Credit card fraud ring busted in Pinellas

LARGO – Authorities have busted an international crime ring that had its headquarters in the middle of Pinellas County. The crimes involved luxury cars and credit cards.

This organization committed very complicated fraud, and it can best be described as loan fraud credit card bust outs, said Sheriff Bob Gualtieri during a news conference. When the credit cards are maxed, out they dont pay the bill, thus the term credit card bust outs, and they take the money.

Authorities targeted ten men and say Tihomir Botchev was the ring leader. The three-year long joint operation involved the Pinellas County Sheriffs Office, the United States Secret Service and Florida Attorney Generals Office.

The alleged fraud totaled more than $3 million. Most of the suspects are originally from Bulgaria and Lithuania. The suspects are also accused of setting up phony corporations in Florida to run the cards and keep even more cash.

But thats not all. Sheriff Gualtieri says the men also made millions by taking out big dollar car loans to buy expensive vehicles, like BMWs, Mercedes, Audis and Acuras, with no intention of paying back the money. The cars were allegedly retailed in the state of Illinois and then shipped overseas and sold for double the price.

Authorities say Botchev operated out of a quiet neighbor in Largo where he lived with his wife and family the past few years. Neighbors on Keating Drive were shocked when his home was raided.

Weve been here since 1968, and I think the biggest thing weve had is a couple of bikes taken out of an unlocked garage, says neighbor Jerry Gruntz.

Authorities are still looking for a few suspects, but Botchev and many of his associates are now in the Pinellas County Jail charged with theft and racketeering.
 

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Malaysia weighs minimum wage policy

Malaysia weighs minimum wage
policy
By Baradan Kuppusamy

KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia plans to introduce
a national minimum wage for its workers against
stiff opposition from employers and manufacturers
who warn that such a policy would shut down nearly
200,000 small and medium enterprise (SME) units.

Human Resources Minister Subramaniam
Sinnapan has dismissed the manufacturers claims
as false and alarmist, but Prime Minister Najib
Razak appears rattled and has delayed an
announcement until May 1. I will study the matter
in-depth and make an appropriate announcement on
Labor Day, he was reported as saying by the The
Star daily on March 20.

The government is
caught between having to shore up votes in an
election year, due to he held by the end of next
year, and the

meeting the demands of
manufacturers. Najib cannot ignore warnings by
Malaysias Employers Federation that the closure
of 200,000 SME units would mean the loss of four
million jobs in a population of more than 28
million people. Adding to the pressure, the
opposition-ruled state of Selangor declared a
Malaysian ringitt 1,500 ($487) minimum wage for
its employees, starting January 1. But Selangor
has had to set aside $97.5 million to assist
state-owned companies that are unable to pay the
new wages.

Four million of them earn less
than $162.50 a month, said Arulchelvam Sinnaiyan,
secretary-general of the Parti Sosialis Malaysia,
a small but vocal party that has two lawmakers in
parliament.

According to a United Nations
Development Program country report, Malaysia is
one country in Asia that has a wide income gap,
with the top 20% people enjoying 70% of the wages
and the bottom 60% earning 20%. A middle class of
20% struggles to pay off loans on houses, cars and
credit cards.

In the 2008 general
elections, the bottom 60% of voters, many of them
SME workers, rebelled, choosing the opposition
Pakatan Rakyat over the ruling National Front (NF)
in the biggest upset since independence from
Britain in 1957.

The ruling NF government
wants to fix minimum monthly wages at $292.60 for
SME workers, but manufacturers say they are
already struggling to stay afloat on a profit
margin of 3-6% and will lose out to competitors in
Asia, especially China and India.

The
country is trapped in a low-cost economy and has
to move out to higher skills and higher cost
manufacturing as neighboring Singapore did in the
past two decades.

But the biggest hurdle
is the upcoming general election, whose outcome
can go either way. While Najib is popular, he has
a lot of baggage carrying the NF, especially
corruption issues.

In the latest of a
series of scams, a minister was forced to resign
after her family diverted funds meant to make the
country self-sufficient in beef production into
buying plush condominiums and expensive cars.

Najib sees the four million SME workers as
potential voters, many of whom are struggling on
wages that are way below the official poverty line
of $247 a month.

A minimum wage of $293
is great news and shows how desperate they are to
win. It shows the power of our votes, said
factory worker Muniandy Ramasamy, 42, of Kajang, a
city just south of the capital Kuala Lumpur. I
can now take home a decent wage with that, he
said, adding that while his basic pay is low, he
earns more by working overtime.

He also
gets other incentives to take home $390, barely
living wages in Malaysia.

Najib has been
giving One Malaysia aid to low-income families
totaling about $650 million and has promised more
if the economy improves.

Giving minimum
wages is a smart move considering the opposition
from employers … it forestalls potential
protests and wins him votes in the crucial
election, says Denison Jayasooria, head of the
Social Strategic Foundation, a government-funded
entity.

Employers have said before that
they would rather die than agree to a minimum wage
policy, but Najib has to win them over, he told
IPS.

Jayasooria said having a minimum wage
policy would also help lift the economy out of a
low-cost morass. Many of Malaysias neighbors have
minimum wage packages and use them as a social
safety net to help lowly paid workers manage in
tough times.

These countries, including
Thailand and Indonesia, plan to raise wage levels
to counter the widening income gaps and prevent
possible political upheavals. Labor advocates are
already calling for minimum wage deals in
Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
China, the
worlds manufacturing hub, is raising its minimum
wage by 13% in stages over the next five years.

A minimum wage policy is one of Najibs
most important reform planks. He needs to convince
SME workers that the government stands for them
and not just for the rich, powerful and well
connected.

(Inter Press
Service)

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At home with Mai Chen

There is no trick of Chens trade that she has kept back. In the world she moves in, it is the equivalent of giving away the secret handshake, potentially as revealing as opening up the mistresss black book, with all its secrets – or, as Chen prefers to describe it, like giving away the plans to Alcatraz.

Whatever analogy you want to use, it has been an extraordinary undertaking: A 1100-page book reviewed by some of the countrys foremost business, political, legal and academic brains ahead of its publication this month, and applauded as ground-breaking and hugely empowering by all. Former prime minister Jenny Shipley even goes so far as to call it a gift to the nation.

Chen has, in effect, open-sourced public law. Over the years, she has charged reportedly eye-watering fees to impart some of the wisdom condensed in her book. No wonder people keep asking her: Why are you doing this?

If you want to know the real why of this, it is because I wanted to make a contribution, says Chen.

Look, I came to this country as a 6-year-old. We had nothing. We didnt speak English. We were not insiders. We were about as outside as you could get.

I found there was no way to get inside. You see, for immigrants you have to be able to read it in a book because you dont have anyone who can tell you. So having found all that stuff, I think everybody needs to know it.

She despairs when new clients come to her saying they have no money left because they have spent it all in the High Court, on a matter that could have been resolved through the ombudsmen or auditor-general.

She wants people to understand how government works, how and why decisions get made, who makes them, and why senior civil servants who, in some eyes, are a bunch of cardigan-wearing handbrakes, actually do what they do, and why they deserve respect for that.

And I also think that outsiders need a guide to the inside; I think it is important we do not have a system which is run on lunches, drinks and old networks.

It is a brilliantly sunny Sunday one of those you cant beat Wellington on a good day mornings and Chen is just back from a run with her 11-year-old labrador Socrates. Young son Jack is trailing behind her as she heads upstairs for a shower, running up the panelled wooden stairway of their gracious, two-storey home.

Husband John Sinclair, 50, is lugging bags of compost to a tiny glasshouse perched at the edge of their section in one of Wellingtons most exclusive streets. The glasshouse and the $2.2 million Wadestown house behind it enjoy staggering views of the harbour.

While getting ready for the photographs, Chen tidies away the reminders of her and Sinclairs small party on the terraced lawn the night before.

It was a night to celebrate a calm and balmy evening, and for the first time in a very long time, she wasnt working.

She finally put her book to bed the Monday before. Its a massive weight off her shoulders.

Writing it meant having to get up at 5.30am, just to squeeze everything in, and there were days she didnt get to start writing till after 10pm. Her law firm was exploding in size at the same time, as the work kept rolling in. In between, she took on an adjunct professorship.

I dont think I have ever worked as hard … I didnt know I could work that hard. I have worked every waking moment of my life. I ended up with a sore knee because when I wasnt sitting, I was running; I got really fit over the past year because I just couldnt work the hours I was working if I wasnt fit.

At the worst times, her husband would ask her: Why are you doing this to yourself? But she felt compelled to finish the book.

Had I left it any later I would not have done it. You just get to a point in your life where you say I just dont want to do that anymore, and I must say Im about there now.

Before the interview, Chen is uncomfortable with the suggestion that one of her sisters might be willing to share stories from her childhood. Her three sisters Annie, Mindy and Angel are all successful in their own right, Chen argues in an email. It wouldnt feel right. Interview my husband. I have been with him 30 years.

But on the day of the interview, Sinclair, a novelist who has just had his first book accepted, is a gardener gifted with that rare thing this summer a perfect, windless day. He tears off to the garden centre while Chen stays behind.

Chen and Sinclair met on a scripture outing. She was his first girlfriend; he was her second boyfriend, though that first relationship never got as far as a first kiss.

Committed Christians (Chen is more relaxed about her faith now), the young Asian girl and tall European shared a missionary-like zeal for doing good in the world and wanted nothing of material possessions like houses or cars and credit cards. Which was just as well, because they possessed nothing.

The only way we could see each other was my sister, my elder sister, donated her 50cc bike so John could ride in to see me from Mosgiel. John was doing his PhD in English literature, in poetry, which is not necessarily supportive of a good paying job. Because actually what he wants to do is write poetry and write novels, which, of course, doesnt earn anything. When we got married, my sister, my other sister, gave us a microwave. So we owned half a microwave each. We had no money.

On their wedding day, Chen wore a ring for which she had scraped together the money herself.

So when she won a scholarship to Harvard a number of scholarships actually, including one that paid for her husband to accompany her it was such a big deal for us.

Harvard was an eye-opening experience.

I expected to go and find a whole bunch of really well-adjusted, successful people, you know? So I went and I met a whole bunch of hugely successful, beautiful people.

They were physically beautiful, they were also champions in other things, they were the golf champion of France and, you know, just happened to be top of their law class. And they were all just obsessive-compulsive because if you werent, why would you work that hard? Youd have a normal life, wouldnt you?

As someone who landed at Harvard with an obsessive-compulsive determination to succeed herself, it is not too big a stretch to assume that Chen fitted right in. I did rather. A lot of them came from unusual backgrounds; there was a reason why they were motivated.

It was a new experience for Chen. At Otago law school, where she topped her class, being the perpetual outsider nearly caused her to drop out in her third year. Because I didnt fit, you know? Everyone came from mummy and daddys law firm. And I was always asking questions … like, why is the law like this?

After Harvard came a human rights scholarship and the first big step on what could have been a prestigious international career, working in Geneva for the International Labour Organisation.

But, Im not a bureaucrat. I wasnt cut out for that scene … I was there at the crack of dawn, the woman who was supervising me would come in via her chauffeur-driven car at 10am, she had her au pair, they would break for lunch at 12pm, have a very long lunch, come back at 2.30pm and they would leave about four.

I need to be somewhere Im engaged and where people really want to be doing what they are doing.

She was drawn to the idea of returning to an academic career because I thought there might be other people like me who thought they had nothing to contribute to the law because they didnt fit.

Ultimately, however, the decision to return was her husbands.

Because it was his turn. Hed been padding around the world after me. He got a job back here and wanted to come home.

Chen applied to Victoria University and was very quickly a senior lecturer. But at 29 came the decision that if she didnt make the break for private practice then, she never would.

My parents were completely devastated. They didnt talk to me for two years. I know they thought Id gone mad. I mortgaged the house.

She hadnt expected to stay in private practice long I just wanted to see whether it was different.

But then Palmer, whom she had met through their work together at Victoria University, came to her and said: Lets start this thing.

I said to him: Why choose me? Why dont you choose another old white guy?

Palmers response was that no-one else would be mad enough to take it on.

I said: Ive only just figured out how to fill out a time sheet and use a Dictaphone. He said: No, its got to be now. We set up Chen Palmer and it just took off.

Since Palmer left in 2005 to head the Law Commission, the firm, still carrying the name Chen Palmer, has doubled in size.

If Chen puts her success down to anything, it is to never being expected to make much of herself at all.

She was doubly cursed as both an immigrant and the fourth girl in a Chinese family, which, you know, wasnt great in Taiwan.

People dont seem to realise. I know that Im no-one, I was born no-one, I was the fourth girl in a Chinese family, I wasnt ever supposed to be anyone.

My dad spent a lot of time on the first two girls because he thought they were going to be great.

But actually the last two? I dont think he learnt my name. So I wasnt ever meant to be anything, because, you know, they wanted to have a son and I understand that.

So she always knew that if she was going to get anywhere, it was going to be under her own steam.

My mum and dad had made it very plain to me what my future held. They said: We are Chinese, you are a girl, we have no money. You have to do it for yourself.

But after a lifetime of crashing through roadblocks, refusing to be stopped by obstacles and overcoming the odds, that burning drive to push herself to the limit to prove herself might have nearly run its course. She is, she suggests, happy with her lot.

A few months ago, when the couple celebrated their 26th wedding anniversary, Sinclair presented his wife with a pen and a piece of paper.

He said: Heres a piece of paper; write down everything you want to do.

The sheet of paper, Chen says, is still blank.

Theres nothing on it. Ive done everything I want to do now. We have worked really, really, really hard in the first 30 years Ive known John and the great thing is that the fun is the next 30 years. I dont have anything else I want to do.

That doesnt mean an end to work but it does mean an end to the 18-hour days, the punishing seven-day-a-week schedule, and betting against the clock for time with her family.

I feel like Ive finished a pie-eating competition; I want no more pies.

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Judge denies request for gag order in Victor Hill case

The special prosecutor in this case — Walton and Newton Counties District Attorney Layla Zon — had asked Collier to limit the comments of Hill, sitting Sheriff Kem Kimbrough and three other witnesses because she  feared media coverage could hurt the yet-to-be scheduled trial on 37 felony charges of racketeering, theft by taking, giving a false statement, interfering with a witness and violating oath of office.

Hills lawyer argued in a hearing last week that a gag order would only hurt Hills efforts to run for the office he lost in 2008 to Kimbrough and would help politically-motivated efforts against him. Musa Ghanayem said Hill should be allowed to respond to charges made during the campaign, noting that Kimbrough had said in a television interview that the indictment returned last month would be a key part of his effort to win re-election.

Collier said in an order signed Friday  he did not see how Hills right to a fair trial could be hurt. Collier wrote that prosecutors had not offered clear and convincing evidence that pretrial publicity in this case has had a prejudicial effect on [Hills] ability to receive a fair trial without the imposition of a restrictive gag order.

In the hearing last week, Zon argued that the state is also entitled to a fair trial. But Ghanayem said there is no such guarantee in the US Constitution; he said the Constitution only assures a defendant the right to a fair trail.

According to the indictment, Hill used Sheriffs Office cars and credit cards to take out-of-state vacations and that he took an employee with him on some of those trips but had her absences counted as either paid sick leave or paid administrative leave. The indictment said other employees were required to staff campaign functions and to work on her personal biography during the hours they were supposed to be working for the Sheriffs Office. Hill also is accused of transferring money from his 2008 re-election campaign account to businesses he owned.

Hill had denied all those charges, claiming the indictment was politically-motivated and was pursued only after he announced he would be a candidate this year.

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Should You Join a Credit Union?

Over the past six months, many banking customers have faced new debit card fees, and then the cancellation of those fees. (Other fees, for using out-of-network ATMs or bouncing checks, still exist.) The confusion led to many unhappy customers, some of whom are asking whether credit unions would be a better choice for them. According to the Credit Union National Association, more than one million customers decided to move their money to credit unions in 2011, joining the 90 million existing customers.

[See the 50 Ways to Improve Your Finances in 2012.]

Credit unions, which, unlike banks, are owned and governed by their members, are often misunderstood as exclusive places with limited services. But in reality, most Americans are eligible to join them and they provide an increasingly diverse array of services, including free ATM use, electronic banking, loans, and interest-bearing savings accounts.

Here are answers to five common questions about credit unions:

Am I eligible to join a credit union?

While membership in a credit union depends on belonging to a particular community, such as a workplace, region, or church, most consumers are eligible, even though many dont realize it. They might just need to investigate options within their communities.

So how do you find one? Websites such mycreditunion.gov can help. Also, ask aroundyour employer, spouses employer, or local government council can direct you as well.

Do credit unions offer better interest rates?

On average, credit unions offer lower rates on loans and higher rates on savings accountsjust what consumers want. The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) reports that five-year loans for new cars at banks have an average interest rate of 5.1 percent, compared with 3.73 percent for credit unions. Many credit unions also have limits on interest rates. Federally charted credit unions, for example, have an 18 percent limit that applies to all loans, including those for cars and credit cards.

[In Pictures: 10 Ways to Start Earning Extra Money Now]

Are deposits insured the same way they are at banks?

Yes. Credit unions are insured by the federal National Credit Union Administration, which provides the same protections that the FDIC applies to banksinsurance coverage on deposits up to $250,000. NCUAs website allows credit union members to check on their insurance coverage; the agency also recommends checking for a prominently displayed sign at the credit union that says it is NCUA-insured.

Do credit unions ever collapse?

Like banks, credit unions can fold, but that usually means they merge with another credit union. Regardless of what happens, members are protected through the NCUA insurance. NCUA says if a federally insured credit union fails, members typically receive payments for their deposits within three days.

What about financial literacycan a credit union teach me how to make smart money decisions?

Credit unions pride themselves on being a top source for financial information. Many offer seminars and information on topics such as preventing identity theft and managing credit cards. More information on any of these topics can be found at the NCUA website or by contacting your local credit union.

Twitter: @alphaconsumer

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Occupy Christmas: Call for one-day TV sports boycott

lt;pgt;Dont watch.lt;/pgt;lt;pgt;Dont watch any of it.lt;/pgt;lt;pgt;Its not a command. Dont mean to be preachy. Its a request.lt;/pgt;lt;pgt;Dont watch the Bears-Packers NFL game at 5:15 pm on NBC. Or the Celtics-Knicks NBA game at 9 am on TNT, or any of the other NBA games: Heat-Mavericks at 11:30 am on ABC, Bulls-Lakers at 2 pm on ABC, Magic-Thunder at 5 pm on ESPN and Clippers-Warriors at 7:30 pm on ESPN.lt;/pgt;lt;pgt;Its Christmas. Spend it with family. If you dont have family, spend it with friends. If you dont have friends, spend it with neighbors. If you dont have neighbors, or if you dont have neighborly neighbors, heck, spend it with strangers. At least strangers wont conjure ghosts from Christmases past or anything else from the past that youd rather not have conjured.lt;/pgt;lt;pgt;Or spend the day alone, contemplating the concept of peace on earth and goodwill toward mankind or whatever you want to contemplate. Just dont contemplate watching televised sports on Christmas.lt;/pgt;lt;pgt;Why this admittedly odd, insistent, perhaps inappropriate, request?lt;/pgt;lt;pgt;Who knows? Maybe because its all just so soul crushing and cynical, so wearily, thoroughly, unabashedly shameful that today, of all days, we will be deluged with 13 hours of sports programing, and in those 13 hours we will be sold cars and credit cards and soda and junk food and sex appeal and pre-fabricated snippets of athletes lives, athletes and their trophy wives and Norman Rockwell-like children wishing us a merry Christmas and happy New Year (ah, so touching, so meaningful) and no doubt other variations of the themes of happy holidays and family values. As if we really rely on the approval and well-wishes of the National Basketball Association or the National Football League to be able to truly celebrate the day.lt;/pgt;lt;pgt;Sports fans of a certain age range undoubtedly recall Christmas Day 1971, when their eyeballs likely were glued to the television for nearly five hours, watching the Chiefs-Dolphins NFL playoff game.lt;/pgt;lt;pgt;And a dandy it was. A classic. Still talked about. Longest game in professional football history. Sudden death, and isnt that a quaint, holiday-invoking phrase? The Chiefs Ed Podolak had 185 yards of offense, rushing and receiving combined, and Wendell Hayes ran for 100 yards. The Dolphins Paul Warfield had 140 yards receiving. Future Hall of Famer Jan Stenerud missed a 22-yard field goal in the final seconds of regulation that would have won it for Len Dawson and Hank Stram and the rest of those very likable Chiefs. Garo Yepremian, the 5-foot-8 Cypriot tie maker, won it with a 37-yard field goal in the games 83rd minute.lt;/pgt;lt;pgt;Oh, the drama. Shakespeare would have applauded.lt;/pgt;lt;pgt;Yeah, a classic. And a waste. Face it, those of us who spent so much time watching that game on Christmas Day 40 years ago were idiots. Precious time that could have been spent connecting with loved ones was spent connecting with Buck Buchanan and Larry Csonka.lt;/pgt;lt;pgt;Look, do what you want today. Its a free country. Its your free time.lt;/pgt;lt;pgt;But do you really need to watch any televised sports today? Do you really need to watch even a minute?lt;/pgt;lt;pgt;Forget the high-minded sermonizing, the guilt trip, the second-rate philosophy. Just be rational. Do you really care about the Bears-Packers game? Especially now that you cant even use the Packers pursuit of a perfect season as an excuse. They lost last Sunday. So much for that story line. What? Youre afraid youll insult cheeseheads everywhere if you dont watch today? Trust me, they wont know or care.lt;/pgt;lt;pgt;Do you really need to watch any of the NBAs long-delayed season-opening games? Even the most diehard hoops fan, if hooked up to a lie detector, will admit todays games are a curiosity at best, but virtually meaningless in the big scheme of a 66-game season (down from the usual, bloated 82, but still a lot of games).lt;/pgt;lt;pgt;Clippers vs. Warriors? Youre going to ignore your family for 2½ hours on Christmas to watch Clippers vs. Warriors? You can live with that? Dont worry about hurting David Sterns feelings. Hell get over it.lt;/pgt;lt;pgt;Its Christmas. Talk to your children. Or your parents. Better yet, listen to them.lt;/pgt;lt;pgt;Dont watch sports. Not today. Dont let the slick corporate cynicism steal your holiday. Call it your private boycott, your personal protest.lt;/pgt;lt;pgt;Occupy Christmas.lt;/pgt;lt;pgt;Robert Rubino can be reached at robert.rubino@pressdemocrat.com. His Old School blog is at http://oldschool.blogs.pressdemocrat.comlt;/pgt;
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Just why do boardrooms get it wrong?

Equitable Life, once one of the most successful and highly respected mutual insurance groups, is now much reduced and running itself down after a series of unfortunate moves that destroyed it as a viable business. Nevertheless, the worlds oldest mutual insurer, now in managed decline, celebrates its 150th anniversary next year.

Actually, celebrate is not the word chief executive Chris Wiscarson uses. He thinks the anniversary should be marked rather than celebrated.

And he has thought of a suitably solemn and responsible way to do it. Equitable in its heyday had one of the strongest boards of any insurer but this did not prevent the business getting into trouble. So his idea is to commission and publish research which tries to establish why it is that intelligent boards make bad decisions.

We shall have to wait for the answer, which is a pity because this is actually the big issue of the week so far. The Financial Services Authoritys report into the collapse of Royal Bank of Scotland, published yesterday, notes that the board failed to exert an appropriate level of control over its chief executive and allowed him to expand recklessly. But why did the board acquiesce? It is too easy to say it was because Sir Fred Goodwin cowed them all – there were several on the board just as tough in other walks of life as he was. So what is it – what is the dynamic – that allowed it to happen?

One might make a similar comment about David Camerons performance in Brussels last week. Given that our economic future, the continued prosperity of most large business, and our attractiveness as a destination for inward investment rest on our membership of the European Union, why was the Cabinet not more effective in exerting some control over the policies and negotiating stance of its dominant chief executive?

Instead, it has allowed him to embark on a course that promises to do for this country what Goodwin did for Royal Bank of Scotland but unfortunately without a taxpayer in the background willing to bail us out.

So much of corporate governance is devoted to making sure boards have the right mix of skills, and the right amount of diversity and deliver the right amount of challenge. People who are close to these things say it is a complete waste of time because boards have more mood swings than a troubled adolescent. Some respond brilliantly to crises, some are hopeless.Some are great with the detail, others ignore it. Some are good one day, erratic the next. And you just have to look at the recent record of some of the greatest names in the land to know that they can all make very bad decisions.

It is a pity Equitable Life was not founded a year earlier. We could do with that report now.

A home truth about High St

When shopping guru Mary Portas was appointed by the Government to see if there was any way to arrest the decline in Britains High Streets, the move was widely dismissed as a pr gimmick.

Portas has a justifiable reputation for knowing what to do with a shop layout to bring in the customers, but that is not the same as getting the people to the High Street in the first place. The Civil Service showed what it thought of the exercise by giving her a staff of one. In many ways, it was an impossible job. There have been dozens of reports on the High Street. Every local authority, property company and serious retailer has been worrying about the decline for the better part of 30 years. Some ideas have worked locally but nothing has emerged that could be said to have stopped the tide.

But then came the summer riots. These found ministers desperate for an instant solution to social unrest, and there was Portas pottering down the High Street. Overnight, her report was transformed. It became the key to solving the problems of inner-city deprivation and urban decline. The Civil Service gave her more staff.

Unfortunately, throwing people at it does not solve this kind of problem. High Streets were built for an age when most people walked to anchor tenants such as Woolworths, Marks amp; Spencer and Boots after a visit to the banks and building societies to get the cash.

Life is no longer like that. Today, shopping is built around cars and credit cards, and is based on retail parks with the occasional giant shopping centre. It is the age of the car-borne shopper, and the whole approach has changed to reflect this. Meanwhile, the High Streets have lost their banks and building societies and gained Costa coffees, All Bar Ones and charity shops.

Tomorrow belongs to the internet. Web-based purchases are growing by the day. The car is being displaced by the armchair. Retail parks are struggling, let alone the High Street.

Portas report today has some novel thoughts and good ideas to make our High Streets livelier. But the most sensible suggestion to solve the problem of empty shops came not from her but from the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Eric Pickles a few months back. Local authorities should no longer have the power to prevent redundant retail premises from being converted into homes. That is whats needed in the centre of town – not more struggling shops but somewhere people can afford to live.

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Luke Russert’s Top 5 NYC Destinations

Washington City Paper:

Earlier this week when the Taxicab Commission voted for a proposal that would raise rates and modernize the fleet with newer cars and credit card machines, there was actually quite a bit of outrage from city dweller media types who tend to stick to national issues. While thats probably because they rely more on cabs than most residents, one tweet from MSNBC contributor and news scion Luke Russert stuck out. Russert swears that if cabs get modernized by fall of next year, hell take one all the way to New York City.

Read the whole story: Washington City Paper

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Ohneiser Kicks Off New Opinion Column

Welcome to Bobby Os Corner! Local elections are now over so please openly support every newly elected official so they know were watching. As I expect to be a resident of Loudoun for the long term I look forward to supporting every official no matter what party, if any, they came from. I forgive everybody from this election cycle except those who stole my signs (all of which were properly permitted and legally placed). Im considering a reward for anyone who can turn in these vigilantes. Politics seems to make small people even smaller.

#13;

Now for some finance issues we may want to keep track of. Will the mortgage holders of the NCC site in Lansdowne forgive the debt enough to allow the county to buy the land. We should know by the end of January. How much LCPS construction will have to be tabled due to the capital commitments made to support metro? Only time will tell. Will the state drive up VRS contributions further straining Loudoun finances as the state falls behind in proper retirement funding? Anyone want to guess whether a wife of a Senator is in charge of VRS or not? Does anyone know how badly these funds have been professionally managed over the last 10 years?

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The editor asked me to give out some very basic financial advice for this first article so here goes. If you have a steady job which pays enough for you to feel infringed upon by your progressive tax burden then put as much assignable mortgage as you can on your home and pay off all depreciating assets like cars and credit cards. Start a business out of your home and start writing off expenses for home use. If you have extra money and a very high tax bracket consider moving from taxable to tax free bond funds.

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These are quite simplistic concepts but over time should prove worthwhile. Not that I am any better at predicting economic change than anyone else but it does seem more likely than not that taxes will go up not down, federal expenses will be pushed as burdens to the states and federal municipal bond tax exemptions may start to be reduced (perhaps even our precious mortgage deduction will be restricted).  If these changes go into effect then already owned municipal bond funds and already held assignable mortgages would increase in value. Imagine how hard it would be for Loudoun to pay for its school system if our housing values dropped by 25% because the federal government put conditions on the deductibility of mortgages! Happy New Year!

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INdustry: Will Targeted Advertising on TV Be Better than on the Web?

For this edition of INdustry, we spoke with Eric Schmitt, EVP of Allants cable and media business. Allant is a company to watch. An established player in the market services (database marketing, direct marketing, etc…) business, Allant has traditionally helped TV service providers manage customer lists and implement consumer direct marketing campaigns for old problems such as subscriber acquisition and churn management.

Now, Allant is extending those relationships and expanding its presence in the television business. Theyre applying their know-how in subscriber list development, segmentation and campaign implementation to create new resources and services for advanced advertising. Marketing HBO to cable households is pretty similar to marketing cars and credit cards to, well, households.

And this, interestingly enough, raises a major point.

On the Web, video publishers can use behavioral targeting to make ad decisions. By comparison to the relatively blunt Nielsen model, behavioral targeting offers meaningful value-add to advertisers. A direct indicator of this difference: ads on broadband video garner significantly higher CPMs than broadcast TV for the same video content.

And this sets up the opportunity that Allant will help TV companies mine. You see, direct marketing, based upon actual household data, is significantly more accurate and granular than behavioral targeting.

Eric gave an example: For most marketers, one of the most important distinctions in a group of people is customer vs. prospect. In many cases, marketers have lists of their customers. So, given a list of people, it is relatively easy to separate the list into those that I know are customers, and everyone else.

Behavioral targeting, however, is based upon IP addresses. We dont really know who is surfing the Web. We know they went to Best Buy and Home Depot and checked out toaster ovens, but we dont know who they are and we dont really know why. Have they bought from us before? When? How much did they spend?

The Web world can attempt to match the IP address to a person and there are many representations about the efficacy of this; but Eric asserts that, generally speaking, the match applications only succeed 20% of the time. (There is also the consumer creepout factor at the fact that their recent Web surfing behavior is clearly targeting their ad experience. This carries an attendant privacy/legislative risk.)

For a baseline comparison, a cable or satellite operator has name and address on file for 100% of its subscribers. The IDs of the set-top box in the house are all on the same file.

The difference is clearly large for the advertiser that has his own lists, but it goes beyond the 20% vs. 100%. Household data can be leveraged extensively in the database marketing world. Marketing-services companies like Allant can append data from a large number of sources with a high degree of reliability. Palmolive may want retail shopping data. Ford may want income data, or likelihood-to-buy a pickup truck. Marketers differ widely in their strategies for targeting, and with household data, they have a huge number of accurate tools to draw from.

This is why media companies are now working with Allant to create viewer databases. Whereas previously, content publishers did not have a use for specific data about viewers, now the ability to connect marketers with viewers on a targeted basis is both viable and desirable. Perhaps best of all, the addressable model can be implemented consistently across TV, VOD and Internet video platforms.

Eric also provided an interesting observation about privacy. As he put it, when we deliver direct marketing pieces to the Post Office, we dont ask the Post Office for information about the recipient. We hand them the marketing piece with the address already on it.

The postal model for advanced TV advertising highlights a key benefit of household-based advertising.

Marketers can run their own analyses, build their own campaign segments and so forth. Then they can simply instruct the TV network or service provider (depending on whose inventory theyre buying) to deliver ad 1 to list 1, ad 2 to list 2 and so forth. While there are still many bricks to lay in such a system, household addressability makes that very, very easy.

Behavioral targeting on broadband video has many virtues. Its already functioning at scale. Its lucrative. And its growing rapidly. As the US TV market moves to implement TV Everywhere, well see broadband video flowing to homes authenticated by service providers. That will connect those viewing sessions to the operators databases…and open the debate. Should be quite interesting to see how things unfold.

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Michael is the president and CEO of MediaTech Strategies, a consulting company that helps investors and operating companies develop and capitalize on emerging media technologies. He has over 18 years experience in the media technology business, including previous CEO roles at Ucentric Systems, where he pioneered the multiroom DVR category and PhyFlex Networks, where he developed a new access network solution for cable. Michael previously held senior executive positions with OpenTV, ICTV (now ActiveVideo Networks), Motorola and Playboy TV. Through his consulting practice, he has provided services to more than 50 companies of all types, stages and size.

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