NY Times:

The benefits of driverless cars are potentially significant. The typical American spends an average of roughly 100 hours a year in traffic; imagine using that time in better ways — by working or just having fun. The irksome burden of commuting might be lessened considerably. Furthermore, computer-driven cars could allow for tighter packing of vehicles on the road, which would speed traffic times and allow a given road or city to handle more cars. Trips to transport goods might dispense with drivers altogether, and rental cars could routinely pick up customers. A

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The New York Times has posted an article that discusses how the credit bureau system- whose reports influence everything from your mortgage approval to a potential job offer- actually has two different systems in place: one for the rich people with connections and another for everybody else.

TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian, three of the major credit bureaus, all keep a “V.I.P. list of sorts” that includes judges, celebrities, politicians, and other people who have influence. The people on this list get special help when it comes to fixing problems with their credit reports. The error is usually corrected immediately, and the person will probably never realize they are on a special V.I.P list.

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Currencies: Risk aversion and strong USD send CE currencies into defensive mode
Fixed Income: NBP’s Belka: Market expectations reasonable

The Czech koruna remains in a defensive mode as the negative interest rate differential continues to weigh on the Czech currency. Also the spike in risk aversion on euro zone peripheries in light of Spanish regional elections could have weighed on the regional currencies by the end of the week. N

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We tend to forget that it wasn’t all that long ago when people had their kids’ portraits taken several times a year. When I was growing up, the school arranged for a picture once a year and that was pretty much it. Today, we expect to have our children photographed every few months, and it can become a very expensive project.

If you insist on having the kids photographed regularly, you have several options when it comes to cutting costs.

The main studio in our area offers a club for babies during their first year. The parent brings in the child on a regular schedule, about once every three months, and gets coupons, deals, and a least one free sheet of pictures each time. If

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Last month the federal government took a small step towards trying to reign in some of the mortgage servicing abuse that we see on a daily basis. Here is some of the language from the announcement from the OCC:

The eight servicers are Bank of America, Citibank, HSBC, JPMorgan Chase, MetLife Bank, PNC, U.S. Bank, and Wells Fargo. The two service providers are Lender Processing Services (LPS) and its subsidiaries DocX, LLC, and LPD Default Solutions, Inc.; and MERSCORP and its wholly owned subsidiary, Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. (MERS).

“These comprehensive enforcement actions, coordinated among the federal banking regulators, require major reforms in mortgage servicing operations,” said acting Comptroller of the Currency John Walsh.

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You’ve taken our previous recommendations about starting and maintaining a company blog. Congratulations! You’re on your way to helping your company website increase readership and search results status.  However, how can you increase the number of views that each and every blog post receives, even after it has been posted for some time?

Simply writing a new blog post on a frequent and regular basis may not be enough to increase total readership.  Here are a few ways you can assure that your blog posts get read again and again, even after posts have been archived.

1. Link

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Sheila Smoot is a friend of mine and she has a new website that will have lots of information about her new TV show “Your Side With Sheila Smoot”.

You will find consumer tips about what to do if you are dealing with tornado issues that are affecting so many in Alabama and other southern states. In the articel Sheila and her team include information on “crooks showing up at your door” as well as “the need for renter’s insurance” and “insurance: your steps following a storm”.

You can also find information about various individuals who help consumers (“consumer squad”) including a consumer lawyer who bears a striking resemblance to me…

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