World Economy

Hotels in Europe- best value

2012-01-28T20:26:00.000-08:00

Keys to the cities

When in room ... and from Hotel Le Continental, Bordeaux.

A Bordeaux bolthole for $120 a night? A riverside retreat in Lisbon for the same? Here's our guide to some of Europe's best-value hotels and guesthouses this season.

Welcome Hotel, Brussels

Situated in the area formerly occupied by the canal dock and fish market, within easy walking distance of the Grand Place, this small hotel of 17 rooms is notable for its individualism - each room is themed to evoke exotic travel: Bali, Zanzibar, the Silk Road. It has recently added a family room for up to five people.

23 Quai au Bois a Bruler. Double rooms from €109 ($134). Also recommended: Le Dixseptieme (from €100).

Hotel Stari Grad, Dubrovnik

Stari Grad means "old town" and that's where this small, comfortable three-star hotel is located. It's more of a boutique bed and breakfast than a hotel, with just eight rooms in a refurbished 17th-century stone building in a narrow stone alley off Placa. The atmosphere is old-fashioned, romantic and welcoming.

Od Sigurate 4, Old Town. Rooms from €140. Also recommended: Hotel Lapad, (from €70); and Berkeley (from €55).

Villa Emilia, Barcelona

This great-value boutique hotel works hard to compensate for a slightly out-of-centre location (in the left of the Eixample, just off the Gran Via). It has a winning blend of modern design and antique furnishings, attentive service and a secluded rooftop terrace.

Calle Calabria 115-117, Eixample. Double rooms from €124. Also recommended: Barcelo Raval (from €113), Chic & Basic (from €103), Hotel Espana (from €96).

The Savic, Prague

This Old Town hotel has been transformed from a neglected apartment building into one of Prague's most gorgeous and popular properties. Thorough renovation has created a secluded atmosphere and a warm, unstated charm. So effective has it been that you'll need to book at least a month in advance, even in winter.

Jilska 7, Prague 1 . Double rooms from €85. Also recommended: The Icon (from €90), Hotel Yasmin (from €93), Hotel Elite (from €62), Hotel Josef (from €109).

Hotel Regence, Nice

On Nice's liveliest pedestrian street, the Regence has astonishing flair for a two-star hotel. The lobby and lounge are as big as a ballroom and furnished splendidly in bright, art deco style. There are white columns and balustrades, swathes of red-pink ochre and swirls of frescoes. Upstairs, the 61 rooms are less ornate but more than adequate.

21 Rue Massena. Double rooms from €65. Also recommended: Hotel Villa Rivoli (from €80).

Michelberger Hotel, Berlin

Although it falls into a budget category, the hotel is the work of well-known designer Werner Aisslinger, who has ensured the whole place yells youthful creativity. There's a courtyard that doubles as a beer garden and concert venue. Like the rest of the hotel, the rooms are individually designed in a dizzying variety of themes, with plenty of flea-market furniture and quirky fixtures such as mirrors dangling from ropes. You won't find much formality; it's more like being among helpful friends.

Warschauer Strausse 39-40. Double rooms from €60. Also recommended: Weinmeister (from €92.50).

Hotel Le Continental, Bordeaux

Check into a pied-a-terre right in Bordeaux's Golden Triangle - the heart of the city - for the cost of two courses in some of the nearby restaurants. This hotel is one of the best deals in town, and more refined and welcoming than you have any right to expect at two-star prices.

10 Rue Montesquieu. Double rooms from €96. Also recommended: Hotel Majestic (from €89), Hotel La Tour Intendance (from €92.50), Hotel L'Avant-Scene (€103).

La Dimora degli Angeli, Florence

This nine-room guesthouse, just off the cathedral square, feels more like a boutique hotel than a bed and breakfast, with its colourful, romantic decor and iconic centro-storico views. Most of the rooms have great views of the Duomo. The reception "desk" is staffed only from 8am to 1pm, but there's a phone number for emergencies and the owner, Claudio, is a helpful host.

Via de' Brunelleschi 4. Double rooms from €85.80 Also recommended: Hotel Casci (from €80).

AD Place, Venice

On a canal by La Fenice Opera House in the San Marco district, AD Place is blissfully quiet, except when the opera crowds gather below or gondoliers belt out songs as they pass. The attention to detail and friendly, well-informed staff make this a stylish and relaxing place to stay. The rooms vary in size but each is individually decorated and there's a lovely roof terrace from which to survey the Venetian cityscape.

San Marco Fondamenta della Fenice 2557/A. Double rooms from €120. Also recommended: Al Ponte Mocenigo (from €115).

Modigliani, Rome

This charming hotel is a hybrid of a traditional Roman three-star and a funky boutique hotel. Central but secluded, it sits among neighbourhood shops and bars in a quiet lane. Just down the road is the transport hub of Piazza Barberini, and the Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps and fashion district are a short walk away. The service is excellent, and the garden patio and playful modern-art theme are two unexpected features.

Via della Purificazione 42. Double rooms from €85. Also recommended: Raffaello (from €120).

Palazzo Failla, Sicily

This elegant 10-room boutique hotel occupies an aristocratic town house in the upper part of Modica, and still breathes the Gattopardo atmosphere of old Sicily, with its antique decor and courteous service. The rooms have changed little since the palazzo's heyday, featuring Belle Epoque-tiled floors and elaborately frescoed ceilings - although all come with satellite television, free wi-fi and instant hot water. The hotel's restaurant, La Gazza Ladra, a couple of doors down, has a Michelin star.

Via Blandini 5. Double rooms from €115. Also recommended: L'Orto sul Tetto (from €75).

Ibrahim Pasha, Istanbul

There are boutique hotels aplenty in Istanbul and, in an understated way, this one is perhaps the best. It is fashioned from a pair of tall, early-20th-century town houses, and the contemporary makeover inside enhances its Ottoman roots: think blonde-wood floors and crisp white bed linen. Other bonuses are the views from the funky roof terrace and the intimate breakfast room.

Terzihane Sok 7, Sultanahmet. Double rooms from €99. Also recommended: Richmond (from €115), Empress Zoe Hotel (from €54).

LX Boutique, Lisbon

Newly spruced up, bright, airy and modern, this hotel by the river offers the perfect urban retreat. It couldn't be better placed for riverfront views and city-centre access. The five storeys are split between iconic Lisbon themes, such as a sultry fado floor, a literary floor and a boho Bairro Alto-themed floor. Choose a front-facing room, with views over the terracotta rooftops.

Rua do Alecrim 12. Double rooms from €95. Also recommended: Jeronimos 8 (from €78).

Vesta Hotel, St Petersburg

Perhaps St Petersburg's best-value hotel, the functional Vesta is slap bang is the city centre. It is spacious enough, minimalist and decorated in what can only be described as IKEA style, but adequate if you simply need a place to rest your bones after a day's sightseeing - and you can't get more central than Nevsky Prospekt. The efficient staff make time for the hotel's relatively small number of guests - they'll even provide guides and interpreters.

Nevsky Prospekt 92. Double rooms from 3300 roubles ($101). Also recommended: St Petersburg Hotel (from 2,900 roubles).

Vincci Via 66, Madrid

This original 1940s building on the Gran Via has been dramatically revamped while retaining original features, including a curving marble staircase and stained-glass windows. There are fabulous views across the city to the Guadarrama mountains from the spectacular roof terrace, where there is also a small spa. The 116 rooms are decorated with sumptuous fabrics and huge black-and-white photographs. Top-quality soundproofing ensures no noise problems from the very busy avenue, and the British manager is fanatical about good service.

Gran Via 66. Double rooms from €76. Also recommended: Petit Palace Art Gallery (€110), Room Mate Alicia (€84).

Seven Bridges Hotel, Amsterdam

This 300-year-old canal house is beautifully furnished with the owners' impressive collection of antiques (a rare Dutch Empire recamier in reception; in the bedrooms, up a 15th-century oak staircase, a priceless little Louis XVI table and so on). The best rooms are those with canal views, though the ones at street level can be noisy. The hotel has expanded to a second 17th-century canal house next door.

Reguliersgracht 31. Double rooms from €120. Also recommended: Hotel V (from €85), citizenM (from €104).

Ochre & Brown, Athens

First impressions might be a little misleading, as the area is full of junk shops and appears seedy. In fact, the Ochre & Brown has a great location for combining culture and nightlife: it lies midway between the Acropolis and Gazi, a 15-minute walk to each along pedestrian-only promenades. The hotel's stylish decor and endlessly helpful staff also impress. The 22 rooms and suites are furnished in contemporary style, with fabrics in earthy hues. There are great pillows and duvets, a DVD library, free wi-fi, Molton Brown toiletries, a good buffet breakfast and Mediterranean fare in the restaurant.

Leokoriou 7, Psiri. Double rooms from €150 Also recommended: Fresh Hotel (from €109), Hotel Philippos (from €83), Hotel Plaka (from €109).

Lato Hotel, Crete

Futuristic rather than minimalist, with edgy furniture and bright splodges of colour throughout, the Lato is a departure from the usual soothing earth tones of most "contemporary" Greek hotels. All 53 rooms have the usual mod cons and most have balconies. A highlight is the trio of on-site restaurants celebrating Cretan cuisine, notably the Brilliant Gourmet and the rooftop Herbs' Garden.

Epimenidou 15, Heraklion. Double rooms from €65.50. Also recommended: Minoa Palace Resort & Spa (from €114), Veneto Hotel (from €112).

- Telegraph, London

QBE is a bargain buy

2012-01-28T16:27:00.000-08:00

QBE is a bargain buy

QBE INSUR. FPO

(ASX: QBE.AX )

Last Trade:	11.82
Trade Time:	27 Jan 16:10
Change:	0.04 (0.34%)
Prev Close:	11.78
Open:	11.75
Bid:	11.80
Ask:	11.87
1y Target Est:	13.14

Day's Range:	11.71 - 11.99
52wk Range:	9.88 - 19.60
Volume:	5,750,907
Avg Vol (3m):	5,303,490
Market Cap:	12.87B
P/E (ttm):	8.70
EPS (ttm):	1.36
Div & Yield:	N/A (N/A)

Mitt Romney pays lower taxes than average American

2012-01-24T00:53:00.001-08:00

Tax returns reveal Republican presidential contender paid about 15% in tax on $45m income over past two years

Chris McGreal in Tampa
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 24 January 2012 08.14 GMT
Article history

The low tax paid by Mitt Romney will add to criticism of how the Republican presidential contender's firm made large profits by throwing people out of work. Photograph: Tristan Spinski/Corbis

Mitt Romney paid taxes on his multimillion-dollar income at a rate far below that of the average American, his tax returns reveal.

The returns, which the Republican presidential contender had steadfastly refused to release until now, show Romney earned $45m (£29m) over the past two years and paid just $6.2m in taxes, a rate of about 15%. Most of the income was derived from investments from his $200m-plus fortune.

The documents show Romney's income places him in the top 1% of earners in the US, which is only likely to add to the political embarrassment around the release of the returns because of its resonance in the age of the Occupy movement.

Romney's rivals for the Republican nomination will tread carefully in attempting to exploit his vast income and low taxes, in part because they have it as an article of faith that government spending, and therefore taxes, are far too high. But if he is the Republican presidential nominee against Barack Obama, the Democrats can be expected to portray his extreme wealth and relatively low taxes as a prime example of how the rich do not pay their fair share while shifting the burden to the less privileged.

It will also undermine Romney's attempts to make out he is an just an ordinary American who "lived in the real streets of America" and "didn't inherit money from my parents" when his critics portray him as a greedy corporate raider whose firm, Bain Capital, made large profits by throwing people out of work.

In Tuesday's Republican debate, shortly before his returns were made public, Romney offered up a defence.

"I pay all the taxes that are legally required and not a dollar more," he said. "I don't think you want someone as the candidate for president who pays more taxes than he owes."

But he recognised that it could be a political problem.

"You'll see how complicated taxes can be. And will there be discussion? Sure. Will it be an article? Yeah. But is it entirely legal and fair? Absolutely. I'm proud of the fact that I pay a lot of taxes," he said.

The returns show Romney paid a smaller proportion of his income in tax than most Americans because his income is from investments from his $200m-plus fortune, which attract a lower rate than earned income.

In 2010, Romney earned more than $21m and paid $3m in tax, a rate of less than 14%. He expects to pay $3.2m in taxes on his 2011 income, a rate of 15.4%.

He and his wife, Ann, donated $4.1m to the Mormon church and about $3m to other charitable causes. The money given to a church that many on the Republican right do not regard as Christian may not sit well with some voters.

Romney is still refusing to release tax returns for earlier years, leading some critics to speculate that he paid even less tax back then, before he knew he was going to run again for president.

Newt Gingrich revealed at the weekend that he paid nearly $1m in income tax, a rate of about 31%.

The Obamas had a joint income of $1.7m in 2010, much of it from sales of the president's two popular books. They paid 26% in tax.

Welfare cuts: now they're slamming the door on the truly desperate

2012-01-24T00:21:00.000-08:00

After a dismal day in the Lords comes the cruellest cut to the welfare state, in which emergency loans go over to 'local' control

- Polly Toynbee
- guardian.co.uk, Monday 23 January 2012 20.30 GMT
- Article history

St Mungo's hostel in London. Emergency loans are clawed back from subsequent payments. Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian

No, said the Department for Work and Pensions, you can't visit a jobcentre to talk to social fund claimants. That's the first no I've ever had from the DWP's press officers, always helpful under both Labour and Tory governments. I have frequently sat in on interviews, so long as claimants were willing. But the Iain Duncan Smith-Chris Grayling regime has pulled down the shutters.

What's to hide? Much human misery, as the welfare reform bill hastens through parliament with disappointingly minimal Lords amendments, for all their bluster. On Wednesday they debate the social fund – an awkward lump in the social security system, small potatoes, yet a last lifeline for the utterly destitute. Now it's to be abolished: cut by 39%; the remaining £178m will be dispersed to local authorities but not ringfenced. Many councils admit they will spend it on other things. No wonder ministers don't want journalists meeting the people about to be cut adrift.

The social fund section in a jobcentre office is set apart, the locked door opened by an official with a swipe card, by previous appointment. It's like an airport VIP lounge, but this zone isolates the VDPs, Very Desperate People. There they sit, glimpsed through the glass, waiting, sometimes for hours, for cheques they can cash at once at the post office. No, you can't go in without an appointment, said the man at the door. Waiting at the job search computer until another official took over, I pretended I had an appointment to collect a cheque and he swiped me in.

Why would he be surprised at my well-heeled appearance, when all kinds of people are down on their luck on a January Friday afternoon? They have only one thing in common – whatever their varied occupations, social backgrounds or family circumstances, all found themselves penniless. Explaining to the waiting claimants that I was a journalist reporting on parliament voting away the social fund, almost all were eager to tell their stories, starting an anxious debate in the room as they listened to one another's plight.

A mother recovering from a hysterectomy was barely getting by on £67 a week, but her cheque hadn't turned up. Until the operation she was working as a receptionist. But her wayward 19 year-old daughter had moved in with her, with a one and a two year-old child and another on the way. At her wits' end, she said, "There's just something badly wrong with her."

A 24 year-old man was sleeping rough in the car park behind the Rolls-Royce showroom in Berkley Square. He wasn't registered sick, not a drug addict and couldn't prove how long he'd lived there, so he didn't qualify for a hostel, he said. He was selling the Big Issue while singing in the street, but had just signed on for Jobseeker's Allowance, needed cash until his first cheque came. At first he seemed fit and normal – but he had a prison record. Besides, would any employer take on someone who can't stop talking, a compulsive talkaholic spilling out his whole life story and every passing thought about the world in an unstoppable flow? Probably not. A student soon starting an osteopathy course had good prospects, but hadn't eaten for days.

A car mechanic in his early 40s had worked all his life until recently suffering severe epileptic fits. He'd been waiting for his missing employment support allowance cheque all day, coming in from Heathrow, where he was temporarily sleeping on his mother's floor. "Will I get another job? I know plenty, plenty of mechanics looking for work now, not much hope."

Like most others here, a glitch in the payments system had brought him to beg for a crisis loan. All the money dispersed here will be taken back within a few weeks from future benefits. Most get a £70 loan to last them a fortnight: £5 a day is the rule of thumb for survival.

A young woman had come for money to get her broken boiler fixed. She was depressive, a serial suicide attempter, and in and out of treatment. "I'm spending £10 a day on electricity, with no boiler," she said in clipped, middle-class tones. Out of £90 a week in sickness benefits she was paying £25 a week in debts to loan sharks. Social fund crisis loans were supposed to save people from using the likes of Wonga, whose interest rates can soar to more than 4,000%. With the social fund gone, there'll be nowhere else.

Eventually, seeing some unexpected animation in the usually dead-eyed queue in the lock-in room, two officers hauled me out. Who let me in? I wasn't telling. The claimants had praised the staff here. "That man there," said one woman weak at writing, pointing to the official behind the bulletproof glass, "He helps you say the right things on the form to get a loan." "That one in the sari, she's kind", said another. Nor were these two managers stern with me – we talked of the imminent abolition of the social fund and the quarter of DWP staff cut despite unemployment claims skyrocketing, so they didn't call the police.

The pretence is that local authorities will each voluntarily set up their own social funds to dispense small loans. Few will. Yet again, a universal national system gives way to nonexistent "local knowledge" as council tax benefit is also devolved and optional. Why would one council risk attracting claimants from neighbouring boroughs offering nothing? "Localism", like "reform", is code for dismantling a national welfare state. Now the benefits system is losing the one small corner for people who fall through the cracks – and the only rescue from hunger when benefit cheques fail to arrive.

The dismal housing benefit debate revealed how tens of thousands will be tipped out of their homes, schools and jobs into the arms of cash-strapped councils who have a duty to house the vulnerable and families with children. Iain Duncan Smith has become increasingly belicose and irritable in his assertions that cuts will not create more poverty but will help the poor into work. Or so he tells the BBC, but he tells the Sunday Times he's warning claimants, "This is not an easy life any more, chum. I think you're a slacker."

He has never dared refute the Institute for Fiscal Studies' predictions of 500,000 more children made poor as a direct result of his colossal £18bn benefit cuts. Taunting Labour with polls that show a large majority support his cuts, he forgets those same citizens may yet be horrified when they see effects far crueller than most may think tolerable.

USA Budget Chart

2012-01-23T00:40:00.001-08:00

Apple- China or the USA ?

2012-01-22T23:14:00.000-08:00

‎"Apple’s executives had estimated that about 8,700 industrial engineers were needed to oversee and guide the 200,000 assembly-line workers eventually involved in manufacturing iPhones. The company’s analysts had forecast it would take as long as nine months to find that many qualified engineers in the United States.

In China, it took 15 days."

Why isn’t the iPhone made in America?

by Tyler Cowen on January 22, 2012 at 7:48 am in Economics, Web/Tech | Permalink

This is an excellent article, and perhaps it will win one of David Brooks’s Sidney Awards, excerpt:

Another critical advantage for Apple was that China provided engineers at a scale the United States could not match. Apple’s executives had estimated that about 8,700 industrial engineers were needed to oversee and guide the 200,000 assembly-line workers eventually involved in manufacturing iPhones. The company’s analysts had forecast it would take as long as nine months to find that many qualified engineers in the United States.
In China, it took 15 days.
…Foxconn employs nearly 300 guards to direct foot traffic so workers are not crushed in doorway bottlenecks. The facility’s central kitchen cooks an average of three tons of pork and 13 tons of rice a day. While factories are spotless, the air inside nearby teahouses is hazy with the smoke and stench of cigarettes.
Foxconn Technology has dozens of facilities in Asia and Eastern Europe, and in Mexico and Brazil, and it assembles an estimated 40 percent of the world’s consumer electronics for customers like Amazon, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Motorola, Nintendo, Nokia, Samsung and Sony.
“They could hire 3,000 people overnight,” said Jennifer Rigoni, who was Apple’s worldwide supply demand manager until 2010, but declined to discuss specifics of her work. “What U.S. plant can find 3,000 people overnight and convince them to live in dorms?”

Most of all, I like how the article shows that some Chinese economic advantages result from scale, speed, flexibility, and the supply chain, more than just from lower wages per se. I believe we need a rethink of the current importance of economies of scale and scope, and what they actually consist of.

What to do with Debt

2012-01-20T17:32:00.000-08:00

No Need to Deleverage Gross Debt

The McKinsey Global Institute has produced a new report with the title “Debt and deleveraging: Uneven progress on the path to growth”. The report discusses the challenge for advanced economies to reduce high level of debt and the potential consequences for growth. It is an interesting topic and, as it always the case with the MGI reports, it produces a detailed analysis of international data.

There is, however, an methodological approach in the report that I do not share and that can be misleading. The report starts with a few charts of debt trends in the last decades. As an example, here is exhibit 1 from their report.

Among all economies we see an upward trend with increasing levels of debt, measured as % of GDP. The reading of this chart tends to be one of economies “living beyond their means”, where spending outpaces income and where an adjustment is needed (deleveraging). This is not correct. As I discussed in an earlier post about government debt, the debt of one individual (or government) is the asset of someone else. Looking at gross debt (as done in the chart above), can be very misleading. What matters for countries is their net wealth and not their level of gross debt.

Let’s think first about a closed economy. In a closed economy liabilities (debt) have to be equal to assets. What we know from the data is that as a country develops, the ratio of assets to GDP tend to increase. This is some times called “financial deepening” and it is measured as the ratio of money supply to GDP but where the money supply is a broad measure including a large number of asset classes. Higher levels of this ratio are seen as a positive development (larger financial markets). But in a closed economy, this ratio is identical to the Debt/GDP ratio. So a more leveraged economy is one where financial markets are simply more developed. Concluding automatically that this is bad or that an adjustment is required is not correct.

When an economy is open then the right concept to measure is the net wealth of a country relative to the rest of the world. And this is the difference between foreign assets and foreign liabilities after consolidation of all internal debt. If we do not consolidate internal debt we are making the wrong assessment. As an example, in the McKinsey report, the country with the larges debt to GDP ratio is Japan (see chart below, also from the report).

But Japan does not need to deleverage! Japan has consistently had large current surpluses and accumulated a large amount of foreign assets (it is in the same situation as China). The country does not need to reduce its debt. What is going on is that the government has a large amount of debt (226% of GDP), but this debt is held by Japanese citizens. But these private assets do not show up in the above calculations as only debt is included. The government of Japan needs to reduce its debt but not the country.

Similarly, if one looks at the Euro countries with difficulties these days, their debt levels are not that high. Correct, but if one were to look at their net foreign asset position (how much they owe to the rest of the world), in some cases we would see very large numbers (Greece, Spain) because of the large current account deficits they were running in the past. So while internal debt is not that high, external debt is and that is where we see their economic problems.

http://wallstreetpit.com/88856-no-need-to-deleverage-gross-debt

USA- rental prices increase while prices continue to slide

2012-01-20T17:28:00.000-08:00

Rent Rises 3.75% While Sale Prices Slip 1.83% in Top Metro Markets

San Francisco, CA – A new housing report released by HotPads, a national housing search engine, finds that rental prices for two bedroom units grew 3.75 percent in 2011 while two bedroom units for sale saw a 1.83 percent drop in price across the top 20 most populated U.S. metros. (Jump to graphs)

Studio rentals remained the highest growth segment, with a 7.12 percent increase over the year. One and two bedroom rental properties also saw a price increase, 2.59 percent and 3.75 percent respectively, while three bedrooms dipped by .31 percent.

Popular metro areas like New York, Boston, Miami, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Chicago had some of the most expensive rental listings in the U.S., as measured by median listing prices of two bedroom properties. Rental listings in San Francisco appeared in particularly high demand, staying active for just 28 days on HotPads, compared to an average of 49 days across other top metro markets.

Unlike rentals, homes for sale saw a further decline in 2011, sinking 1.83 percent across the largest metro areas, as measured by the median for sale listing price of two bedrooms on HotPads. A similar trend could be seen among the listed price of three bedroom homes for sale, which declined by 1.06 percent. In 2011 the most expensive two bedroom properties could be found in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York.

While we expect demand for rental properties to remain high throughout 2012, we anticipate a slower growth compared to last year. As the price of homes for sale continues to decline, we believe more home shoppers will consider buying over renting (buy vs rent data below). We also predict more foreclosed and long standing for sale properties will re-enter the market as rentals in 2012, which should increase the rental supply and help ease prices. However, if economic conditions extend consumer uncertainty, we may continue seeing would be home owners continue to rent.

The data in this report is calculated based on the median listing price of 500,000 concurrently active rental listings on HotPads across the top 20 most populated U.S. metros. For consistency, two bedroom properties were used to determine the rental and for sale year over year price changes. The Buy vs Rent ratio is calculated by dividing a metros median house price by annual rent. Higher ratios mean it is more expensive to buy than rent a comparable home. The 20 metro areas include major cities like Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit,Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, St. Louis, Tampa, Washington, DC. ‘Metro Areas’ consist of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories, ex: “San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA” and “New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA”.

Need more info? Get in touch at press@hotpads.com

http://wallstreetpit.com/88815-rent-rises-3-75-while-sale-prices-slip-1-83-in-top-metro-markets

Bernard Greenhouse estate selling his 300-Year-Old Cello

2012-01-14T00:17:00.000-08:00

By DANIEL J. WAKIN

Bernard Greenhouse plays Dvořák's cello

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vA5Bn8NrPMA&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SHVXczx-L8

On a cold day last winter, an ailing Bernard Greenhouse, wearing an elegant bathrobe and attached to oxygen, was wheeled into the living room of his Cape Cod home, which was festooned with paper cutouts of musical notes. Relatives and students, locals and caregivers had gathered to celebrate the 95th birthday of one of classical music’s most respected cellists, a founding member of the famed Beaux Arts Trio and a beloved teacher. Young cellists performed for him, and then Greenhouse indulged in a martini and a plate of oysters. Thus fortified, he decided he wanted to play for the company. He picked up his cello and, though a bit wobbly, soulfully rendered “Song of the Birds,” a Catalan folk melody transcribed by Pablo Casals, with whom he studied many years ago.

“And then he laid down the bow and praised the cello for its beauty,” Nicholas Delbanco, Greenhouse’s son-in-law, recounted. “He said it had been his lifelong companion and the darling of his heart.” Indeed, the instrument, known as the Countess of Stainlein, ex-Paganini of 1707 — perhaps the greatest surviving Stradivarius cello — had been with Greenhouse for 54 years. It was his voice on numerous recordings and a presence at up to 200 concerts a year. Toward the end of his life, Greenhouse asked his nurses to lay the instrument next to him in bed.

But in a twist of exquisite poignancy, Greenhouse was not actually playing his precious cello that day on Cape Cod. It was an exact replica that was made especially for him, a beautiful instrument but not the Strad. As they listened to him talk of his love for the cello, his daughter Elena Delbanco and her husband grieved that he could not tell he was playing the substitute. “We knew that this was the beginning of the end,” Nicholas Delbanco said. Five months later, Greenhouse died.

Despite saying that he wanted to sell his cello while he was still alive so that a worthy young musician might benefit from it, Greenhouse was unable to part with it. Now his family has entrusted the sale of the Countess of Stainlein to the Boston violin dealer Christopher Reuning, who this week will open sealed bids starting in the millions of dollars. http://www.reuning.com/

Much attention in the music world is given to the sale of Strads and other rare string instruments. The numbers are tallied up like baseball records: $15.9 million for the 1721 Lady Blunt Stradivarius violin this year; more than $10 million for the Kochanski Guarneri del Gesu in 2009. Reuning expects that the Greenhouse cello will match or exceed the previous record of $6 million for a cello. Behind the dollar figures, though, is a story of possession and loss, of performers giving up the instruments that have defined their artistic and emotional selves.

“It was the pride of his life,” Elena Delbanco, a lecturer at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan, said of her father’s Strad. “It was his soul mate. Until the day he died he could not bear to part with it.

“I would like him, were he around, to think that we did the right thing and be happy where the cello went,” she continued. “I would like it to be loved as much by its next owner as it was by my father.”

The master makers of bowed instruments flourished in northern Italy from about 1550 to 1750, when supreme craftsmanship, superior woods and varnish, enduring models and a highly developed apprentice system centered on a few families. The best-known were located in Cremona and included Amati, Guarneri and Bergonzi. But the greatest acclaim has belonged to Antonio Stradivari, or Stradivarius, as he was also known. Only about 600 instruments attributed to him are still in existence, including 20 of his prime cellos — made after 1707 in a slightly smaller size, called Forma B, and more adapted to solo playing. The Countess of Stainlein is the earliest known Forma B.

While researchers have suggested that it can be difficult to tell the difference in sound between old and new instruments, dealers certainly benefit from the mystique that keeps prices high. And musicians themselves talk of the old violins and cellos as repositories of secrets to be slowly discovered, sources of limitless color and nuance. Here is Greenhouse describing his instrument’s sound, as recounted in “The Countess of Stanlein Restored: A History of the Countess of Stanlein ex-Paganini Stradivarius Cello of 1707,” a book by Nicholas Delbanco that uses an alternate spelling of the cello’s name: “The quality of sound is something that one wears, that adorns an individual as though it were a beautiful piece of apparel. The ear can be deceiving sometimes; sometimes I’ll pick up one of the lovely modern celli in the morning and be very happy with it, but in the afternoon I’ll ask what could possibly have pleased me.” Sound is not fixed, Greenhouse said, “but with my Strad there was never a time when I’ve been disappointed.” Greenhouse was a player of refinement and introspection. In a Beaux Arts recording of Schubert’s Trio in E flat, the elegiac opening measures of the Andante con Moto movement convey everything beautiful about his playing. The vibrato is light and warm; the notes taper elegantly. The drop in the 15th measure to a low G sounds like a cat jumping onto a carpet.

Beyond their sound, though, the old instruments encapsulate history, passing through the hands of the world’s great performers. The history of the Greenhouse cello has been traced to 1816 and Vincenzo Merighi, the son of a violin maker who played in La Scala’s orchestra, becoming its principal cellist in 1823. Merighi later played quartets with Paganini, who bought the cello for his collection. The collection was consigned by his son, Achille Paganini, to a Paris luthier named Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume in 1846.

Count Louis Charles Georges Corneille de Stainlein-Saalenstein, an amateur musician and a host of musicales, appears to have acquired the cello in 1854, and it then passed to the Countess of Stainlein. After her death in 1908, Paul Grummer, a future cellist in the famed Busch Quartet, took possession. A collector in Aachen, Dr. George Talbot, bought the violin from Grummer in 1938. Nineteen years later, Greenhouse heard about the instrument and tracked it down. “I opened the cello case and fell immediately in love,” he says in Delbanco’s book. “The color of the varnish, the shape of the instrument, it was so beautiful, so very beautiful, and it seemed to me a great jewel.” He paid what his daughter Elena described as a fortune for the time, although a tiny fraction of what it’s worth today.

Through the optic of history, those in possession of these instruments are caretakers, not owners. For their players, the transfer to the next caretaker symbolizes the end of performing, the termination of an artistic prime, the memories of which reside in long-used instruments. “The violin is not only a friend,” said Aaron Rosand, 84, once a prominent soloist in the tradition of the great Romantics like Oistrakh, Milstein and Heifetz. “It’s something that you live with. Every day it becomes more dear to you. It’s almost like a living thing. You treat it carefully; you treat it gently. It talks to you,” he said. “You’re caressing your instrument all the time. Parting with an instrument that has become such a wonderful friend is just like losing a member of your family.”

In 2007, Rosand announced that he planned to sell his Guarneri del Gesu, the Kochanski, and donate $1.5 million of the proceeds to the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied and continues to teach. He recently had back surgery and could no longer stand long enough to perform. “It didn’t make any sense to tie it up,” he said. Over the next couple of years, Rosand received offers, including some from noted players who came to try it out. “I could hardly bear to hear it played by someone else,” he said. But their offers were not large enough. “I wasn’t going to part with it just for admiration for someone’s fiddle playing. Once I decided to sell it, I wanted to get the price for it.”

Then he received a visit from a man he described as a Russian oligarch. Working through the dealer Peter Biddulph, Rosand flew to London with the Kochanski and checked into a suite at the Langham Hotel one day in October 2009. He resisted any urge to play it one last time. “I didn’t have the heart to,” he said. The next day, Biddulph and the Russian arrived at the suite. The mood was somber as the dealer examined the violin. They spent three or four hours in the suite, waiting for e-mail confirmation from Rosand’s bank that the money had gone through. They ordered tea and filled the time with small talk about the violin’s travels and Rosand’s concert tour in the old Soviet Union. When the e-mail arrived, the Russians left, and Biddulph took the instrument to his vault. The price, according to Rosand, was $10.1 million.

“It’s hard to completely express what it meant to me,” Rosand told me last month when I spoke with him about letting his instrument go. “The agony, the tears I shed on just thinking about the parting.” He made good on his pledge to Curtis, paid $2 million in taxes and is using some of the rest to help with his grandchildren’s educations and to give to charity. He said he talked to the buyer about having other violinists use the instrument, but he received no assurances and does not know if it remains in a vault or under a violinist’s chin.

Some musicians have taken other routes. Several years before his death, Isaac Stern sold his famed Ysäye Guarneri del Gesu to the Nippon Music Foundation, which allowed him to use it until the end of his life. The foundation buys valuable instruments and lends them out to top players. “It gave him some security at the end of his life, and it got him to continue to play on the violin,” said his son, the conductor Michael Stern.

The conductor Lorin Maazel, who was also a violin virtuoso in his younger days, auctioned off his 1783 Guadagnini to an anonymous bidder for $1.08 million and poured the money into his Castleton Festival for young musicians. “It made my life complete as a musician,” he said of his fiddle. “But a magnificent violin needs to be played and kept alive. I always knew I would have to part from it.” The family of Gregor Piatigorsky lent his 1714 Strad cello, the Batta-Piatigorsky, to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it is on display in the musical-instruments collection. The loan agreement allows for it to be played on approval by the family. Museum officials said there had been only one request, and it was turned down.

Raphael Hillyer, the founding violist of the Juilliard String Quartet, was in his 90s and repeatedly spoke of his plans to sell his viola, a late-16th-century Gasparo da Salò. Twice, Hillyer summoned Christopher Reuning to his home in order to hand over the instrument. The last time was in November 2010. Reuning went to Hillyer’s apartment in downtown Boston. The violist was seated at the dining-room table. He held his instrument up and offered it to the dealer to hold. Documents were spread out on the dining table. Hillyer asked Reuning a series of questions: What would it sell for? What is the commission? How long would it take? They talked for more than an hour, with Hillyer returning again and again to the same questions.

“He sat there clutching it in his hands,” Reuning recalled. “I realized he was not ready to give it up. I told him, Why don’t you keep your viola and we’ll talk again sometime?” They made another appointment for just after Christmas, but Hillyer died on Dec. 27, at age 96.

“It’s inconceivable that my father ever would have let it go,” Jonathan Hillyer told me. “I think his life would have ended immediately if he did such a thing. It’s part of what kept him alive. He played it every day, even when it got to be so painful to pick it up. It was his life force. If he had sold it, it would have been like he was giving up.”

One day last month I met with the cellist Laurence Lesser in a barren practice room at the offices of the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society. Lesser, 73, is a prominent teacher, performer and former president of the New England Conservatory of Music, and owns a 1622 Amati cello.

We talked at length about Greenhouse, whom Lesser described as a friend, and about the nature of musician-instrument relationships. I asked him to describe the sound of his Amati, and Lesser looked at me and said, correctly, “You want to hear it, right?”

He carefully removed the 400-year-old instrument from its case and pulled off a burgundy silk bag. Then he began to play, producing the extraordinarily mellow sound, singing but complicated, that musicians say is typical of the great instruments.

“I don’t know how long I’m going to be playing,” he said after he was done. “I may have huge medical expenses, I may need the money it will bring. How can I predict that? I don’t know how I’m going to die or when, or what’s going to happen in the family.”

He had no intention of selling, he said, but if he did, it would be like selling his old house. Once out, you move on. “I’m not sentimental about these things,” he said. “It’s almost a person, but I still value people more than things.” But as Lesser talked more about his Amati, the complicated nature of his attachment to it became more apparent.

“We respond to these old instruments because they feed us, they inspire us,” he said. “Life has so many possibilities and such endless richness that unless you just shut down, you’re always going to learn from the environment. For us string players, our instruments are our environment. It keeps stretching us, it keeps demanding of us, it keeps us aspiring to grow. And it’s the same old wooden box. I know I love playing on this cello, and I love it now more than I ever did.”

In early December, I visited Reuning’s shop on the fourth floor of a generic office building in Boston’s Back Bay. Inside, though, is the re-creation of an Old World luthier’s shop. Violins and violas hang like bats in a glass-and-dark-wood cabinet. Stringed instruments in various stages of undress lie on work tables in the restoration room. The Paganini, Countess of Stainlein cello didn’t fit in the shop’s safe, so it sat in a corner in its scuffed black case. Reuning took it out of its case and brushed his fingers over its glowing, almost iridescent back. “This varnish is absolutely glorious,” he said. He pointed out the Forma B’s extra-high ribs, which make the cello thicker and create greater volume and resonance. The back is made of an expanse of maple, with its “flames,” or rows of tiger stripes, so beautiful that other violin makers would recreate them with varnish on cheaper models made with poplar or willow.

Heirs entrusted with the sale of such instruments stand to make a significant amount of money, but they’re also left with an enormous responsibility. “I began to worry about what was going to happen to it,” Elena Delbanco told me. “Really worry, that somehow it would come to harm or I would make bad decisions about how to sell it, or it would end up somewhere where it wouldn’t be played again.”

So Reuning — who will receive a commission — devised an unusual sale in which the Delbancos would have an opportunity to review the sealed bids, giving them a chance to accept a lower offer if they felt it better honored the cello. That is, if they believed a lower bidder, like an investing consortium that lends out instruments, might mean it was more likely to be played.

“What we’re hoping for is a bid that also makes emotional sense,” Elena Delbanco said, “so that we feel really happy that some wonderful young talent is going to play it.”

I asked her what she would do if confronted with a $7 million bid that meant the Strad would stay in the case and a $5 million bid that ensured it would be played. The extra money, she acknowledged, could be put to philanthropic uses — buying instruments for needy children, for example. “It would be amazing to do good,” she said. “But you can’t do good at the expense of the cello’s future.” At the same time, they don’t want the Strad buried in a museum or in an oligarch’s vault. “That would make us sad,” she said, “but we understand we may not have control over that.” Ultimately, she acknowledged, they would have to accept that the cello now had a caretaker other than her father or his family. “Once it’s out of our hands,” she said, “what can we do?”

Daniel J. Wakin writes about classical music and dance for The Times.

Clinton was the puppet as are all Presidents of modern USA

2012-01-13T22:51:00.000-08:00

Clinton was the puppet in that policy- the real players were the Wall St crew who helped him get into office. And if he never got into office they also had their money on the Republicans.

I hope people realise corporate USA (oil arms pharmacy tobacco banking media) fund/manipulate both the Republican and Democratic campaigns.

Kinnettles Castle- Be a King

2012-01-13T04:26:00.000-08:00

Be the King or Queen of your very own castle and invite all of your favourite guests to stay, at the enchanting Kinnettles Castle.

One night Exclusive Use hire for up to 18 guests, with complimentary champagne reception, just £1,600.

Kinnettles Castle is a celebrity hideaway, full of surprises in the most stunning of settings. The fairytale castle is dressed in sexy and contemporary decor and oozes charm and character from every room. The nine luxurious bedroom suites can sleep up to 18 guests in comfort and luxury.

With its fantastical ornate architecture, stunning black and white interiors and expanse of lush green parklands, Kinnettles Castle is the kind of venue that most people can only dream about.

Kinnettles Castle is full of surprises. On the ground floor you will be overwhelmed by two imposing grand halls, a brace of sumptuous dining rooms, large bar and wonderfully grand drawing room. On the lower ground floor, lies the games rooms, perfect for some friendly rivalry. Complete with billiard room, large HDTVs, Wii consoles, DVD, Sky, roulette wheel and poker table; these rooms are an aladdin's cave for technophiles.

The grounds can play host to clay pigeon shooting, an outdoor BBQ or a great game of hide and seek. With 44 acres of parkland there is so much to explore.

One night Exclusive Use hire with champagne reception just £1,600, only £88 per person/per night.

To book this exclusive offer, call 01494 682 682, quoting 'Kinnettles Castle Telegraph Offer'.

Bookings strictly subject to availability. Valid for bookings made between 1st January - 29th April 2012, for use between 2nd January 2012 - 30th April 2012. Weekend bookings (Friday and Saturday night), 2 night minimum stay.

http://thebeautifulhousecompany.com/kinnettles

War in the Middle East? buy Oil Futures

2012-01-13T04:12:00.000-08:00

War Coming ? I think so- The money machine of warfare is at work yet again-

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is relying on a secret channel of communication to warn Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, that closing the Strait of Hormuz is a “red line” that would provoke an American response, according to United States government officials.

Senior Obama administration officials have said publicly that Iran would cross a “red line” if it made good on recent threats to close the strait, a strategically crucial waterway connecting the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman, where 16 million barrels of oil — about a fifth of the world’s daily oil trade — flow through every day- My advice- "buy oil futures" it will shoot up the moment there is military action.

Oil price Q&A: What are oil futures and how are they traded?

Image 1 of 2

9:35AM BST 28 May 2008

Comment

This year's surge in the price of crude oil is hitting consumers across the world, helping to drive global inflation and is now racing up the political agenda as we use up more and more of the world's limited supplies.

Harry Tchilinguirian, a senior oil analyst at investment bank BNP Paribas in London, explains how oil is traded, who buys oil, why the oil price is spiking and how high oil may go. While Paul Mortimer Lee, global head of market economics at BNP, explains why the oil price matters to us all.

What are oil futures?

Futures contracts are financial instruments and carry with them legally binding obligations. Buyer and seller have the obligation to take or make delivery of an underlying instrument at a specified settlement date in the future. Oil futures are part of the derivatives family of financial products as their value 'derives' from the underlying instrument. These contracts are standardised in terms of quality, quantity and settlement dates.

There are futures markets for a number of instruments ranging across currencies, bonds, equities, interest rates and commodities.

In the case of crude oil, the main futures exchanges are the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) and the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) where West Texas Intermediate (WTI) and North Sea Brent crude oil are traded respectively.

These exchanges trade what is referred to as 'light- sweet' crude oil and a single contract, or 'lot', calls for the purchase or sale of 1,000 barrels of oil. Traders can buy and sell oil for delivery several months or years ahead.

The bulk of activity in commodity futures markets is typically concentrated on oil for delivery in the next three months. However, in the past five years, activity has increased substantially for deliveries much further into the future as more investors put money into commodity indices.

Oil prices: The complete Q&A

In the last couple of years, investor interest has grown in commodities, which are now regarded as an alternative asset class to equities or bonds.

Oil and Gas - who makes what?

2012-01-06T17:11:00.000-08:00

Fast Facts-
The average U.S. citizen uses about
2 barrels of oil every month.

• America produces 5.4 million barrels of crude oil per day,
164 million barrels, per month, and almost 2 billion barrels
per year.

• The United States produces 72 billion cubic feet (bcf) of
natural gas a day, 2,200bcf per month and 26,000bcf
per year.

– The United States is estimated to have enough natural
gas to meet 100 percent of current domestic demand
for at least 90 years.

• The top five producing countries in the world are:
– Oil: Saudi Arabia, Russia, United States, Iran and China.
– Gas: United States, Russia, Canada, Algeria and Iran.
• World petroleum consumption is almost 84 million
barrels/day.

• In 2009, 41 percent of total U.S. energy consumption was
used in residential and commercial buildings, 30 percent
in industrial activities and 29 percent in transportation

• The top five consuming countries in the world are:
– Oil: United States, China, Japan, India, and Russia.
– Gas: United States, Russia, Iran, Japan, and the UK.

• The United States imports oil from all over the world, not
just one region. The top five imports come from:
– Canada (2.1 million barrels per day), Mexico (1.2 million
barrels per day), Nigeria (1.1 million barrels per day),
Saudi Arabia (1.0 million barrels per day), and Venezuela
(1.0 million barrels per day)

From Wellhead to Gasoline Pump

Crude Oil Value Chain

Exploration		Production		Transportation		Refining		Marketing
Using technology to find new oil resources		Bringing oil to the surface using natural and artificial methods		Moving oil to refineries and consumers with tankers, trucks and pipelines		Converting crude oil into finished products		Distributing and selling refined products

Natural Gas Value Chain

Exploration		Production		Processing		Transportation		Marketing
Using technology to find new oil resources		Bringing gas to the surface		Treating gas to be sent to markets		Moving gas with pipelines and tankers		Distributing and selling natural gas

Oil and Gas Value Chain

Value Chain Economics

The following tables are estimates of the various cost components that make up the pump price of gasoline. The tables are based on a variety of sources and assume a crude oil price of $49/B and an average pump price of $2.00/gallon. The costs are based on data reported in the Oil & Gas Journal and Performance Profiles of Major Energy Producers 2007.

The significant findings are that:

	Over 75% of an integrated oil company's net margins are in the upstream.
	Crude oil costs contribute nearly sixty percent to pump prices.
	Severance and gasoline taxes cost consumers nearly 52 cents/gallon or 26% of pump prices.
	Company net margins for refining and marketing are about 20 cents/gallon or 10% of pump price.

Oil and Gas Economics

Operation	Costs	Value	Gross Margin	Net Margin	Percent
Exploration	2.97	16.33	16.33	13.36	36%
Production	17.78	49.00	32.67	14.89	41%
Transportation	1.00	51.96	2.96	1.96	5%
Refining	3.70	60.46	8.50	4.80	13%
Distribution	1.90	63.69	3.23	1.33	4%
Marketing	0.80	64.85	1.16	0.36	1%
Pump Taxes	19.15	84.00	0.00	0.00	0%
				36.70	100%

Gasoline Cost Components

Component	$/B	Cents/Gallon	Percent of Pump Price
Crude Oil	49.00	116.67	58%
Operating Costs	4.90	11.67	6%
Taxes	21.65	51.55	26%
Company Net Margins	8.45	20.11	10%
Total	84.00	200.00	100%

http://www.petrostrategies.org/Learning_Center/oil_and_gas_value_chains.htm

WLR- ASX- ever seen a days trade that looks like this?

2012-01-05T00:01:00.001-08:00

(ASX: WLR.AX )

Last Trade:	0.03
Trade Time:	12:52
Change:	45.87 (99.94%)
Prev Close:	45.90
Open:	0.03
Bid:	0.03
Ask:	0.03
1y Target Est:	N/A

Day's Range:	0.03 - 0.03
52wk Range:	N/A
Volume:	211,000
Avg Vol (3m):	N/A
Market Cap:	N/A
P/E (ttm):	N/A
EPS (ttm):	N/A
Div & Yield:	N/A (N/A)

Julian Assange in conversation with John Pilger

2012-01-04T20:31:00.001-08:00

http://johnpilger.com/videos/julian-assange-in-conversation-with-john-pilger

This is must viewing

Also Ethan McCord- http://onlyinamerican.com/2011/08/us-soldier-ethan-mccord-relives-civilian-carnage-in-iraq/

Transfield Services- why the share slide?

2012-01-03T01:30:00.000-08:00

Transfield Services delivers essential services to key industries in the Resources and Industrial, Infrastructure Services and Property and Facilities Management sectors. A leading global provider of operations, maintenance, and asset and project management services, Transfield Services has more than 27,000 employees in Australia, New Zealand, the United States, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, New Caledonia, South East Asia, India, Chile and Canada. Transfield Services Limited is publicly listed in Australia and included in the S&P/ASX 100.
http://www.transfieldservices.com/

Annual report- http://tse.live.irmau.com/IRM/Company/ShowPage.aspx/PDFs/1411-30005407/2010AnnualReport

Last Trade:	2.17
Trade Time:	16:10
Change:	0.01 (0.46%)
Prev Close:	2.16
Open:	2.18
Bid:	2.15
Ask:	2.22
1y Target Est:	2.73

Day's Range:	2.15 - 2.21
52wk Range:	1.76 - 3.76
Volume:	388,068
Avg Vol (3m):	1,720,960
Market Cap:	1.19B
P/E (ttm):	N/A
EPS (ttm):	N/A
Div & Yield:	N/A (N/A)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transfield_Services

Valuation Measures

Market Cap (intraday)⁵:	1.19B
Enterprise Value (03/01/2012)³:	1.44B
Trailing P/E (ttm, intraday):	N/A
Forward P/E (fye 30/06/2013)¹:	8.68
PEG Ratio (5 yr expected)¹:	1.47
Price/Sales (ttm):	0.43
Price/Book (mrq):	1.06
Enterprise Value/Revenue (ttm)³:	0.52
Enterprise Value/EBITDA (ttm)⁶:	9.68

Financial Highlights

Fiscal Year
Fiscal Year Ends:	30 Jun
Most Recent Quarter (mrq):	30/06/2011

Profitability
Profit Margin (ttm):	-0.72%
Operating Margin (ttm):	2.44%

Management Effectiveness
Return on Assets (ttm):	2.04%
Return on Equity (ttm):	4.56%

Income Statement
Revenue (ttm):	2.76B
Revenue Per Share (ttm):	5.61
Qtrly Revenue Growth (yoy):	N/A
Gross Profit (ttm):	335.00M
EBITDA (ttm)⁶:	148.55M
Net Income Avl to Common (ttm):	43.49M
Diluted EPS (ttm):	N/A
Qtrly Earnings Growth (yoy):	N/A

Balance Sheet
Total Cash (mrq):	265.72M
Total Cash Per Share (mrq):	0.48
Total Debt (mrq):	516.67M
Total Debt/Equity (mrq):	45.93
Current Ratio (mrq):	1.51
Book Value Per Share (mrq):	2.04

Cash Flow Statement
Operating Cash Flow (ttm):	82.21M
Levered Free Cash Flow (ttm):	-144.73M

Los Angeles Real estate

2012-01-02T04:58:00.000-08:00

http://www.homefinder.com/CA/Malibu/71878479d

http://www.homefinder.com/CA/Malibu/75673540d_21500_Rambla_Vista

http://www.homefinder.com/CA/Malibu/82000311d_0_Latigo_Canyon

Atticus Resources

2012-01-01T21:34:00.000-08:00

ATTICUSRES FPO

(ASX: ACZ.AX )

Last Trade:	0.24
Trade Time:	16:10
Change:	0.00 (0.00%)
Prev Close:	0.24
Open:	0.24
Bid:	0.23
Ask:	0.35
1y Target Est:	N/A

Day's Range:	0.24 - 0.24
52wk Range:	0.15 - 0.34
Volume:	9,823
Avg Vol (3m):	24,356
Market Cap:	7.20M
P/E (ttm):	N/A
EPS (ttm):	N/A
Div & Yield:	N/A (N/A)

http://www.atticusres.com.au/PDF/ACZ%20Financial%20Report%202011%20Consolidated%20Final.pdf

Apple- overpriced?

2012-01-01T20:35:00.000-08:00

Period Ending		Sep 24, 2011	Sep 25, 2010	Sep 26, 2009

Assets
Current Assets
	Cash And Cash Equivalents	9,815,000	11,261,000	5,263,000
	Short Term Investments	16,137,000	14,359,000	18,201,000
	Net Receivables	13,731,000	11,560,000	6,192,000
	Inventory	776,000	1,051,000	455,000
	Other Current Assets	4,529,000	3,447,000	1,444,000

Total Current Assets		44,988,000	41,678,000	31,555,000
Long Term Investments		55,618,000	25,391,000	10,528,000
Property Plant and Equipment		7,777,000	4,768,000	2,954,000
Goodwill		896,000	741,000	206,000
Intangible Assets		3,536,000	342,000	247,000
Accumulated Amortization		-	-	-
Other Assets		3,556,000	2,263,000	2,011,000
Deferred Long Term Asset Charges		-	-	1,727,000

Total Assets		116,371,000	75,183,000	47,501,000

Liabilities
Current Liabilities
	Accounts Payable	23,879,000	17,738,000	9,453,000
	Short/Current Long Term Debt	-	-	-
	Other Current Liabilities	4,091,000	2,984,000	2,053,000

Total Current Liabilities		27,970,000	20,722,000	11,506,000
Long Term Debt		-	-	-
Other Liabilities		10,100,000	5,531,000	3,502,000
Deferred Long Term Liability Charges		1,686,000	1,139,000	853,000
Minority Interest		-	-	-
Negative Goodwill		-	-	-

Total Liabilities		39,756,000	27,392,000	15,861,000

Stockholders' Equity
Misc Stocks Options Warrants		-	-	-
Redeemable Preferred Stock		-	-	-
Preferred Stock		-	-	-
Common Stock		13,331,000	10,668,000	8,210,000
Retained Earnings		62,841,000	37,169,000	23,353,000
Treasury Stock		-	-	-
Capital Surplus		-	-	-
Other Stockholder Equity		443,000	(46,000)	77,000

Total Stockholder Equity		76,615,000	47,791,000	31,640,000

Net Tangible Assets		72,183,000	46,708,000	31,187,000

Currency in USD.

Last Trade:	405.00
Trade Time:	Dec 30
Change:	0.12 (0.03%)
Prev Close:	405.12
Open:	403.51
Bid:	404.72 x 100
Ask:	405.98 x 100
1y Target Est:	505.96

Day's Range:	403.49 - 406.28
52wk Range:	310.50 - 426.70
Volume:	6,420,530
Avg Vol (3m):	16,315,500
Market Cap:	376.41B
P/E (ttm):	14.63
EPS (ttm):	27.68
Div & Yield:	N/A (N/A)

Microsoft

2012-01-01T20:33:00.000-08:00

ion (MSFT)

On Dec 30: 25.96 0.06 (0.23%)

View: Annual Data | Quarterly Data

All numbers in thousands

Period Ending		Jun 30, 2011	Jun 30, 2010	Jun 30, 2009

Assets
Current Assets
	Cash And Cash Equivalents	9,610,000	5,505,000	6,076,000
	Short Term Investments	43,162,000	31,283,000	25,371,000
	Net Receivables	17,454,000	15,198,000	13,405,000
	Inventory	1,372,000	740,000	717,000
	Other Current Assets	3,320,000	2,950,000	3,711,000

Total Current Assets		74,918,000	55,676,000	49,280,000
Long Term Investments		10,865,000	7,754,000	4,933,000
Property Plant and Equipment		8,162,000	7,630,000	7,535,000
Goodwill		12,581,000	12,394,000	12,503,000
Intangible Assets		744,000	1,158,000	1,759,000
Accumulated Amortization		-	-	-
Other Assets		1,434,000	1,501,000	1,599,000
Deferred Long Term Asset Charges		-	-	279,000

Total Assets		108,704,000	86,113,000	77,888,000

Liabilities
Current Liabilities
	Accounts Payable	9,560,000	8,564,000	8,889,000
	Short/Current Long Term Debt	-	1,000,000	2,000,000
	Other Current Liabilities	19,214,000	16,583,000	16,145,000

Total Current Liabilities		28,774,000	26,147,000	27,034,000
Long Term Debt		11,921,000	4,939,000	3,746,000
Other Liabilities		8,072,000	7,445,000	6,269,000
Deferred Long Term Liability Charges		2,854,000	1,407,000	1,281,000
Minority Interest		-	-	-
Negative Goodwill		-	-	-

Total Liabilities		51,621,000	39,938,000	38,330,000

Stockholders' Equity
Misc Stocks Options Warrants		-	-	-
Redeemable Preferred Stock		-	-	-
Preferred Stock		-	-	-
Common Stock		63,415,000	62,856,000	62,382,000
Retained Earnings		(6,332,000)	(16,681,000)	(22,824,000)
Treasury Stock		-	-	-
Capital Surplus		-	-	-
Other Stockholder Equity		-	-	-

Total Stockholder Equity		57,083,000	46,175,000	39,558,000

Net Tangible Assets		43,758,000	32,623,000	25,296,000

Currency in USD.

Last Trade:	25.96
Trade Time:	Dec 30
Change:	0.06 (0.23%)
Prev Close:	26.02
Open:	25.98
Bid:	24.75 x 100
Ask:	26.56 x 300
1y Target Est:	30.93

Day's Range:	25.91 - 26.12
52wk Range:	23.65 - 29.46
Volume:	27,396,333
Avg Vol (3m):	51,962,100
Market Cap:	218.38B
P/E (ttm):	9.44
EPS (ttm):	2.75
Div & Yield:	0.80 (3.10%