Swami Nithyananda-Ranjitha Scandal

Tamil film actress Ranjitha, who was allegedly seen in a compromising position with Swami Nithyananda in videos and TV reports, has finally broken her silence and talked to the press, according to sources. Ranjitha claims she has known the godman for quite some time and she is grateful to him for curing her wheezing trouble in just a day.

About her relationship with controversial godman she reportedly said, "I am a devotee of Nityananda and used to offer my services like 'feeding' and 'massaging' to him… The media has unnecessarily blown the issue out of proportion. I know Swamiji for the past few years and my association with him is quite transparent." But in the video Ranjitha is seen not just massaging the swami, but taking massage to the next logical level, reports claim. True, there is a video of her on YouTube showing her massaging him, but there are also other videos for viewing of which YouTube wants you to confirm that you are over 18 years of age. Hope you understand it!

Also, some online news sites claim that the controversial video was clandestinely recorded by Swami Nithyananda's onetime trusted lieutenant Lenin Karuppan, who has accused the swami of ‘misbehaving’ with women devotees and ‘forcing’ them to sex with him. But from what the actress said, and from the several videos I watched on YouTube, there is no element of ‘force’, or coercion. Whatever she does, she does willingly, with her undiluted consent and mutual participation in the act. So, what is the real problem?

What I just do not understand is the big ‘deal’ or ‘crime’ in these allegations. Indulging in sex with adults with mutual consent is not illegal or a crime under law. If the self-styled godman claims to be a celibate, the exposure only makes him liable for his false claims of celibacy. There is also nothing in law or Hindu traditions or philosophy to prevent a married man or a woman enjoying sex with other consenting adults from practicing spiritual work. There are legends of many sages who were married in Hindu mythology. Also, there had been great saints like Sri Ramakrishna Parama Hamsa, who were married and lived with their wives.

Live-in relations or enjoying sex with consenting adults is quite legal as the Honourable Supreme court of India held recently in the case of Khushboo, who was dragged to court in 2005 for her bold views that she did not find anything wrong in pre-marital sex. While disposing of the case, the honourable Chief Justice of India K. G. Balakrishnan asked her opponent’s lawyers under what sections of law, pre-marital sex is punishable. They had no law to quote before the honourable court. So, the case was decided in her favour.

So, what the godman Nithyananda has to do now is to come clean, and make his views public on celibacy, like Khushboo boldly stuck to her views. On the other hand, breach of law is committed against Nityananda by trespassing into his bedroom, videotaping his private life, and then making it public. It amounts to not only breach of one’s constitutional rights, more specifically, right to life, but the people who invade the privacy of others, videotape them and publicize them, also commit the crime of trespass and defamation under many laws, including laws of defamation/law of torts.

However, Nithyananda seems to be quite popular with female devotees, especially from the film industry. Following Ranjitha, Tamil actress Yuvarani’s alleged sticky involvement with the swami spread on internet like wildfire, as an entertaining free video for steamy entertainment of the netizens allegedly showing Yuvarani and Nithyananda freewheeling acrobatics in nude. Access is now restricted “with a pop-up which says that the site cannot be displayed due to its extreme pornographic content”. TV channels are unable to air them owing to a Karnataka High Court stay order. Yuvarani has filed a petition with the Chennai police seeking that the video is taken off the Internet.

The actress said in the petition, "I'm not in a sexual relationship with Swami Nityananda and I'm hurt by the ongoing propaganda." Sources close to her confirmed that she and Ranjitha were friends and the twosome used to visit the swami regularly. Nityananda has an ashram in Los Angeles where he used to go regularly with Ranjitha and Yuvarani, and he loves to wear jeans and T-shirts in Los Angeles.

There are other problems too, with us, the public. We somehow believe that godmen should not enjoy sex, which is unscientific and a fallacy, and we believe they should maintain celibacy. Or the godmen themselves claim they are celibates. That is because; the business of becoming a godman is a really big business. For example, Nityananda claims that he has 20,00,000 (two million) devotees, including foreigners. Most devotees donate liberally and make them rich overnight. And they become obscenely rich over a brief period! They even do not have any advertisement or business promotion costs. Every thing is done for free by these very devotees, mostly by word-of-mouth advertisements and by introducing new devotees. What other business can you do without investments, without education, and with public money, other than being a godman? And get-rich-quick in a short period? Nothing! So, there is a big mushrooming of fake godmen, especially in Indian states like Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamilnadu. So, those who promote these fake godmen provide them with money (and women too, though unknowingly!). And after a scandal breaks out, people make a big hue and cry! Is it not foolish?

Recently, there were many godmen involved not only in sex scandals, but in serious crimes like murder to cover up the relatively harmless original misadventure – sex! Anyway, the sex videos are being prohibited from being televised by court orders, most of the videos in YouTube cannot be posted to sites or blogs, as embedding is disabled! You can still view loads of videos on YouTube. Go watch them. And before you promote the next godman ask yourself, "Is it worth it? Should I keep my female relatives and acquaintances away from him?"

If Brahmarshi Vishvamitra, one of the most venerated sages and the author of most of Mandala 3 of the Rigveda including the Gayatri Mantra, can fall to the charms of Menaka (see painting above by Raja Ravi Varma), what do you expect from these ordinary mortals?

The Karnataka High Court took up the petition filed by Nityananda asking for a stay on proceedings for hearing yesterday. The court has adjourned the case until Thursday and has issued notices to the state government and the police asking them to submit certain documentary evidence for the next hearing.

Smart pills can help students study well through puberty

When teenagers do not perform well in school exams, it is quite natural that parents start worrying. As a quick fix for this, most parents start hunting for private coaching schools, often ending up spending thousands of dollars, but still not finding any improvement in performance of teenagers hitting puberty.

But the teenagers and their parents can now find some solace in a new research conducted by scientists at Downstate Medical Center of the State University of New York (SUNY), Brooklyn, United States. The findings were published in the journal Science. The study throws light on problems teenagers face in adolescence in matters relating to their studies, often evident as low scores in examinations and inability in learning and poor memory.

Dr Sheryl Smith, Professor of Physiology and Pharmacology at the Downstate Medical Centre said that the findings were "a major breakthrough, though scientists had known previously that people were able to absorb more information in their younger years", but scientists have now found out why the ability to learn changed when people hit puberty.

The researchers claim they have discovered a brain receptor that dictates how much people can learn, especially, during puberty years. With the help of this knowledge they can develop smart pills to help teenagers expand their learning potentials. So, instead of parents spending thousands of dollars on private school fees, they can give their teenagers pills to enhance their learning capacity, the researchers said. And teenagers can become smarter just by taking a pill that stimulates the hippocampus, a part of the brain that controls and coordinates learning and memory.

"A brain receptor, alpha4-beta-delta, emerges at puberty in the hippocampus, part of the brain that controls learning and memory," Dr Sheryl Smith said. "Before puberty, expression of this receptor is low and learning is optimal. However at puberty, increases in this receptor reduce brain excitability and impair spatial learning."

Hippocampus is a major component of the brain and like the cerebral cortex, with which it is closely associated, it is a paired structure with mirror-image halves in the left and right sides of the brain. Hippocampus is located inside the medial temporal lobe beneath the cortical surface. The form of neural plasticity known as Long Term Potentiation (LTP) occurs in the hippocampus. LTP is believed to be one of the main neural mechanisms by which memory is stored in the brain.

The learning difficulties can be reversed by a stress steroid that diminishes the adverse effects of the alpha4-beta-delta receptors that emerge at puberty, and thus it can facilitate learning. "It is within the realm of possibility that a drug could be developed that would increase learning ability post-puberty, one that might be especially useful for adolescents with learning disabilities," she said.

"These findings suggest that intrinsic brain mechanisms alter learning during adolescence, but that mild stress may be one factor that can reverse this decline in learning proficiency during the teenage years," Dr Sheryl Smith, and added, "They also suggest that different strategies for learning and motivation may be helpful in middle school."

It is known that mild stress improves learning potential of the brain. So, according to Dr Smith, until such smart pills are developed, students could increase their learning by enduring mild stress.

US Healthcare Reforms Bill Passed

Video: Barack Obama's healthcare reform bill faces a critical vote in the US House of Representatives on Sunday. And it could well be make or break for the US President, with fears a failure for the proposed reforms could fatally weaken his administration. But Obama is determined to see the bill passed, and he has already made some huge compromises.

After discussions and debates for more than a year, on Sunday night the United States House of Representatives passed the US healthcare reforms bill passed by Senate on Christmas Eve by 219 votes to 212. President Barack Obama is expected to sign the bill on or before Tuesday.

The bill will benefit about 32 million Americans, out of an estimated 45 million people currently uninsured. The wealthy Americans are expected to pay more taxes to finance the bill, which will cost American taxpayers $940 billion over 10 years. The bill seeks to reduce the federal budget deficit by $143 billion.

In the case of Medicare beneficiaries, prescription drug coverage gap will be closed and persons who are over 65 years shall receive rebates and discounts on branded drugs. Medicaid coverage is expanded to include families below 65 years with gross incomes up to 133 per cent of federal poverty level, and it also covers adults who are childless. With the bill becoming law, insurance companies cannot deny insurance coverage to those persons with medical conditions.

The uninsured and self-employed people will be able to purchase insurance coverage through state-based exchanges. Individuals and families in the low income group who want to purchase health insurance will be eligible for subsidies. Persons not covered by Medicaid or Medicare plans must be insured or they must face fine.

Companies and businesses who offer their workers costly insurance plans shall be liable to pay tax on the excess premiums. Also, the insurers are subject to restrictions on raising premiums or denying coverage to those who need insurance. Children can remain on their parents’ insurance policies until the age of 26.

Plastic surgery: historical and business aspects

We often read about celebrities having undergone the surgeon’s scalpel to enhance their beauty quotient. But it is not only the celebrity women and men, but most other people love looking good and having perfectly contoured bodies and faces. There is a perception that the desire to go for plastic surgery or cosmetic surgery is the product of high-voltage media coverage of Hollywood celebrities or models popularized by fashion industry. But it is not entirely true, because, there are historical references to efforts made by several famous persons belonging to ancient civilizations and cultures to enhance their beauty by proper body contouring and enhancing the beauty of their faces.

Plastic surgery is believed to have its origins in India, with historical references to plastic surgery dating back to 6000 BC. Reconstructive surgery techniques were carried out successfully in India by 2000 BC. For instance, Sushruta, considered the father of surgery, and Charak contributed greatly to plastic surgery by inventing surgical methods, treating their patients and writing books. Later the medical works of both Sushruta and Charak were translated into Arabic language, notably during the Abbasid Caliphate in 750 AD.

From the Arabs, plastic surgery found its way to Europe, and later, British physicians traveled to India to see Rhinoplasty operations being performed by native Indian physicians. The ancient Egyptians and Romans also performed cosmetic surgeries. However, because of low recovery rates of all types of surgeries in those times, especially surgeries involving the head or face, it was only in 19th and 20th centuries that plastic surgery became commonplace, after inventions of many modern medicines including antibiotics. Also, the World Wars left behind a lot of injured soldiers and civilians with facial and other injuries that prompted surgeons to extensively contribute to reconstructive surgery.

Now plastic surgery is a very broad field. The most prevalent aesthetic or cosmetic surgery procedures include tummy tuck (abdominoplasty), eyelid surgery (blepharoplasty), breast augmentations (mammoplasty, popularly referred to as breast implant or boob job), breast reduction (reduction mammoplasty), breast lift (mastopexy), butt implant (buttock augmentation) buttock lift (including Brazilian butt lift), removal of scars and wrinkles (chemical peel), labiaplasty, lip enhancement, nose job (rhinoplasty), ear surgery (otoplasty), face lift (rhytidectomy), brow lift or forehead lift (browplasty), cheek lift (midface lift), suction-assisted lipectomy (liposuction), chin implant (chin augmentation), cheek implant (cheek augmentation), fillers injections and laser-assisted plastic surgery including laser skin resurfacing.

There are many functional plastic surgery sub-specialties, as plastic surgery training and approval procedures laid down by the American Board of Plastic Surgery that includes mastery of burn surgery , aesthetic surgery, craniofacial surgery, hand surgery, microsurgery (reconstruction of missing tissues) and pediatric plastic surgery (for correcting defects children are born with).

Now plastic surgery employs tens of thousands of doctors and other professionals worldwide, billions of dollars are invested in research and development of new procedures and products, and there are specialty hospitals and institutions specializing in plastic and aesthetic surgery. And the percentage of population that undergoes plastic surgery in one form or the other is the highest now, because plastic surgery now offers a fail-proof and near-perfect solution to enhance beauty.

Popularization of Hollywood, fashion industry and the extensive media coverage of everything related to beauty and fashion found a great surge in plastic surgery in the last few decades. For instance, in 2006 about 11 million cosmetic surgeries were performed in USA alone, and in 2007 about 12 million cosmetic surgery operations were performed in the United States. The five most popular plastic surgeries were breast augmentation, liposuction, nasal surgery, eyelid surgery and tummy tuck. In Europe, the second largest market for cosmetic procedures, cosmetic surgery is a $2.2 billion business. Also, the number of people who join medical universities and other institutions for a career in plastic surgery and related fields of beauty treatments are on the increase now, because it provides more well-paid jobs than many other career options, with an average earning of $350,000, as some estimates show.

With the increase in business, the cost of plastic surgery seems to have come down now, mostly because of availability of more and more qualified plastic surgeons and introduction of cost-effective treatment procedures, though the cost may vary from country to country, and even within places in a particular county. As for most cosmetic surgery operations, the cost largely depends on factors like the age of the patient and other parameters, including the overall state of their health and the work involved to bring about the required change in the person seeking surgery or other modes of treatment. The cost may also include the follow-up visits as required by some doctors. For example, the cost of a tummy tuck, on an average in the United States, can cost from $4,000 to $20,000, though the fees of doctors attending on Hollywood celebrities, sports superstars and supermodels, can be astoundingly huge amounts of money.

Joslyn James fires fresh text missiles on Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods's Whore Joslyn James, originally uploaded by TheGossiperBlog.

The disgraced golfer Tiger Woods has been recovering from a series of blows to his career and life, and working hard on an image makeover just before the Masters Tournament scheduled for next month. Sports lovers, especially those who are keen on golf, have been expecting a spectacular come back of a redeemed Woods. But, there are fresh salvos fired by Woods' alleged mistress 32-year-old Joslyn James, who has posted on her website over 100 text messages sent by him, news sites reported.

It is alleged that James had an affair with Woods for over three years and the text messages had been sent to her by Woods during that period. James has started her own website to publish the text messages she received from Tiger Woods. Though she launched the site on Thursday, it crashed within minutes after millions of people from around the world logged on to read Tiger's spicy texts.

It was the nightclub manager Rachel Uchitel who blew the lid off Tiger’s escapades, when, on November 25, 2009 the tabloid The National Enquirer published a story claiming that Woods had an extramarital affair with Uchitel‎, a claim she had denied. The story gained credibility when Woods crashed his SUV, a 2009 Cadillac Escalade, against a hedge, a fire hydrant and finally a tree.

Then, over a dozen women, including Emma Rotherham, Holly Sampson, Jaimee Grubbs, Jamie Jungers, Julie Postle, Loredana Jolie, Susie Ogren and Theresa Rogers have claimed that they had affairs with Woods.

Here is what the Daily Mail said, “A British woman named as Tiger Woods' 19th mistress was paid $500,000 hush money to keep quiet about their affair, it was alleged yesterday. Emma Rotherham, 42, is said to have gone 'absolutely ballistic' after details of the 18-month fling emerged at the weekend. It is claimed the mother-of-two agreed to sign a confidentiality agreement after a member of the golfer's security team handed her a sports bag stuffed with half-a-million dollars in $100 bills. But she is said to have refused to hand over her mobile phone containing incriminating evidence.

Many advertisers and endorsers had tentatively suspended, modified, or cancelled ad campaigns and brand deals, after news of his extramarital affairs emerged, including Gillette, Accenture, TAG Heuer, AT&T, Gatorade, Paddy Power and General Motors.

A December 2009 study by economics professors at the University of California Christopher R. Knittel and Victor Stango estimated that the shareholder loss caused by Woods' alleged extramarital affairs to be between $5 billion and $12 billion.

In the aftermath of reports of such losses, there are reports that insurance companies are flooded with applications for extra coverage of such losses because of scandals and infamy by their brand endorsers, brand ambassadors, ad campaigners and other celebrity business promotions. The total of such celebrity brand value insurance premiums is estimated to be several billions of dollars. So, there is nothing to worry, as, if Woods and the brands he endorses lose, his women and insurers gain enormously. It is socialism re-defined for the 21st century! Marx must be turning in his grave and having his last laugh!

Interestingly, on December 15, 2009, The New York Times reported that a Canadian sports doctor Anthony Galea was under investigation by the FBI for allegedly providing the drug Actovegin and human growth hormone to athletes. The report also said Galea had visited Woods at his Orlando home at least four times in February and March 2009 to administer a special blood-spinning technique.

So, Tiger is in the Woods! Watch out for more stories of high-energy adventures!

Vatican to investigate apparition of Virgin Mary of Medjugorje

Photo: Statue of Our Lady of Međugorje (Holy Virgin Mary, also named Queen of Peace), from Tihajlin; photo dated August 2006.

Medjugorje, a town located in western Bosnia and Herzegovina, about 25 km southwest of Mostar close to the border of Croatia, is now a very popular pilgrimage and tourist destination due to claims of apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary, though the Marian shrine is not officially recognized so far by the Catholic Church.

Six Herzegovinian Croat children in Međugorje, Bosnia and Herzegovina, first reported the apparition in the town of Medjugorje on 24 June 1981. "Our Lady of Međugorje" is the title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary by those who believe that she has been appearing since 1981.

Since 1981, the Virgin Mary has been said to appear daily in Medjugorje dressed sometimes in a grey dress and veil and sometimes in gold, crowned with stars and floating on a cloud. It is claimed that she speaks in Croatian, "I've come because there are many true believers here. I wish to be with you to convert and reconcile the whole world." It is also said that three flashes of light precede her apparitions, during which the voices of the visionaries can no longer be heard.

The Catholic Church has long debated the credibility of the sightings. There was a recent visit by a cardinal from Vienna, Christoph Schoenberg. But the bishop of neighboring Mostar has frequently criticized unquestioning belief in the claims.

Međugorje has become one of the most popular pilgrimage sites, with around 30 million pilgrims estimated to have visited since the first sighting of what they call "Our Lady". Many people have reported phenomena including the sun spinning in the sky or changing colors and figures such as hearts and crosses around the sun.

On June 4, 2008 Pope Benedict XVI publicly blessed a statue of Our Lady of Međugorje in Saint Peter's Square, Vatican City.

On Wednesday, March 17, 2010, Vatican has announced a commission to investigate claims that the Virgin Mary appears on a daily basis, and that Pope Benedict XVI had formed an investigative commission composed of cardinals, bishops, and other experts. The 20-strong commission will report to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the top doctrinal body.

Forbes billionaires’ 2010 list shows US losing out to emerging economies

The annual exercise of billionaire rankings by Forbes magazine shows some interesting trends, notably the decline of the number of billionaires in the US, and strengthening of the positions of Asian billionaires, and also the gaining in the wealth of the BRIC countries. Besides, the Forbes list also shows a near stagnation in the number of European billionaires, as the Asian billionaires are catching up with them in number.

Before going in detail about the changing trend, it is to be noted that the Forbes Billionaires list is not taken authentically by various financial evaluators and experts for many reasons, for many reasons.

There were 1,011 billionaires from 55 countries with an average net worth of $3.5 billion in the 2010 Forbes billionaires list. It was up from 793 in 2009, but still below the 1,125 listed in 2008. It shows an improvement in global economy.

An interesting trend is, for the first time since 1994, a US billionaire is not the wealthiest billionaire in Forbes billionaires list for 2010, but the Mexican telecom tycoon Carlos Slim Helú, with $53.5 billion, is the new richest billionaire displacing Microsoft founder Bill Gates (#2, $53bn). At #3 position is Gates’ friend and US investor Warren Buffett ($43bn). Also, in 2010 there are only three Americans among the top ten billionaires, where as the Forbes 2000 list had six Americans in the top ten. As a natural outcome of the emerging new financial trend, there is an inevitable heartburn and lament about the financial superpower in decline, as the New York Daily News said, "America loses bragging rights". The US still tops the list with the most billionaires, 403 out of 1,011 (40 per cent).

Yet another notable trend, but already known earlier, is the emergence of Asia as a powerful contender for the top slots in the world billionaires list with 234 Asian billionaires featured in the 2010 list compared to 248 European billionaires. It is a tremendous growth compared to the number of billionaires from Europe and America. The steady upward swing in Asian stocks, strengthening stock markets, the renewed and growing investments in large public offerings, and over all better performance of the Asian economies, especially lead by China and India, are responsible for this trend. While the US and European economies are still in the grip of the recession, the emerging economies, especially the Asian/BRIC countries performed well, as if they were not at all affected by recession.

In the 2010 Forbes billionaires list, 202 billionaires are from BRIC countries, Russia topping the list with 67 billionaires, China 65, Brazil 17 and India 53 billionaires. Apart from the Mexican Carlos Slim Helú at #1 position ($53.5b), two Indians (at #4 Mukesh Ambani with $29 billion and at #5 Lakshmi Mittal with $28.7 billion), and a Brazilian (#8 Eike Batista, $27b) came in the top ten, while Europe had only two billionaires from Spain (#9 Amancio Ortega, $25b) and Germany (#10 Karl Albrecht, $23.5b). As against this Forbes 2000 list had 6 Americans and a Canadian in the top ten, but there were none from India and other BRIC countries. This again shows, comparatively, the Americans and Europeans declined in money power, while there is an enviable growth of billionaires in Latin America, Asia and Russia.

India had an impressive growth rate of billionaires with the number of billionaires in India having doubled in 2010 Forbes list with 53 billionaires, as against 24 in 2009. India also has 10 of Asia's top 25 richest billionaires. Two of them are in the top five billionaires list, the richest Indian Mukesh Ambani (#4, $29bn) of India's largest firm Reliance Industries, and steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal (#5, with $28.7bn). Besides, there are 9 Indians in Forbes Top 100 billionaires with a wealth of nearly $140 billion. Indians in the Top 100 include Azim Premji (#28, $17b), Anil Ambani (#36, $13.7b), Shashi and Ravi Ruia (#40, $13b), Savitri Jindal (#44, $12.2b), Kushan Pal Singh (#74, $9b), Kumar Birla (#86, $7.9b), Sunil Mittal (#87, $7.8b).

China comes second in BRIC countries with 65 billionaires, 64 of them living in the mainland China, with the richest mainland Chinese being beverage tycoon Zong Qinghou (#103, $7b).

Buy a family home in Detroit for just $10

It’s something unbelievable, but cannot be dismissed as a rumor. It is nothing about Hollywood celebrities or their relationships that have gone sour, but the story that appeared in telegraph.co.uk about the automobile manufacturing capital of the world, Detroit, Michigan, United States, that says, Family homes in Detroit are selling for as little as $10 (£6) in the wake of America's financial meltdown.

The news site carried the photo of real estate agent Tim Prophet, of The Bearing Group, standing outside a house in Maiden Avenue, which can be purchased for $10 in Detroit (not the ones in this photo that shows homes in historic Indian Village neighborhood of Detroit).

According to the real estate dealer, the crisis has led to an unprecedented portfolio of homes, but they are failing to sell. He said that ‘there were homes on the market for $100, but an offer of just $10 would be likely to be accepted.’ Hard to believe, don’t you think?

The real estate dealer was speaking on a BBC 2 documentary, ‘Requiem for Detroit’, for screening on Saturday, and he said, "The property is listed by the city of Detroit as being worth $35,000, but the bank know that is impossible to ask.”

Homes offered in the viewing brochures, as early 1920s examples of colonial architecture, would once have made cherished homes but they are no longer sought after now. The particular house being offered on sale by Mr. Prophit was foreclosed by the bank a couple of months ago and was offered to his real estate firm to sell.

"But we can only put the boards up on the windows to protect the property, we can't be here 24 hrs a day to stop the squatters and the crack addicts from moving in,” Mr. Prophit said, and added, "Detroit is a city in decline. We are known as the Murder Capital of America, because of the number of deaths each year… Since the subprime mortgage crisis and the collapse of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the banks have been foreclosing on properties at an increase of 15 per cent every nine months.”

His firm the Bearing Group last year dealt with 394 foreclosed properties which all sold for under $1000. Five years ago the average home price in Detroit was hovering around the $100,000, now that has fallen to $11,500.

With unemployment, falling house prices and near bankruptcy situation of the automotive industry, the once thriving industrial city of Detroit has suffered a serious decline following the global economic crisis.

Internationally renowned as the world's automobile making capital, and home to the Big Three automobile companies, General Motors, Ford and Chrysler, and also many Fortune 500 companies, Detroit and the surrounding areas are a major manufacturing hub with about 4,000 factories. It is also an important center for international trade and commerce.

Apart from the zigzagging economic cycles of the auto industry, other problems including higher taxes than the nearby suburbs, with many people unable to afford the levies on property, the real estate market seems to have crashed to the worst level in history.

Detroit residents also face acute unemployment. In January 2010 the US Department of Labor reported metropolitan Detroit's unemployment rate rose to 15.3 per cent while it was about 10 per cent for the entire United States. An Investor's Business Daily editorial placed the unemployment rate at 50 per cent, though the city's official unemployment rate that the Labor Department reported was at 24.3 per cent for December 2009. Still it is the worst for the once prosperous city.

Detroit automakers and local manufacturing have taken heavy losses as a result of market competition from foreign auto makers. The recent recession coupled with the unwieldy burden of employee retirements and healthcare costs have all been implicated in Detroit’s problems.

The severity of the recession mandated Detroit's automakers to take additional steps to restructure, including idling of many automobile manufacturing plants. With the U.S. Treasury extending the necessary debtor in possession financing, Chrysler and General Motors emerged from the Chapter 11 reorganizations in June and July 2009 respectively, but it does not seem to benefit the residents of Detroit.

So, are you ready for purchasing a Detroit home? If you already own a dream home, invest in the properties. Recession is about to be out of the way, and it will be boom again, and what you invest now can be the best you ever made, like the Mexican Billionaire who topped the 2010 Forbes List of Billionaires used to do: invest in situations when no one dares to.

Mexican telecom tycoon Carlos Slim is the world's richest

According to Forbes list of the richest billionaires. Mexican telecom tycoon Carlos Slim is the world's richest person, overtaking Americans Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. He is the first person from a developing country to top the list, according to Forbes magazine dated March 11, 2010.

Obama blames insurers for health care reforms delays

In his speech on health care at Glenside, Pennsylvania, for promoting his health care plan , President Obama repeatedly said, “I am kind of fired up”, in the same tempo as he used to address the crowds during his presidential campaign.

President Barack Obama and his top health care officials recently stepped up attacks on US insurers on their arbitrary actions in increasing insurance premiums, as part of his efforts to mobilize public opinion and to persuade lawmakers to back US health care legislation that, among other things, stipulates that all Americans would be required to avail health insurance coverage.

Obama’s signature piece of legislation on health care is designed to cover 40 million Americans who lack health insurance coverage, while reducing medical costs, and to give the US government fresh powers to regulate insurance rate increases. The legislation is expected to bring in widespread changes to US health care in 45 years. But it still faces opposition from Republicans and some Democrats on various counts.

The White House has already spent a year trying to pass health care reforms and it has paid a heavy political price to the president and his party in terms of falling poll numbers and as the stalled health care reform bill has slowed down Obama's wider agenda.

Apart from insurance firms the health care reform also faces opposition from lobbies representing drug companies and health care industry. When health care legislation was drafted in 2009 the drug companies were asked to support the legislation in return for not allowing imports of drugs from foreign countries.

Pleading on behalf of the people, Obama recently said that lawmakers are oblivious to the suffering of ‘heartland Americans’, and he added, “Those of us in public office were not sent to Washington to do what’s easy.”

Obama accused insurance firms of making ‘a cynical calculation, that even if rate hikes cost them customers, they could rake in more cash through higher premiums on remaining plan holders.’

"The United States Congress owes the American people a final up-or-down vote on health care. It's time to make a decision," Obama said recently in Pennsylvania, the state that helped him claim presidency in 2008. “We can’t have a system that works better for the insurance companies than it does for the American people,” Obama said.

"Every year, they drop more people’s coverage when they’re sick and need it most. Every year, they raise premiums higher and higher," Obama said.

“They will keep on doing this for as long as they can get away with it,” Obama said. “So how much higher do premiums have to rise until we do something about it? How many more Americans have to lose their health insurance? When is the right time for health insurance reform?" Obama insisted that the right time to pass the legislation is ‘right now.’

Parodying the pitches made by insurance firm executives to investors in their companies, Obama quoted them as saying 'we are in the money; we are going to keep on making big profits.’

Also Obama cited the plan of WellPoint Inc. for a 39 per cent rate increase for some policyholders in California. Both he and Kathleen Sebelius, the Health and Human Services Secretary, also referred to the conference call held by ‘Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in which an executive from the London-based insurance broker Willis Group Holdings Plc said price competition has decreased and insurers are willing to “walk away” from clients.’

It may be noted, recently, Sebelius wrote to heads of insurance giants UnitedHealth Group Inc., WellPoint Inc., Aetna Inc., Health Care Service Corporation and CIGNA HealthCare Inc. reiterating a request that they disclose how much of premiums go towards customers’ medical care, as well as administrative costs, executive salaries and profit.

The insurance industry CEOs met with Sebelius on March 4 at the White House. Stephen Hemsley, CEO at Minnetonka, Minnesota-based UnitedHealth, said in an interview afterwards that the industry agreed on the need for transparency and was waiting for details from the administration.

Meanwhile Karen Ignagni, president and CEO of the trade association, said in remarks at the group’s national policy meeting recently, “Our industry strongly supports health-care reform because we recognize that the current system is unsustainable,” and added “Unfortunately, the path that has been followed is one of vilification rather than problem-solving.”

According to trade groups, Obama needs to find ways to reduce medical costs and rather than attacking insurers. But the meeting at a Ritz-Carlton hotel in Washington is being targeted by demonstrators pressing for passage of the healthcare legislation. The organizers said they will attempt citizens’ arrests of insurance company executives and Ignagni, who opposes the current bill.

One of the complaints of the Republicans is that Obama's health care plan would mean higher taxes and the costs would be partly paid for by cuts to government health care plans for elderly people. But President Obama maintains that his approach would cut costs, expand access, rein in abuses by health care insurance firms and help reduce the rolls of more than 40 million people in America who lack health coverage.

There are many ordinary people, especially the students’ community, who fear that Obama Administration plans to jam the Student Loan program through at the same time as the Health care bill, and put college students to hardships.

There are legislators who wants the House to ditch legislation it approved in November and pass the Senate's version, coupled with ‘fixes’ to that bill, but the approach is highly risky as some conservative Democrats oppose it.

According to the former US Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich, only a ‘big, national, public option’ can force insurance companies to cooperate, share information, and reduce costs. He said that scattered, localized ‘insurance cooperatives’ are too small to do that and are ‘designed to fail’ because of opposition by the moneyed forces opposing the health care reform.

One of the major obstacles to implementing any US healthcare reform that does not benefit insurance companies and the private health care industry is the power of their lobbyists. In a June 2009 NBC News-Wall Street Journal survey, 76 per cent of the people said it was either ‘extremely’ or ‘quite’ important to ‘give people a choice of both a public plan administered by the federal government and a private plan for their health insurance.’

According to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, the United States is the only wealthy industrialized nation that does not provide health care coverage to all its citizens. Those in favor of universal health care argue that the large number of uninsured Americans creates direct and hidden costs shared by all, and that extending coverage to all would lower costs and improve quality.

Now Obama is mounting pressure on the House of Representatives to back his health care plan by March 18, when he leaves on a trip to Indonesia and Australia. Obama wants House Democrats to approve the bill that has already passed the Senate. Required changes then would be made to the legislation through reconciliation, which would require a simple majority of votes in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

President Obama talks on health care plan

This video shows US President Obama visiting Glenside, Pennsylvania for promoting his health care plan and points out that most people in DC are more worried about the political score instead of results.

Marketing a single product versus multiple products

There are hundreds of ways and marketing strategies to sell your products online. Though many experts may advise that you should continue promoting only one product at a time, inevitably, even they have many products being promoted at the same time. This is because when you start with an online business of the type of a multilevel marketing (MLM) or affiliate marketing program, or anything that is not your proprietary item, you simply do not know whether you will be successful with that product, or not. Only the process of active and practical marketing that takes time can determine whether you will be successful.

So, you do not want to be tied down by one product till it becomes clear that you are successful or not. Besides, even if you are successful with a particular product, it is no guarantee that the same product will keep on bringing wads of cash day after day and month after month for years. And, what happens, if the solitary product turns out to be a failure? You do not want to waste your time, energy and money till then. Do you?

Tastes and preferences of the buyers keep on changing day after day, as new technologies, better products and many more crucial aspects on customer preferences keep on changing. So, the best seller of today is bound to become the worst seller of tomorrow. If, and when, it happens, you do not want to be caught off-guards. So, the intelligent marketer or businessperson is always on the look out for new products, including intangible services, and when they find them, they just keep on adding them to their products lineup. That, in other words, means that the idea that you should concentrate only one product at a time for marketing is simply a fallacy. Or it can be safely said at any given time almost all successful online marketers are having an array of products and services on offer.

The benefit of promoting multiple choices of products at a time is that if your customer, or even a casual visitor to your site, does not like your main product or a set of your best sellers, they may even purchase the product that is of the lowest preference in your line of products. But, that too adds to your online income. So, why should you not promote it? Take that off your products list only when keeping it is no longer economical.

Now, let us agree that we may be promoting many items at a time, but there could be some products that make the most sales. Even out of them there will be one single product that makes the highest amount of revenue in comparison to all other products on offer. And that is the product centered on which all your marketing strategies are built upon. And as soon as this product become obsolete or another product takes up its place, the new best seller becomes the centerpiece of your marketing strategies.

So, instead of one product, always try marketing different products at the same time. It makes more sense, as products, their demand and the resultant sales-pulling power of products keep on changing.

Being focused on business targets is the key to making money!

At the times when I started looking for means of making some extra money on the Internet, I was not a newbie in money-making programs like multilevel marketing, affiliate programs, etc., but I was doing such business ventures either using the traditional means like newspaper advertising, ads in mail order business magazines and mailing out my own flyers containing my business offers. So, I was only a newbie to internet marketing, and not to the business itself.

So, this newbie status on the net lead me often to dating sites, marriage sites, and sites that I never wanted to be even visiting, and sites with sort of illegal or immoral businesses for the orthodox types of people. And the types of businesses that you find today were not much, and blogs and social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and others were unheard of as they were not even born. But that was many years ago. But what all I came across offered me commissions varying from 35 per cent to 50 per cent. Then I thought, if they are not harmful, why not put up a few links in my web sites. So, I did exactly that. I lost nothing, but got a few bucks, and continued looking for genuine opportunities. And it paid off.

Let me confess to you first that I am not a hardcore money-maker or affiliate marketer. I just look for some extra money that I can earn by placing harmless links and ads and stuff of that sort in my sites and blogs and I try to use the traffic and interest of my visitors to make that extra dollar when I am already on my main objective of being on the internet that spans varied topics and pursuits. These are not essentially moneymaking ventures, but attract readers and money-minded folks into my sites. I just give them opportunities through my pages and I too earn something in that process. I have no regrets if I do not earn, but mostly, I earn nicely. So I keep on doing it and I get that extra buck for the extra mileage my car needs.

Then there is the determined, focused moneymaker or affiliate marketer who makes it big on the internet. They are always on the bull’s eye when any big-hitter in the money-making horizon appears, and they make it big. I always wondered initially about how they do it. But to my surprise, I understood that they do not have such a thing called big secrets but they follow a certain method that cannot fail. Most of them will tell you what to do to make money like them. It is simply because they too started like you and they now need people like you in their network. So, I tried that method and passed on the secrets to many of my friends. Funnily, while I did not make it good in affiliate programs, those who followed the leads that I provided made big bucks. Strange but true! Reason? I was not focused on what I advised, but those who followed my advice were focused and worked hard and it paid them well.

So being focused on your business targets is the key to making money!

Oscar-impact on box office of films like The Hurt Locker

In this video Hollywood.com's Paul Dergarabedian examines the Oscar Awards' impact on revenues for a movie like The Hurt Locker. Listen to the video and think of how a movie’s fortunes are changed by an Oscar nomination and a Best Picture Oscar Award.

The best way to explain how a Best Picture Oscar can change the box office fortunes of a film can be found from the experience of last year’s Oscar Best Picture winner Slumdog Millionaire that had a limited release in North America on 12 November 2008, followed by a nationwide release in the United States on 23 January 2009. The film grossed only $360,018 in 10 theatres in its first weekend. In the second weekend, it was released in 32 theatres and made $947,795. The film largely depended on strong word-of-mouth promotion by viewers as the promotional budget of the film was negligible. The film was widely released on 25 December 2008 at 614 theatres and earned $5,647,007.

But following its Best Picture Academy Award (and seven others), the film's takings increased by 43 per cent, which was the highest for any film since Titanic. In the weekend of 27 February to 1 March 2009, the film reached 2943 theatres grossing over $140 million at the North American box office alone. As of the time of this post the Slumdog Millionaire had worldwide gross revenue of $377,417,293 with domestic revenue of component of $141,319,928 (37.4%) plus foreign takings of $236,097,365 (62.6%). Additionally, the film was released on DVD by Blu-ray in the United States and as of 12 November 2009 an estimated 1,964,962 DVD units were sold earning $31.32 million in revenue.

At the time of the announcement of Oscar nominations on February 2, Avatar was the highest earner among the Best Picture nominees with $706 million in domestic box office receipts, but as of now, it has domestic earnings of $714,464,000 (28.0%) plus foreign revenue of $1,839,000,000 (72.0%) making the worldwide box office revenue $2,553,464,000. If Avatar wins the best picture award, watch for the rate at which it will gain at the box office. Even if it loses out to The Hurt Locker or any other film, Avatar is bound to garner some of the important Oscar trophies out of the 9 nominations, and it will still boost its box office takings.

In the case of The Hurt Locker, at the time of announcing the Oscar Best picture nominations, the Iraq war film made at a budget of $11 million had taken in revenue of $12 million. Now it stands at domestic $12,671,105 (65.6%), and foreign $6,656,139 (34.4%), totaling worldwide revenue of $19,327,244. These are very small figures compared to what you have for Avatar till now, or Slumdog Millionaire after the Oscar Awards of 2009. But, if you watch for, definitely, The Hurt Locker’s fortune will make a quantum jump if it wins the Best Picture Oscar.

Also, compare the figures for Avatar and The Hurt Locker in terms of percentages worldwide out of their total revenue. Avatar earned only 28.0% from domestic market but The Hurt Locker earned as high as 65.6% of its revenue from domestic market, and it earned only 34.4% from the foreign market, against Avatar’s 72% from foreign market. Two reasons can be attributed to this vast difference: firstly, in the US, it being a war movie involving American forces and the terrorists or foreign forces, it will be acceptable to the audiences, but for the audiences outside the US, Iraq is a human tragedy, born out of miscalculations, and Avatar had a huge promotional budget and the theme was acceptable, especially for the younger generation and The Hurt Locker could not enjoy the luxury of such a huge budget and it had a limited foreign release.

Any way, if the Best Picture Oscar goes to The Hurt Locker or Precious (budget: $10 million, gross revenue: $50,867,591), these films are bound to have a big rerun and the revenues are going to jump many fold. The Academy Awards and all the run-up to the final award night is a big business in itself, including for the big fashion houses and designers that run all the way to dress up the celebrities out there for all the Oscar events.

Merkel allies advise Greece to sell islands to cut its debts

File Photo: Elias Beach on the Greek island of Mykonos. Click on the photo for the enlarged view - 1600 x 1197 pixels.

There is a suggestion from the political allies of German Chancellor Angela Merkel that the bankrupt Greeks should consider selling some of its uninhabited islands to cut its debt.

Josef Schlarmann, a senior member of Merkel's Christian Democrats and Frank Schaeffler, an MP of the Free Democrats, which is a junior partner in the centre-right coalition Government, told Germany's Bild daily that Greece should sell stakes in all its assets to raise more cash. ‘Sell your islands, you bankrupt Greeks - and the Acropolis too’, says the headline in the Bild newspaper.

Mr. Schlarmann said those who face insolvency must sell everything they have to pay their creditors. He advised Mrs. Merkel not to promise any financial aid when she meets Greek PM George Papandreou in Berlin, later this week for talks about the Greek debt crisis.

According to reports, the two senior politicians of Germany wanted to start a debate about what Greece could do to help itself and bolster the battered Euro. And according to a poll published on Thursday, 84 per cent of Germans think that the EU should not help Greece out of its debt crisis.

Mr. Papandreou has already announced harsh austerity measures to bring the Greek deficit under control, and for the Greeks to tide over the financial crisis, and this has resulted in widespread resentment from the Greek labor force totaling over 5 million, who launched protest strikes against the government’s austerity measures.

According to the International Monetary Fund Greece had an estimated average per capita income of US$30,661 for the year 2008, well comparable to that of Germany, France and Italy. But now the Greek economy faces significant problems, including rising unemployment levels. In 2009, Greece had the European Union’s second lowest Index of Economic freedom, after Poland, ranking 81st in the world.

Greek economic growth turned negative in 2009 for the first time since 1993, with the highest budget deficit, although close to those of Ireland and the UK, as well as the second highest debt to GDP ratio in the European Union.

An indication of the trend of over-lending in recent years is the fact that the ratio of loans to savings exceeded 100 per cent during the first half of the year.

According to a real estate website, Greek islands evoke images of sunglass-sporting shipping magnates sipping champagne on enormous yachts, but these islands cost as little as US$2m, relatively 'affordable' islands, the website says, ‘unless, of course, you're a Greek’.

The Greek Islands are a collection of over 6,000 islands and islets that belong to Greece, only 227 of the islands are inhabited, and only 78 of those have more than 100 inhabitants. Many of them are privately owned by the world's super rich people.

The largest Greek island by area is Crete in the Aegean Sea, and the second largest island is Euboea, separated from the mainland by the 60m-wide Euripus Strait. After the third largest island Lesbos and fourth largest island Rhodes, the rest of the islands are two-thirds of the area of Rhodes, or smaller than it.

PayPal could have avoided confusion on suspension of withdrawals to India

Following the suspension of personal payments to and from India and transfers to local banks in India by PayPal, there have been a lot of inconveniences for people using PayPal for collecting payments and using their services for transactions, including withdrawals. The problem was posted in this blog as PayPal suspends personal payments and local bank transfers in India on Feb 8, 2010. Now it seems the problems are sorted out by PayPal, as it involved questions of complying with the regulations of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The final outcome was notified to users by PayPal by email, and it is in the PayPal Blog titled "New Bank Withdrawal Instructions for Our Customers in India".

At the time of suspension of accounts, many question came up like how to cancel the withdrawal request that is already made and money was on the pipeline, the fees that PayPal deduct on reversal of payment, the difference in exchange rates when money is credited back by PayPal, how long will the suspension of withdrawals remain in force, what are the real problems with the regulators (RBI) and many more questions. Unfortunately most of these were not answered, and those who tried to contact the customer service either got ready-to-mail generic replies that had no relevance to the current problem or did not get any reply at all.

One pertinent question that was being asked by PayPal users through the PayPal Blog is why bank transfers to India were allowed by them even after the problem arose, and when PayPal knew that user is NOT going to receive the money? And interestingly, PayPal accounts showed the transactions as “completed” even when NO transaction was possible, or allowed by RBI. I transferred some money on Feb 8, and my account showed the transaction as completed, and now it is credited back to my account on March 3, 2010, but only a reduced amount on account of the exchange rate at the rate of ‘1 Indian Rupee = 0.0210343 U.S. Dollars’, as indicated in my account. Looks funny, as the money has not been received in my account and hence there was no transfer-back and there cannot be an applicable exchange rate on a transaction that never happened.

Now there are two main questions involved in the above transaction. Firstly, there was no transfer at all, and the money was with PayPal (if not with PayPal, where was it?), and what happens to the interest on the money? Though the money I transferred is nominal, there were people who had substantial amounts involved in stuck up PayPal transactions and the total sum that was held in suspension by PayPal must be huge. Therefore, at least they should have transferred the same amounts in terms of US$, as this loss to the customers is NOT because of them, but because of PayPal.

The next important question is why was the users not at least told where the money was, or at least the accounts should have shown the amount as ‘incomplete’ transaction, with some kind of indication that the money could not be transferred and it is safe. Yes, most people were concerned about the safety of their money, as there was no authentic answer on this at the PayPal blog. Most people who tried to contact PayPal were not answered.

One user rightfully commented in PayPal blog, “And wouldn’t it be wise for PayPal to add a message/announcement to PayPal (Indian) account to warn us on bank withdrawal?” Another user asked, “When PayPal have got instructions from RBI, PayPal team have immediately reversed all the money which have been transferred to or from India. Then in this case, why r u waiting for?? You can immediately stop of make reversal to our PayPal account. At least we can be trusted that our money is safe.”

Another user also asked, “Why the transfer was initiated, when PayPal knew that the payment is just going to be debited to the users’ account and the user will not receive the amount at all? There could have been some error message but it didn’t happened and then started the whole thing…!”

When he contacted PayPal, he was assured, ‘We are doing everything we can to process your withdrawal as soon a possible.’ And the source at PayPal said, “If you are unable to locate the deposit at your bank, and the status of the transaction is still listed as completed, we can initiate a trace on these funds once 14 business days have passed. In this case, please contact us and our Customer Service will provide all the information to initiate the trace procedure.” He writes, ‘so we have to wait for 14 business days from the day withdrawal is initiated, and then after they will initiate the trace and funds will come back to PayPal account. And then you can request a cheque or transfer to your credit card.’

PayPal is no doubt one of the best means of money transactions, especially for small businessmen, professionals and the small gal or guy with a blog. What we feel is that PayPal could have certainly avoided all the confusion by posting the updates and by showing the status of the payments that remained incomplete.

Any way, it is very nice to note that PayPal has resumed their services to India and posted the ‘New Bank Withdrawal Instructions for Our Customers in India’ in the PayPal Blog.