lot of Wall Street men are so busy making lots of money, that when they think to buy you something, they don’t care about the cost as long as it’s easy to get for you.
10. Don’t get upset if your plans get scheduled by his assistant. Even though, it is dating 101 for a man to pick up the phone and call you for a date or in this day and age to text you for one, many Wall Street men are so reliant on their assistants that they prefer to have you on their schedule just like a business meeting. Do not take offense to this; this does not mean that he likes you all the less, it just means that he likes to be organized and efficient and his assistant helps him accomplish this.
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