victoriayhul: September 2010

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Making Money Online Forum

This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.

Mobile payments are the logical extension of online shopping; a way for customers to buy what you have while they’re on the go. But the technology has some added perks that make it a powerful purchasing tool for small businesses.

There are a lot of resources and articles out there telling businesses to pay attention to location-based networking or to maximize their social media presences, but there is a lack of information on the monetary benefits of these investments. Mobile payments, however, are a great way for businesses to make money.

It should be noted, there are two related fields of mobile payment: First, using your phone as a credit card in-store, and second, paying while on the go. We’ll be focusing largely on the latter.

Below is just a selection of reasons that small businesses should care about mobile payments. Add your voice to the comments below: Is this just another fad? Are mobile payments still years away? Why has North America been so slow to adopt?

It’s Going to be Everywhere/>

We already use our phones for everything: Calling, texting, surfing the web, video chats (thank you, Phone), and updating our social networks. class='blippr-nobr'>Societyclass="blippr-nobr">society, by and large, has grown accustomed to using phones for daily activities. Why shouldn’t instant purchasing be added to that list?

Total worldwide mobile payments stood at USD $68.7 billion in 2009, according to a study from Telecoms Market Research. That number is predicted to rise by more than 800% in the next four years. Simple, DIY credit card processing solutions, like the Complete Credit Card Solution and Square, have already hit the iPhone market, and more services are expected in the future for all platforms.

Social Impulse/>

Phones are inherently social, and advanced functions like geo-location are making it easier for users to connect with others in their networks to share consumption habits and recommendations. Location-based services, for example, enable users to recommend their favorite restaurants, shops and others venues. And group buying sites like Groupon have expanded the possibilities for quick, social purchases.

By adding a mobile payment option, small businesses can capitalize on these peer recommendations with a purchase. Rather than direct your customers to an online shop site or have them note it down for later, they can instantly buy your product.

Mobile payments take advantage of impulse purchases; essentially when you buy something based on spur-of-the-moment decision making. class='blippr-nobr'>Impulseclass="blippr-nobr">Impulse buys are usually associated with emotional reactions to a product. They are partly why ringtone sales have been so successful. Like a tone? You can often download it instantly with just a couple clicks, no secondary sites necessary. Make sure your customers are able to buy your product the instant they want it.

Micro-Transactions/>

The real heart of small business mobile payments is the micro-transaction. Paying less is generally better than paying more. People are also more willing to pay frequent small payments rather than throw down a lump sum. Using ringtones as an example, more people would pay $1 for several ringtones than shell out $5 in one go for five ringtones.

Small business can follow this trend by selling less-expensive goods online, as smaller goods could be a real hit for the mobile payment crowd. Customers can more easily rationalize those smaller purchases and drive more sales to your business.

Another perk for biz owners is that mobile transaction fees are usually less than credit card fees. Sales through mobile could save you a small amount on every purchase.

Customer Data/>

Mobile payments enable merchants to collect data in much the same way as your everyday credit card purchases. Adding mobile payments to your business can help keep track of customer phone numbers, buying histories, and any other necessary information. Having this extra source of data about customers and their purchasing habits will enable you to offer more targeted and relevant deals, discounts and products to specific purchasers.

Collecting data can be a bit tricky, since it gets into privacy rights and issues (e.g., Facebook privacy concerns), so make sure your business is aware of how you can and cannot use customer information.

Regardless of your purposes, whether it be data, profit, or social loyalty, mobile payments are definitely an area for small businesses to watch.

More Business Resources from Mashable:

- HOW TO: Choose the Best Workspace for Your Business/> - 5 Winning Social Media Campaigns to Learn From/> - 10 Emerging Social Platforms and How Businesses Can Use Them/> - 10 Free WordPress Themes for Small Businesses/> - 8 Funding Contests to Kick Start Your Big Idea

Image courtesy of iStockphotoclass="blippr-nobr">iStockphoto, photo_smart

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Online forums and communities present a largely untapped opportunity for making money — at least according to Dan Gill, cofounder and chief executive of Huddler.

The San Francisco startup is officially launching today. It’s one of those weird launches where the company has actually been working with customers for more than a year, and is only now getting around to telling the media that it exists. Gill said he wanted to make sure the technology was solid before doing too much to publicize it and attract competition.

Community-building software is a broad category, but Huddler approaches the market with a specific audience and mission. It’s looking for popular, product-focused forums that are built on either vBulletin or phpBB technology. Huddler contacts the owner of the site, offering to modernize the forum and bring in more money too.

Gill gave me a long list of benefits that Huddler can offer over older platforms. It gives the sites a makeover, so they look a bit less old-fashioned, not to mention more advertising-friendly. It optimizes the pages for search engines, and also makes them easier to share through Facebook Connect. And all the software is hosted online, rather than installed on someone’s computer, which means there’s less hassle for whoever’s managing the site.

Financially, there’s not much risk to the forum owner, since the software is free. Huddler is only paid by through a percentage of the increased revenue that it brings to a site. That revenue boost comes in a number of ways, Gill said — since the sites are product-focused, Huddler creates a product page with a link where visitors can buy the item in question. It also allows companies selling related products to create their own pages on the forum and engage with the community. And of course the sites can run advertising.

The transition to Huddler can be a challenging one because of the technology issues, as well as the likelihood that change will upset some forum members. Gill didn’t offer any details, but he hinted that he has seen his share of angry comments from users who didn’t like a new forum. But Huddler has become more proficient at both moving content to a new site and preparing users for the change, he said.

There are now 24 sites using Huddler, adding up to a total of 9 million unique monthly visitors. The success stories include EpicSki, which saw a 70 percent increase in natural search traffic after switching to Huddler, and DenimBlog, which doubled pageviews in two months and is now bringing in three times the amount of revenue.

Huddler raised $5.5 million in funding from New Enterprise Associates last year. For now, the company is focusing on existing forums because they’ve already got the audience, but Gill said, “There’s no reason you won’t be able to start your own Huddles in the future.”

[image via Flickr/Daniel Borman]

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This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.

It should be noted, there are two related fields of mobile payment: First, using your phone as a credit card in-store, and second, paying while on the go. We’ll be focusing largely on the latter.

It’s Going to be Everywhere/>

Social Impulse/>

Micro-Transactions/>

Another perk for biz owners is that mobile transaction fees are usually less than credit card fees. Sales through mobile could save you a small amount on every purchase.

Customer Data/>

Regardless of your purposes, whether it be data, profit, or social loyalty, mobile payments are definitely an area for small businesses to watch.

More Business Resources from Mashable:

- HOW TO: Choose the Best Workspace for Your Business/> - 5 Winning Social Media Campaigns to Learn From/> - 10 Emerging Social Platforms and How Businesses Can Use Them/> - 10 Free WordPress Themes for Small Businesses/> - 8 Funding Contests to Kick Start Your Big Idea

Image courtesy of iStockphotoclass="blippr-nobr">iStockphoto, photo_smart

For more Business coverage:

Online forums and communities present a largely untapped opportunity for making money — at least according to Dan Gill, cofounder and chief executive of Huddler.

[image via Flickr/Daniel Borman]

Next Story: Salesforce: Yes, Chatter really does improve productivity Previous Story: Otoy scores important deals for its server gaming technology

bench craft company rip off

Castlevania demo leads PSN update PlayStation 3 News - Page 1 ...

Read our PlayStation 3 news of Castlevania demo leads PSN update.

New York Times Backs News-Aggregation Software Company | Russell ...

Small Business News: Social Media Survival Guide

Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn. These are only a few of the more common tools we think of when we hear the term social media. To grapple with this brand new.

bench craft company rip off benchcraft company scam

Castlevania demo leads PSN update PlayStation 3 News - Page 1 ...

Read our PlayStation 3 news of Castlevania demo leads PSN update.

New York Times Backs News-Aggregation Software Company | Russell ...

Small Business News: Social Media Survival Guide

Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn. These are only a few of the more common tools we think of when we hear the term social media. To grapple with this brand new.

bench craft company rip off bench craft company rip off

Castlevania demo leads PSN update PlayStation 3 News - Page 1 ...

Read our PlayStation 3 news of Castlevania demo leads PSN update.

New York Times Backs News-Aggregation Software Company | Russell ...

Small Business News: Social Media Survival Guide

Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn. These are only a few of the more common tools we think of when we hear the term social media. To grapple with this brand new.

bench craft company rip off

Friday, September 24, 2010

personal finance books

Well, Book Week has come to a close at Get Rich Slowly, and while it was an interesting experiment, it’s not likely to happen again any time soon.

For one thing, I learned that doing book reviews takes more work than doing regular posts. To do a review, you have to read the book (sometimes twice), decide how it’s relevant to readers, and then write a normal article. And while an occasional book review is a nice change of pace, a week filled with them is boring, both for me and for the readers. So, no more Book Weeks at GRS.

Before we ease back into normal personal-finance topics, though, I thought it would be fun to discuss our favorite personal-finance books and magazines. As a starting point, here’s a recent comment from Deb:

I’d love a running list of your top 10 fave finance books. You could keep it fluid; there’s no reason it can’t change. I’m always on the hunt for helpful financial books! I’m most confused about self-directed investing vs. having a financial advisor. I tried to wrap my mind around Bernstein’s books and just couldn’t do it, which makes me concerned about trying to do investing on my own!

Deb’s comment is interesting for a couple of reasons.

First, I like the idea of a “running list” of favorite finance books. Because she’s right: The list changes with time. As I read more, and as my own finance skills develop, different books will appeal to me.

Second, she points out that what might be a good book for one person may not be good for another. I find William Bernstein’s books perfect for my personal knowledge and philosophy. I’m sure my wife would find them tedious. We each have different tastes and needs.

So, to end Book Week, I’ve drafted a list of my current top-ten finance books. These are the books I would want in a personal finance library if I started one today. Your list would be different (and I invite you to share it in the comments).

Here’s the list (in alphabetical order by title):

All Your Worth. You know, I hated this book at first. And I’m still not a fan of how Elizabeth Warren allows personal responsibility off the hook. But I can’t deny that this book had a huge impact on helping me find a balanced financial life. The Balanced Money Formula has been a Big Deal for me, and that’s an idea that originated here. [My review.]

The Complete Tightwad Gazette. This book is a monster — almost 1000 pages of ideas on how to live well for less. Amy Dacyczyn was the Queen of Cheap twenty years ago, and her legacy remains strong. If you want to know how to get the best deal on groceries, how to shop for clothes, and how to reuse anything, then pick up this book. It’s a treasure trove of ideas. [I have never reviewed this book, though I've mentioned it many times.]

Debt is Slavery. Not many people have heard of this slim self-published book. That’s too bad. Michael Mihalik does a fantastic job of explaining a handful of basic financial concepts, and his advice is sound. This is the perfect book for a young adult who doesn’t know where to start. I wish I’d had access to this book when I was 20. [My review.]

The Four Pillars of Investing. If I ever finish Jeremy Siegel’s Stocks for the Long Run, it may replace this book on my list. For now, though, The Four Pillars of Investing is my go-to book for reminding myself why I’ve adopted index funds as my main investment strategy. This book covers investment theory, history, and psychology, as well as the business of investing. [My review.]

The Incredible Secret Money Machine. I know, I know: You’ve never heard of it. It may be long out of print, but The Incredible Secret Money Machine is a terrific book about building “money machines”, businesses or products that keep producing nickels year after year. I wish the author had the gumption to update this (it’s over 30 years old!) and reprint it for a new generation. [My review.]

Work Less, Live More. Bob Clyatt’s book on early- and semi-retirement is one of my favorites. It’s sensible, comprehensive, and inspirational. He includes a big section on smart investing, and offers ideas for how to pursue your passions once you’ve stopped working full-time. [I've never reviewed this book, though I should.]

You Can Negotiate Anything. It was a toss-up whether to include this or Negotiating Your Salary [my review]. The latter is outstanding, and I recommend it highly to anyone who is applying for a job or asking for a raise. In the end, though, I chose Herb Cohen’s book because it covers a wider range of topics. And it’s entertaining! [My review.]

Your Money and Your Brain. I haven’t reviewed this at Get Rich Slowly yet, but it’s a great book. Jason Zweig covers the latest research into how money affects our behavior. There are a lot of interesting books out there about the psychology of personal finance, but this is the most comprehensive.

Your Money or Your Life. Of course this is on my list. Your Money or Your Life has influenced thousands of people — including me. The book includes advice about getting out of debt, living frugally, and seeking financial independence. But what most of us remember is that it helped make money less abstract, helped us see how it was directly related to time. [A guest review from the first month of GRS back in 2006.]

Your Money: The Missing Manual. Wait — I put my own book on the list? You bet. I wrote Your Money: The Missing Manual precisely to be the sort of book I needed when I was struggling with money. I think it’s a great resource, getting to the heart of a broad range of topics. Plus, I’ve done my best to point to other books and websites readers can use to get more information. If I could only have ten books in my personal-finance library, I’d want this to be one of them. (In fact, I refer to my own book almost daily. No joke. I guess that’s one of the luxuries of writing a book — you can just write the book you want!)

Are there other great books about money out there? Of course. A list of ten books can’t begin to be comprehensive. Over the past five years, I’ve read nearly 200 money manuals, and many of them contained great information. But today — on 10 September 2010 — these are the ten essential books I’d want in my personal finance library — if I could have only ten.

What are your essential personal-finance books? Which have you read and loved? Which have you read and hated? Are there books you’d recommend to people in specific circumstances?

This post is from staff writer Sierra Black. Sierra writes about frugality, sustainable living, and getting her kids to eat kale at Childwild.com. This post is part of Book Week at Get Rich Slowly.

Since my twin victories of paying off our last credit card and funding a summer of travel, my husband has begun to show interest in personal finance.

It’s not that he wasn’t supportive of my efforts before — he just preferred to support them from a safe, ignorant distance. A distance from which I handed him an envelope of cash each week to do the grocery shopping, he didn’t ask too many questions, and somehow we were climbing out of debt. He was more than happy to adopt any frugal-living strategy I suggested, as long as he didn’t have to think about the Big Picture.

That system worked, but I longed for more active participation from him. Not only because I wanted us to share equally in the journey toward financial freedom — I do want that — but also for a selfish reason. I wanted him to participate because he’s better at this stuff than I am. He’s a whiz at spreadsheets. The man has a Ph.d in Physical Chemistry. You don’t get one of those without doing a few math problems.

Lately, I’ve been getting my wish. My husband has been talking with a financial advisor at the university he works for, and having clear, honest conversations with me about our money.

This seemed like the perfect time for me to read Mary Hunt’s How to Debt-Proof Your Marriage.

Relationship first

Hunt’s book covers the basics of personal finance and debt destruction, with a special focus on doing it as a couple. Before she even begins talking about financial management, Hunt talks about strengthening the foundations of your marriage. You can’t have financial harmony without emotional intimacy, she says.

I couldn’t agree more. It’s clear in my own marriage that spending time relaxing together on vacation helped my husband and me both chill out and have better conversations during our family finance meetings too.

Hunt and I part ways in the chapters about how to achieve that emotional intimacy, though. She bases her prescription for marital bliss on traditional gender roles. She includes chapters for each sex on how to make deposits in the other’s Love Bank — a metaphorical bank of goodwill made of small, loving gestures.

The Love Bank is an adorable idea, one I’m tempted to put into practice here in my own home. I’m pretty sure I won’t be making my deposits to my husband’s Love Bank by biting my tongue when I disagree with him, though. Likewise, I don’t expect him to express his love for me by bringing me flowers and handling all the tough decisions for me like the natural leader of our family should.

Hunt is a generation (or two) older than I am, and what works for her marriage is so foreign to my young, feminist mind that it was actually a little hard to read. But leaving aside the details of how you get to an intimate marriage, though, she and I agree wholeheartedly that it’s important to get your emotional needs met before you can effectively work together with your spouse to manage your finances.

Money second

The personal-finance half of the book will be familiar to most GRS readers. Hunt advocates an approach similar to Your Money or Your Life and Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover, one that begins with calculating your net worth and tracking your expenses. From there, she covers the basics of setting up an emergency fund, creating a spending plan, and starting a debt snowball (though she uses different terms for these steps).

Like her ideal of a healthy relationship, Hunt’s financial advice seems a little dated in places. A lot of it has to do with how to organize your three-ring binders, or how to painstakingly accomplish by-hand calculations that Mint can do for you in a few minutes. If you’re a devotee of the pen-and-paper approach, though, her chapters on how to track and plan your spending are rock solid and detailed enough to easily follow.

The one thing in this book that made me want to put it down, run to my office, and implement it on the spot was, in fact, her filing system. Hunt takes a few pages to go over exactly what personal records you should be keeping, and outlines an elegant effective way to organize them. I spent an hour tearing apart my filing cabinet yesterday as soon as I read those pages. I may not want my marriage to look much like hers, but I’m delighted to have made over my filing cabinet in Mary Hunt’s image.

Different views

There are a few areas where Mary’s financial advice deviates from the usual Get Rich Slowly formula. One is the matter of the debt snowball. She encourages readers to start saving 10% of their income towards an emergency fund immediately, while still paying the minimums on their credit cards. Only after saving up a fully funded six-month emergency fund would Hunt advise you to roll those savings into your credit card payments.

Given the relative interest rates on credit cards and savings accounts, this approach will almost certainly cost you money. If it works for you psychologically, though, by all means pursue it. No matter what order you do them in, the key steps of tracking your spending, creating an emergency fund, and snowballing your debt payments will lead you to financial security.

Another place where she breaks with conventional wisdom is in her savings and spending ratios. GRS readers are familiar with the Balanced Money Formula that encourages us to use 50% of our money for living expenses, 30% for fun and 20% for savings. Hunt advises 10% for giving, 10% for saving and 80% for spending.

The order of those percentages is vital to her. A devout Christian, Hunt feels that all the money that comes into your life is a blessing from God, and promptly giving 10% of it back to God shows you can be trusted with this blessing, and more of it will come your way.

I’m not a Christian, but I admire Mary’s faith and devotion to charitable giving. It’s a goal of mine to give 10% of my income. I’ve written about that here before, and readers made a persuasive case for waiting until my debts were paid before giving so much away. For now, I give a modest amount and look forward to giving more in the future.

I think that for Hunt, the psychological benefits of giving 10% and saving 10% before you make any spending decisions at all outweigh the financial benefits of paying off your debts as fast as possible and then beginning to accumulate and donate wealth.

It’s an interesting approach, and one that might work for a lot of people. Particularly if you’re a devoted Christian and looking for a personal-finance book that reflects your values, you’ll find a lot of good in How to Debt-Proof Your Marriage. If you’re looking for a book that’s totally focused on financial savvy and relationship skills, though, this might not be your best bet.

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Events of the last week have made the Deficit Commission an embarrassment. Co-Chair Alan Simpson is a one-man disaster movie, compulsively offending one key voting bloc after another. Commission member Paul Ryan faced an angry crowd over his anti-Social Security stance, while another Commissioner locked experienced workers out of a nuclear facility rather than provide retirement benefits.

That's right: He's cutting retirement benefits.

But if the political blowback is obvious, here's what isn't: The Commissioners who are determined to cut your Social Security benefits are going to enjoy their own retirements in comfort. Their own pension plans insulate them from the fears that many other Americans face, and they don't have the professional expertise that would help them understand those concerns. In fact, the Commission's only expert on retirement is Rep. Jan Schakowsky, and she apparently opposes benefit cuts. The rest of the Commission is dominated by people who've expressed their desire to cut Social Security, despite their own secure futures. Millions of working Americans who have contributed to Social Security all their lives will lose out if these Commissioners have their way.

Happy Labor Day.

Normally I consider it off-limits to discuss people's personal finances when discussing their political opinions. But these Commissioners' lack of subject matter expertise, along with their lack of empathy, is important. If you don't know much about the topic and are protected from the problem, what makes you credible? Their pre-established prejudices makes the situation even worse, and their own situations underscore the irony of their self-professed willingness to make "brave choices" - choices whose consequences will mean little or nothing to them.

The Commission's Social Security obsession is odd anyway, since the projected Social Security shortfall comes out to only 0.7% of GDP. Nevertheless, these Commissioners have made their benefit-cutting intentions plain, presumably because they want to offer up America's seniors as a sacrifice to the bond markets. So how will these would-be income-slashers for the elderly make out in their own golden years? They'll be golden.

Consider Commissioner Alice Rivlin. Rivlin co-authored a paper that called for raising the retirement age and other benefit cuts, and recently released a specious paper about "Saving Social Security." As a former HEW Undersecretary, CBO Director, White House Budget Director, and Federal Reserve Vice Chair, she will presumably enjoy a comfortable retirement supported by multiple public pensions. Says Rivlin: ""We can't get out of this problem without doing both spending cuts, especially slowing the growth of entitlement, and tax increases."

Experts on Social Security finance (including the long-time Chief Actuary for the program) flatly disagree with Rivlin, pointing out that an adjustment to the payroll tax cap would unquestionably be enough to get the job done. They have the numbers to prove it. So why does Rivlin, who does not have their expertise in this area, disagree? Go ask Alice.

Co-Chair Erskine Bowles brokered a deal with Newt Gingrich to cut Social Security in the 1990s, when he served as Bill Clinton's Chief of Staff. Before that he headed the Small Business Administration, so his government tenure presumably qualifies him for a Federal pension. If not, don't worry: He receives $425,000 per year in his current job running the public universities of North Carolina, and the people of North Carolina are presumably also funding a pension on his behalf. To his credit, Bowles pledged to donate $125,000 of his salary for need-based student funds - but then, he can afford it. As the son of a US Congressman, Bowles had the education and connections needed to make millions as an investment banker. The added income he earns today as a Board member for General Motors and Morgan Stanley will help, too - and his government experience undoubtedly helped him win those positions, too.

Republican Rep. Paul Ryan, an aggressive advocate of Social Security cuts and privatization, will also enjoy his sunset years in comfort, thanks to a publicly-funded pension from his tenure as a Congressman. (He'll presumably earn even more as a result of his employment as an aide to two United States Senators.) Rep. Jeb Hensaerling has served as both a Representative and as an aide to Sen. Phil Gramm, so he should be safe from financial insecurity in his old age too .

The average annual pension payments for former members of Congress ranged from $41,000 to $55,000 in 2002, considerably more than the average $13,836 that Social Security recipients received in 2009. Yet neither Ryan nor Hensaerling have proposed cutting Congressional retirement benefits - nor should they. Sound pension plans like theirs were once available to most working Americans, and more effort should be made to restore them.

Former SEIU President Andrew Stern, who once might have been counted on to defend Social Security, recently sneered at Commission critics as "assassins of change" while saying that "all entitlements should be on the table." Mr. Stern's annual pension is $152,000 - and he retired at the age of 59, not 70. Nevertheless, Stern now publicly muses about "whether defined benefit pensions can really exist in the long run in a globalized economy."

Judd Gregg, who wants to raise the retirement age to 70, will receive a Federal pension for his Senate position. Gregg, like Alan Simpson, is the son of a Governor (self-made men, you might say), which means that public pensions also ensured that neither of them had to worry about supporting their aged parents. Tom Coburn, another would-be Social Security cutter, will receive a Congressional and Senatorial pension too.

David Cote, the CEO of Honeywell, provides some "private enterprise" perspective to the Commission's work. But Cote's wealth comes in part from Honeywell's government contracts, which exceed $4 billion annually. What's more, Cote's "free enterprise" ethic didn't stop him from making sure that Honeywell grabbed a few million in stimulus money from the taxpayers, too. A few billion from the Pentagon here, a few million more from Uncle Sam there - that'll plump up the nest egg a little for Mr. Cote's sunset years.

Cote made the headlines this week when Honeywell locked out the union workers at a nuclear power plant over a labor dispute - even though the workers agreed to stay on the job to protect public safety. Instead, Cote hired replacements and put them through a pared-down training process. The image of Homer Simpson comes to mind, pushing the wrong buttons and spilling beer on the reactor console - which would presumably make Cote Mr. Burns.

But it's no joking matter. Apparently there's real danger, which is why the Nuclear Regulatory Commission reportedly stepped in to block Honeywell from distilling uranium with its crew of replacement workers And what are the union and Honeywell arguing about? Honeywell's raising health care costs - and eliminating retiree pension plans for new workers.

That's right. A member of the Commission that's pretending to judge our retirement security with impartiality would rather have hastily-trained amateurs handle nuclear materials than bargain openly with his workers - about their retirement. D'oh!

As for Simpson (Alan, not Bart), to say that he suffers from "political Tourette's syndrome" would be a disservice to Tourette's sufferers. Most of them don't really say socially objectionable things, and those who do (it's called "coprolalia") don't mean what they say. But Simpson does. By attacking senior citizens as "greedy geezers," then offending women with his "milk cow with 100 million tits" comment, and now offending veterans' groups, Simpson has now hit the voting bloc trifecta.

And Cote's outraged labor, a fourth group. But the problem isn't Simpson anymore, or Cote for that matter. It's the Commission itself. The coprolalic curmudgeon Simpson has done a service to the nation. He's drawn attention to the Commission, and to the anti-Social Security biases held by so many of its members - all of whom will retire in comfort, thanks to those whose benefits they would cut. It's the comfortable afflicting the afflicted.

If these Deficit Commission members want their recommendations to have any credibility, they should pledge to live on the same Social Security benefits that they would impose for other Americans. Better yet, they should dedicate themselves to helping provide every American with the kind of retirement security they enjoy. That was part of the social contract this nation embraced during its years of greatest economic growth, the fulfillment of a promise that a lifetime of work should never end with years of deprivation. They should be working to restore that contract, not erode it even further.

One thing is clear: This Commission has no business making recommendations about Social Security.

(Sign a petition asking Congress and the President to protect Social Security from the Deficit Commission. Roger Hickey has more here.)

Additional links:

* Sam Seder and I discussed Social Security this week while co-hosting The Young Turks.

* For further reference on the Commission's members and their biases, see Firedoglake and Talking Points Memo.

* House Democrats are vowing to protect Social Security from any cuts. The polls show why that's a very wise idea.

I am a 25 year old college student (school, job + savings, back to school… long story) and boy do I wish I knew about all the resources available to me back then. Good for you for starting early!

Lucky for me I have 1 parent (divorced) who is so bad with money that I have been scared into financial responsibility from a young age. Was I perfect? Hahaha.. but I am doing better than 95% of my friends are right now so I guess I am doing something right?

Here is my advice:

1. GET A JOB! - 2 shifts a week is all it takes. I have friends who just graduated from college without ever having a job. Result? No work experience so nowhere will hire them. Some had problems even getting an internship! Try for customer service jobs. Employers value people skills more than flipping burgers.

2. BUDGET! - Cant teach an old dog new tricks so it is best to start young. Add up your monthly expenses such as rent/insurance/cell/gas/etc and divide by 2 or 4 (depending on weekly/bi-weekly payday). Put this money in savings and no touchy! Once you can live on that budget a certain % for an emergency fund and then % for savings. The rest is your “fun” money. As others have said: pizza, ipods, and clothes are “fun money” and NOT emergencies!

3. DEBIT, CREDIT, or CASH?

DEBIT- I am a die hard debit card user. My credit union has detailed (free) online banking. I check my online bank statement in the morning and at night and go over my spending. Think of it as an instant virtual slap in the face about your spending habits. It hurts for the best.

CASH - Some people just cant be responsible enough to respect the plastic and do better with cash. Try and keep bigger bills on you. Breaking a $5 is less mentally painful than breaking a $20. $1s are dangerous. That can of coke is “only $1″. $7 a week, $30 a month. It adds up.

CREDIT - Many say don’t get a credit card, but I disagree. If you are responsible college is a great time to build credit (unless you have some serious control issues… if that is the case, these are not the droids you are looking for…). Not building credit early is the BIGGEST regret I have. Good credit means better rates when buying a house or a car. Do your research first. Consider a student, or if you have to a secured card.

More about credit-

*Do NOT apply for a credit card on campus. It is like selling your soul for a candy bar. Every time you apply for a credit card they run a credit check, which “pings” you. Too many pings hurts your credit score. Not good. Friend did that at every kiosk that offered something free to sign up when she was 20. This was 7 years ago and her credit is still recovering! The same is true for store credit cards. Do.Not.WANT!

*Pick a required expense, such as gas or cell phone bill and put it on the credit card. Pay off the card at the end of each month. Repeat.

*Do NOT use your credit card to buy “fun money” purchases. No clothes, no ipods, no pizza. This is why you have your debit card of cash. Don’t even think about it mr.!

4. EATING/DRINKING - This is going to be the weird random one from one young person to another.(Part of this only applies to you on/after your 21st birthday!) The young person’s life revolves around being social. For a 20 something this normally involves dinner and/or drinks with friends. It is expensive! So much money can be saved if you plan ahead!

*Eating - Going out to eat is a much needed social experience but NEVER go out to eat starving! Just like you don’t go shopping when you are hungry you never want to experience the whole “eyes bigger than stomach” thing while dining out. Have a snack an hour or so before you meet friends for dinner. This will help you avoid ordering that $8 appetizer! Also, try and order things that reheat or are good cold. LEFTOVERS! Also, water is free. It is good for you! Coke is $3. Go buy yourself a 12 pack and have one when you get home.

*Drinking - Most 20 somethings drink. It is a very expensive part of our lives. It is a social event to help us forget about school and work. We like bars. Unfortunately $5 for a beer is highway robbery! NEVER go to a bar completely sober (when you are 21+ & no drinky + drivey!). Have a drink or 2 at home and then have a beer at the bar. You will save TONS. Also, bring cash to a bar. Only bring as much cash as your sober self would like to spend. Alcohol impairs judgment. Sober you will thank drunk you for not spending. Drunk you will thank sober you for being smart enough to make sure you can afford the advil to take care of that hangover the next day. It is a win win.

Put all that saved food and drink money towards something that will last.

5. BOOKS - Buy used whenever possible. Check online first because campus stores are normally a ripoff. Try and sell the books back online, even if they have released a new edition. Most student book stores on campus will only give you 1/2 of what someone online will be willing to give you!

6. CARS - Buy used and reliable, but not “cheap”. New cars lose tons of value when you drive them off the lot. Don’t buy a “cheap” used car on it’s last leg. Think Goldilocks - not too new, not too old, juuusssttt right! Save up as much money as possible. Pay for it in cash if you can. If not, save up at least 2/3 before purchasing and do your homework!

And whatever you do: AVOID parking tickets, speeding tickets, registration fines.. may as well light the money on fire! Or if you do not want it I will give it a nice home and save you the trouble.

ca big white booty

If D.C. Can Leak, Why Can't WikiLeaks? « Liveshots

WASHINGTON -- Pentagon leaders seemed unfazed by classified revelations published in Bob Woodward's.

FARC commander 'Mono Jojoy' killed - Colombia news | Colombia Reports

One of the FARC's most senior commanders, Mono Jojoy, was killed by Colombian state forces, several media said on Thursday. The news is not yet confirmed by the authorities.

Official Google Blog: Google News turns eight

Today we celebrate the eighth birthday of Google News. Not long after the tragic events of September 11, 2001, we started building and testing Google News with the aim of helping you find current events from a wide variety of global and ...

If D.C. Can Leak, Why Can't WikiLeaks? « Liveshots

WASHINGTON -- Pentagon leaders seemed unfazed by classified revelations published in Bob Woodward's.

FARC commander 'Mono Jojoy' killed - Colombia news | Colombia Reports

One of the FARC's most senior commanders, Mono Jojoy, was killed by Colombian state forces, several media said on Thursday. The news is not yet confirmed by the authorities.

Official Google Blog: Google News turns eight

big white booty

If D.C. Can Leak, Why Can't WikiLeaks? « Liveshots

WASHINGTON -- Pentagon leaders seemed unfazed by classified revelations published in Bob Woodward's.

FARC commander 'Mono Jojoy' killed - Colombia news | Colombia Reports

One of the FARC's most senior commanders, Mono Jojoy, was killed by Colombian state forces, several media said on Thursday. The news is not yet confirmed by the authorities.

Official Google Blog: Google News turns eight

Thursday, September 23, 2010

How to Making Money

Diddums. Casey Affleck admits that he ‘went broke’ filming his fail movie with Joaquin Phoenix. The movie, I’m Still Here, was filmed over two years and was revealed to be a fake documentary-style movie that Affleck thought anyone with two working eyes and ears would be fooled by. The film showed Phoenix, who would have made interesting material without the pretentious/ staged nature of the movie, doing coke/ hookers and getting pooped on. Or, as I like to call it ‘Wednesday’. That’s some mid-week pAArtying and moviegoers agreed. Affleck’s movie went up against his big brother’s movie, The Town (which topped the US box office and opened on Rotten Tomatoes to a 93% fresh rating), and only took $96,658 in its opening weekend. Sucks to be the less talented brother, and there’s something I never thought I’d say of these two. Speaking to The Telegraph in the UK, Affleck says he came clean about the hoax everyone knew about so as not to permanently damage Phoenix’s reputation. The movie was supposed to be a cynical look at Hollywood and its trappings. Not poop.

Casey Affleck has admitted that I’m Still Here, his hoax documentary about Joaquin Phoenix, was a “planned, staged and scripted work of fiction” that nearly bankrupted him. Affleck said the project was an essay on celebrity culture. “It was pretty much all within the realm of possibility: people use prostitutes, people use drugs, especially in Hollywood. We didn’t take it so far that it wasn’t believable,” he told The Daily Telegraph. “Having something at stake is a great motivator and once this thing became public for me that was very helpful because there was no question: I had to see it through, no matter how long it took. I went broke. I hadn’t worked for more than a year, and I was pouring money into the movie. I had to stop for a month to do The Killer Inside Me. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have been able to finish the film – I was out of money. There was a lot at stake financially and, if we had left [the hoax] there, it would have been very damaging to Joaquin’s career.”

Casey Affleck, Joaquin Phoenix: I’m Still Here mockumentary movie trailer.

Does respecting the opinions of others include despising others, of implying that others will be at fault if the awful Rethugs, whom Obama has been, you will recall, courting with “bipartisanship”?

Does respect entail telling us that what we saw, in print, of Obama’s clear promises, what we heard with our own ears, of Obama’s promises, an Obama many worked for thinking that, as a black man, Obama would be good for the country, and the vote alone, by itself, Was and IS a sign of the good of the country … does respect mean telling us we never saw or heard such things … that we are lying and making things up?

Does respect mean telling people who have watched, closely, the political scene for longer than Obama has been alive, people who were willing and happy to donate time and effort and ideas, people who had and have good, indeed wonderful, ideas, ideas that still must be implemented to avert serious economic and social disaster, that they are “effing r*****s”, in need of a drug test, and of “getting” a “real” life?

Does respect mean peddling fear?

Or does “respect” mean something else perhaps, like appreciation, or at least, tolerance AND the understanding that people who do not agree with you are, possibly, neither stupid nor uninformed?

Apparently, what phred suggested, regarding a party having actual accomplishments and a moral compass is less important than “winning”, when such “winning” simply means more of the same.

Frankly, AC2, it matters little who is in power because the “system” is so corrupt, economically and legally, specifically as regards the rule of law, as Obama has continued and extended the worst of the Bush-Cheney Executive power grab, and the military has far to much power, politically and, in terms of the amount of the nation’s “wealth and treasure”, a stranglehold on the nation’s “looking forward” future, that regardless of who is in “power”, as they are both essentially the same, in spite of YOUR assertions that, somehow, they are not … our society faces very hard times … and to be brutally honest … the pain ought to be shared equally, and the blame, let’s not put it on “progressives”, or even the T-baggers, but on those who have had and do have power, especially Obama who had, despite those who dispute it, a genuine and heartfelt mandate to actually make some changes, which as President, with majorities in both the House and Senate, as well as each and every one of those “Democratic” Senators and Representatives, he and the Democrats COULD have done?

At the very least, respect means not calling others stupid or blaming them for the failures of others.

When the spill in the Gulf occurred, certain pundits intoned, “We are all responsible for this catastrophe.”

But look who is still in business, the largest supplier to the US military, aka Bee Pee.

When the economic meltdown occurred, certain pundits intoned, “It was those who could not afford these homes, but really we are all to blame.”

But look who is getting huge, actually obscene, “bonuses”?

Now you can say, “It’s systemic, and the D’s can’t fix it over-night”

Righto, AC2, righto.

Wonder when they plan to start?

Righto, right after they defeat the awful, evil R’s … well soon thereafter, anyhow.

But it’s hard, doncha know?

Righto.

Now, you will note, AC2, that at no point did I take you, personally, to task or suggest that it will be your fault if disaster befalls us? Nor did phred, for that matter.

Those who differ from you have never said you are to blame, yet you, and other partisans who agree with your viewpoint, charge us with such “responsibility” constantly and consistently,

Nobody “lost” 2000, but the Dems, Gore and Lieberman.

Frankly, AC2, I voted AGAINST Lieberman AND Gore’s apparently happy choice of Lieberman as his running-mate.

And, you know, just between us, AC2, Gore’s behavior, during Bush v. Gore, was not inspiring, to say the least.

Kind of cowardly, like the D’s in general, and certain ones, in particular.

These times, clearly, call for courage and bold innovation, not capitulation to selfish greed, mindless fear, and state secrecy, “secret” law and killing at a distance on the whims of one man or woman. Democrat or Republican. The President of the United States of America.

In my opinion.

News Anchor Barbie: 'A flair for journalism -- and power pink ...

Astronaut Barbie, Newborn Baby Doctor Barbie and Rock Star Barbie, get ready to answer some tough questions asked by journalist Barbie. The 125th -- and newest -- career path for Mattel's 51-year-old doll is news anchor, and she's ...

Official Google Blog: Google News turns eight

Small Business News: The Times They Are A Changing

In the 60's it was a song of revolution when change was just not as common. Today, it reflects a fact of life, at least for small business owners and.

robert shumake

News Anchor Barbie: 'A flair for journalism -- and power pink ...

Official Google Blog: Google News turns eight

Small Business News: The Times They Are A Changing

In the 60's it was a song of revolution when change was just not as common. Today, it reflects a fact of life, at least for small business owners and.

Casey Affleck has admitted that I’m Still Here, his hoax documentary about Joaquin Phoenix, was a “planned, staged and scripted work of fiction” that nearly bankrupted him. Affleck said the project was an essay on celebrity culture. “It was pretty much all within the realm of possibility: people use prostitutes, people use drugs, especially in Hollywood. We didn’t take it so far that it wasn’t believable,” he told The Daily Telegraph. “Having something at stake is a great motivator and once this thing became public for me that was very helpful because there was no question: I had to see it through, no matter how long it took. I went broke. I hadn’t worked for more than a year, and I was pouring money into the movie. I had to stop for a month to do The Killer Inside Me. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have been able to finish the film – I was out of money. There was a lot at stake financially and, if we had left [the hoax] there, it would have been very damaging to Joaquin’s career.”

Casey Affleck, Joaquin Phoenix: I’m Still Here mockumentary movie trailer.

Does respect mean peddling fear?

Or does “respect” mean something else perhaps, like appreciation, or at least, tolerance AND the understanding that people who do not agree with you are, possibly, neither stupid nor uninformed?

Apparently, what phred suggested, regarding a party having actual accomplishments and a moral compass is less important than “winning”, when such “winning” simply means more of the same.

At the very least, respect means not calling others stupid or blaming them for the failures of others.

When the spill in the Gulf occurred, certain pundits intoned, “We are all responsible for this catastrophe.”

But look who is still in business, the largest supplier to the US military, aka Bee Pee.

When the economic meltdown occurred, certain pundits intoned, “It was those who could not afford these homes, but really we are all to blame.”

But look who is getting huge, actually obscene, “bonuses”?

Now you can say, “It’s systemic, and the D’s can’t fix it over-night”

Righto, AC2, righto.

Wonder when they plan to start?

Righto, right after they defeat the awful, evil R’s … well soon thereafter, anyhow.

But it’s hard, doncha know?

Righto.

Now, you will note, AC2, that at no point did I take you, personally, to task or suggest that it will be your fault if disaster befalls us? Nor did phred, for that matter.

Those who differ from you have never said you are to blame, yet you, and other partisans who agree with your viewpoint, charge us with such “responsibility” constantly and consistently,

Nobody “lost” 2000, but the Dems, Gore and Lieberman.

Frankly, AC2, I voted AGAINST Lieberman AND Gore’s apparently happy choice of Lieberman as his running-mate.

And, you know, just between us, AC2, Gore’s behavior, during Bush v. Gore, was not inspiring, to say the least.

Kind of cowardly, like the D’s in general, and certain ones, in particular.

In my opinion.

robert shumake

News Anchor Barbie: 'A flair for journalism -- and power pink ...

Official Google Blog: Google News turns eight

Small Business News: The Times They Are A Changing

In the 60's it was a song of revolution when change was just not as common. Today, it reflects a fact of life, at least for small business owners and.

robert shumake

News Anchor Barbie: 'A flair for journalism -- and power pink ...

Official Google Blog: Google News turns eight

Small Business News: The Times They Are A Changing

In the 60's it was a song of revolution when change was just not as common. Today, it reflects a fact of life, at least for small business owners and.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Making Money Cash

The newly formed �super PAC� of abortion rights advocacy group EMILY�s List drew most of the $430,000 it raised in August from just five sources, a Center for Responsive Politics review of campaign finance reports filed Thursday shows.

Last month, the PAC, known as Women Vote!, raised $250,000 from the Service Employees International Union and another $95,000 from four wealthy women philanthropists and investors who have been prolific political donors over the years, according to a Center for Responsive Politics analysis. Such contributions illustrate how relatively few people may now, in the aftermath of major federal court decisions, significantly affect the financial fortunes of certain political groups.

This $95,000 represents more than 50 percent of all non-SEIU contributions Women Vote! collected in August.

The largest individual contribution the group received in August came from New York investor Judith-Ann Corrente, who contributed $50,000.

Along with her husband, Blenheim Capital Management Chairman Willem Kooyker, Corrente is among the top 50 donors to all federal candidates, parties and committees so far this election cycle.

The other women to drop five-figure checks for the committee are as follows:

Anne D. Taft, of Binghamton, N.Y. She contributed $25,000 and her occupation is listed as �investor� on the group�s Federal Election Commission filings

Emily H. Fisher, a philanthropist who lives in Sheffield, Mass. She contributed $10,000 and her occupation is listed as �retired� on the group�s FEC filings

Anne Bartley, of San Francisco. She contributed $10,000. Her occupation is listed as �investor� on the group�s FEC filings. She is married to Larry B. McNeil -- who is the director of the SEIU�s Institute for Change and who was a �Saul Alinski organizer for 25 years,� according to an official online biography

Bartley is also currently a trustee of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. (Full disclosure: This foundation is a funder of the Center for Responsive Politics.)

The EMILY�s List�s Women Vote! PAC was established earlier this year for the explicit purpose of making independent expenditures in hot races, for example, running advertisements overtly telling voters to support or defeat specific candidates. It is one of more than two dozen groups to register with the FEC as an �independent expenditure-only committee,� as OpenSecrets Blog has previously written about on numerous occasions.

The group has raised $1.5 million between January and August. It ended August with about $703,000 cash on hand.

It has spent $826,900 since January, including $65,800 on mailings in August touting Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Robin Carnahan and opposing Republican Senate candidate Roy Blunt in Missouri.

During previous election cycles, federal rules limited how much money PACs could collect from individuals. It was illegal to collect more than $5,000 per person, per year. But recent federal legal rulings -- including Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission and SpeechNow.org v. Federal Election Commission -- have changed that.

A California man who helped funnel stolen cash to a global network of hackers and carders was sentenced Thursday to 6 years in prison for conspiracy to launder money. 

Cesar Carranza, 38, also known as “uBuyWeRush,” ran a legitimate business selling liquidation and overstock merchandise online and from three California stores.

But, according to an indictment (.pdf), he also sold MSR-206’s to carders to encode stolen bank card data onto blank cards, and he served as a conduit to transmit stolen money between mules and carders.

He worked with many of the top carders in the criminal underground between 2003 and 2006, including Maksim “Maksik” Yastremskiy, a Ukrainian carder who allegedly worked with TJX hacker Albert Gonzalez and was considered by authorities to be one of the top sellers of stolen card data on the internet.

In 2003 and 2004, Carranza became an approved and trusted vendor on online criminal forums such as CarderPlanet and Shadowcrew, advertising his goods and services and dispensing advice on the best tools to use for various criminal endeavors.

According to court records, he admitted in messages he posted to the forums that he himself had done carding between 1990 and 1998, but retired to become a vendor for other carders.

“I decided to supply all you guys making the real big bucks,” he allegedly wrote. “So if you need me I sell Card Printers, Card Embossers, Tippers, Encoders, Small Readers and more.”

He was first arrested in California in 2004, but was never charged with a crime. Although he was selling MSR-206s through eBay at the time, selling the devices is not illegal. Carranza told Threat Level, however, that police accused him of selling his merchandise to terrorists.

He subsequently sold off his MSR business. But, according to court records, his services as a money launderer for carders continued to flourish, even though it was clear that law enforcement agencies were closely watching him.

Hackers in East Europe and elsewhere would steal credit and debit card numbers and PINs through phishing and other means, then pass the data to so-called mules in the U.S., who would encode the numbers onto the magnetic stripe of blank cards, then use the cards to withdraw money from the accounts at ATMs. They would then send the money back to their co-conspirators in East Europe through Western Union or through e-Gold, an online digital currency.

Authorities say Carranza helped launder about $2.5 million in this way by operating as an e-Gold money exchanger. The mules would give him cash or deposit money into his bank account, and he would either transfer the money to the bank account of another e-Gold exchanger who would convert it to e-Gold for a carder, or he would change the money himself into e-Gold currency through his own e-Gold account, then transfer it to the e-Gold account of carders in East Europe and elsewhere. They would then use a local e-Gold money exchanger to convert the digital fund into their local currency.

One such mule who transmitted stolen money in this way described to Threat Level in 2006 how he obtained hundreds of stolen card numbers from Romanian phishers and Russian hackers that he met online. The man, who used the nickname “John Dillinger,” withdrew more than $150,000 from ATM machines before transferring the money back to East Europe through Western Union and through an e-Gold money exchanger in California.

In addition to laundering stolen funds, authorities say Carranza was a middleman for carders to purchase “dumps” (account and other data stored on a bank card’s magnetic stripe) from one another.

Around January 4, 2006, according to authorities, Carranza transferred about $15,000 worth of e-Gold to the e-Gold account of a carder who went by the nickname “CC-2″ — a known specialist in hacking financial databases and siphoning card data to sell to other criminals. Carranza indicated in a note to the transaction that he was retaining a 6-percent commission for the service. He transferred another $45,000 worth of e-Gold to CC-2’s account over the next two months. In March and April 2006, authorities say he also transferred $33,000 to Maksim Yastremskiy. The latter was arrested in Turkey in 2007 and sentenced to 30 years in prison there and is still wanted in the U.S. for his alleged role in the TJX carding ring.

Between 2003 and 2007, authorities say that more than $2 million went into and out of Carranza’s e-Gold account.

In 2006, e-Gold, under investigation for facilitating money laundering between carders, froze two of Carranza’s e-Gold accounts, which contained about $19,000 at the time. Carranza told Threat Level then that he was considering legal action against e-Gold to release his funds. “I no longer trust the e-gold integrity,” he said. He didn’t follow through on the threat.

He was indicted in 2008 on charges of conspiring to commit access device fraud and money laundering. He pleaded guilty last December to one count of conspiring to launder stolen money.

See also:

Ukrainian Carding King ‘Maksik’ Was Lured to Arrest

In Gonzalez Hacking Case, a High-Stakes Fight Over a Ukrainian’s Laptop

I Was a Cybercrook for the FBI

Confessions of a Cybermule

Bullion and Bandits: The Improbable Rise and Fall of E-Gold

E-Gold Gets Tough on Crime

The American Spectator : ABC News' Credibility 'Lost in Translation'

ABC News President David Westin is resigning and plans to leave the company before the end of the year, reportedly because of friction between him and executives at parent Walt Disney Company over the network's poor profits. ...

Wednesday News « The Confluence

In news related to Michelle raising more money, the GOP seems to be short of it. Gosh, other than 8 years of a failed presidency, and then attacking the popular candidates and their supporters just as the Dems are doing, I can't imagine ...

Google New: It's Google News About New Google Stuff In One Place

In terms of blog networks, no one ever seems to talk about Google, but they actually have one of the biggest. The search giant has well over 100 blogs devoted to everything from general company news to niche things that only webmasters ...

robert shumake

The American Spectator : ABC News' Credibility 'Lost in Translation'

Wednesday News « The Confluence

Google New: It's Google News About New Google Stuff In One Place

Anne D. Taft, of Binghamton, N.Y. She contributed $25,000 and her occupation is listed as �investor� on the group�s Federal Election Commission filings

Emily H. Fisher, a philanthropist who lives in Sheffield, Mass. She contributed $10,000 and her occupation is listed as �retired� on the group�s FEC filings

Anne Bartley, of San Francisco. She contributed $10,000. Her occupation is listed as �investor� on the group�s FEC filings. She is married to Larry B. McNeil -- who is the director of the SEIU�s Institute for Change and who was a �Saul Alinski organizer for 25 years,� according to an official online biography

A California man who helped funnel stolen cash to a global network of hackers and carders was sentenced Thursday to 6 years in prison for conspiracy to launder money. 

Cesar Carranza, 38, also known as “uBuyWeRush,” ran a legitimate business selling liquidation and overstock merchandise online and from three California stores.

According to court records, he admitted in messages he posted to the forums that he himself had done carding between 1990 and 1998, but retired to become a vendor for other carders.

“I decided to supply all you guys making the real big bucks,” he allegedly wrote. “So if you need me I sell Card Printers, Card Embossers, Tippers, Encoders, Small Readers and more.”

Between 2003 and 2007, authorities say that more than $2 million went into and out of Carranza’s e-Gold account.

He was indicted in 2008 on charges of conspiring to commit access device fraud and money laundering. He pleaded guilty last December to one count of conspiring to launder stolen money.

See also:

Ukrainian Carding King ‘Maksik’ Was Lured to Arrest

In Gonzalez Hacking Case, a High-Stakes Fight Over a Ukrainian’s Laptop

I Was a Cybercrook for the FBI

Confessions of a Cybermule

Bullion and Bandits: The Improbable Rise and Fall of E-Gold

E-Gold Gets Tough on Crime

robert shumake