Financial and Investment News

Today, unfortunately, the stock market, the DOW and other leading economic indicators took another sizeable hit as it was widely reported that
Washington does not appear to be in a major hurry to bail out the automotive industry. it did not help that their 
representatives from Motown who were pleading povery arrived in style in an opulent jet as if they were still high-rollers. In any event,
a collapse of any of the Big 3 automakers would of course have a disastrous impact on the American economy, with employment taking perhaps the largest single hit of any sector with GDP close behind, sadly enouph.
All in all, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson today defended his part in the handling of the current financial crisis in various reported statements but nonetheless has
 not stated one way or another whether further aid will be forthcoming to the struggling bank Citigroup (is that the one that just gave gigantic bonuses to it’s Executives? Glad the deserving folks are getting those golden parachutes).
In any even, he has maligned his critics who stated that permiting Lehman Brothers fail in September made the situation much worse.
In addition, he stated that authorities had had actually assisted in averting a large-scale financial collapse, according to the Reuters internet news network.
On the world level of the crises, meanwhile, developed countries continue to have differences over the various specifics of a common strategy.
These differences are even more profound when the views of underdeveloped or ‘Third World’ countries are added to the mix.
By the way if you going through your own personal financial crises then by all means you should seek debt advice from a professional.

If you thought 2000 meant the end of Y2K as an issue, well so fast, according to this superb article by expert and Orange County insurance litigation lawyer Todd Picker…The Y2K issue originates in the software or coding used to operate computer systems. In addition, the consequences flowing from the failure to correct the problem were well known long before remediation costs happened. The question thus arises as to whether potential losses related to Y2K failures are fortuitous or not. After all, the concept of fortuity is fundamental to insurance. Incidentially if you live in either Orange County or nearby areas and need a top notch Orange County insurance litigation lawyer then I suggest Todd Picker as he is simply one of the best Orange County insurance litigation lawyer out there at this time. Alright now back to the article: In its most basic form, insurance is a contract whereby the insurer undertakes to indemnify another against loss from certain specified con¬tingencies or perils. The contract provides security against possible anticipated loss. Risk is the essen¬tial element.9 Accordingly, it is well recognised that a loss in progress or known loss is not insurable. The rule will apply whenever the insured is, or should have been, aware of a loss at the time the policy was purchased. Applying this rule to Y2K remediation costs calls into question whether insurance coverage can even exist. The existence of the problem and the need to correct it has been known for many years. It is therefore doubtful whether Y2K failures, or the need to incur costs to avoid the same, are fortuitous and therefore insurable.
Another issue at hand here that must be resolved is determining if computer codes are in fact “property” that can be the subject of property insurance. At the outset, it should be observed that almost any kind of property can be insured. Accordingly, coverage for loss to or destruction of computer data, coding, program or software may be specifically afforded under a particular policy. If not, there is no case law at present which squarely addresses the question of whether computer codes are tangible property. Wow you need to pratically be a litigation lawyer to figure all of this out. One approach to this issue, albeit raised in another context, can be found in Retail Systems Inc. ‘V. CNA Ins. Cos.ll In Retail Systems the appellate court was asked to interpret a clause covering “physical injury or destruction of tangible property” with respect to the loss of a computer tape containing voter preference data. Without guidance from other courts, the Retail Systems court reasoned as follows:
At best, the policy’s requirement that only tangible property is covered is ambiguous. Thus this term
6. See Young’s Market Co. v. American Home Assur¬ance Co., 4 Ca1.3d 309 at 313 (1971).
7. Reliance Ins. Co. v. The Yacht Escapade, 280 F.2d 482 (1960).
8. Young’s Market Co. 170 American Home Assurance Co., abov8 n. 6, at 313.
9. Epmeier v. United States, 199 F.2d 508 at 509-510 (7th Cir. 19.52).
10. See pnzdential-LMI Commercial Ins. Co. v. Superior Cow 1., 51 Ca1.3d 674 (1990).
11. 469 N.W.2d 735 (Minn. Ct. App. 1991).
[2000) I.C.C.LR .. ISSUE 4 © SWEET & MAXWELL LIMITED [AND CONTRIBUTORS)

I just returned from Chicago and am back in the saddle again, so to speak. I am rady to start blogging again after my little hiatus. It has been reported that hedge fund manager Mike Lauer has been convicted of swindling investors over the course of several years for over half a billion dollars. Yes you heard that one right. It seems that all of those million could not buy him an Attorney who could get him off. How very sad indeed.

The Judge on this case found in a sixty-seven page order that Lauer had essentially tweaked and twisted the prices of 7 seperate securities. These were a large part of the funds portfolios, which he did not provide a basis for such very steep valuations. The Judge in question also found that he was untruthful, to put it charitably, to investors about the hedge funds holdings. In plain english you might even say that he lied through his teeth, but this case is not for me to sit here and judge. In any event, a head of the Lancer Management Group, his moves were ruled to be highly premeditated and directly caused the loss of millions and millions of dollars worth of investor’s hard earned money. I realize that no one really suffered personal bodily injury per say but what about the emotional scars? I mean, it is nothing personal, right?

All in all, a ruling has not been given on the amount that Lauer will have to pay back to his victims. That amount is pending an evidentiary hearing and a fine amount decided by the Securities Exchange Commission which has to be made within sixty days or so. By the way if you happen to live in Chicago or the surrounding region and need a top drawer
Chicago Personal Injury Attorney then I strongly wish to suggest the Budin Law offices as he is one of the finest Chicago Personal Injury Attorney around that whole area. You can call him for a personal consultation. Alright now back to the story at hand.

The criminal trial for Lauer will begin in April for the charges in the hedge fund and according to his lawyer stated that Lauer will be pleading not guilty and will fight the charges at trial. The Attorney who is representing Lauer is one Norman Moscowitz.

Following a news headline on the web that Steve Jobs of the Apple corporation had suffered a heart attack send Apple’s stock diving. the technology giant quickly verified that this was indeed false and asked why their  stock closed down just over three percent points. Such as is the wild and wacky world of technology securities.All in all, the web report in question claimed that Jobs had been rushed to an emergency room after suffering a severe heart attack appeared on iReport.com and unfortunately, triggered many of Apple’s investors to panic. This false report then caused Apple to see the lowest stock closing it has seen in some seventeed months or so. The panic during the day of trading due to the false report proved that shareholders feel that Jobs is the Apple Corporation, according to reports that have come out since the event. All of this comes at a turbulent period when the Fisnnish mobile technology titan Nokia will be competing with Apple in a key sector. They just released their 5800 Xpressmusicphone which will compete in the digital music sector that Apple is currently the king of.

The Apple corporation has sold some eight million iPhones and it looks very much like they may achieve this landmark they have set for themselves, which is ten million by the end of the year. With a few more months to go it seems indeed together possible that they will make their goal of 10 million sold much earlier than expected even as early as September. There are 2 groups who have been watching this activity very closely, the Observers’s Apple Finance Board and Investors Villiage AAPL Sanity. Additional iPhone news can be found at the  Trivalley Technology Blog

 The members of these boards have been tracking the sales of these mobile phones and recording them on a large Google spreadsheet which may be found on the web. They are able to do this by using the International Mobile Equipment Identity numbers of the iPhones which have already been sold. These sales include the Apple 3G iPhone, with about 5,649,000 manufactured and 2.4 million first generation iPhones. Figures like this show that the Apple Corporation has produced well over eight million iPhones this year so far in the current year. That is pretty impressive and shows the power of their brand in particular. This and the complied spreadsheet have iPhone watchers excited that the technology giant will make its goal of ten million of their phones sold before the beginning of  next year. In other related news, Apple has launched it’s product in some twenty nations around the world. In this summer’s second rollout of the iPhone 3G, Apple introduced the smart phone in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Greece as well as certain other countries. All the while, that other giant AT&T has been shunting what phones it had to customers who placed direct fulfillment orders, which required them to go to a store, place an order and pay for the iPhone. When it arrived — sometimes as many as 14 days later — AT&T called the customer, who then had to return to the store.

Having an iPhone To hook up to your laptop computer might soon become a reality.

According to reports Steve Jobs, when questions came up regarding tethering laptop computers to iPhones, said that this could become a reality in the near future. One iPhone user that asked this question has said that Steve Jobs personally answered his queries. He also went on to say that they are working with the corporate technology giant AT&T to make it doable to tether a laptop to the iPhone so that one may go on the world wide web.  Well i guess that is life in the fast lane.The statements in question by Mr. Jobs came following the removal of NetShare from the iTunes App web store. This permitted users to tether laptops to the iPhones mobile network by using the Wi-Fi system.

In Seattle criminal and white collar crime headlines, the owner of the MA Quick Construction has been charged with a minimum of nineteen counts of theft and securities fraud. According to records in King County Superior Court the owner identified as Laurence Anthone defrauded investors between of over $600,000 for parcels of land he stated he owned or was going to buy.
The property in Seattle Central District including Skyway and Renton was to be used to construct townhouses; Anthone had at least six investors that gave funds ranging from $10,000 to $327,000 according to prosecutors and/or District Attorney.
The investigation has uncovered after a 4 year investigation by the Securities Division of the state’s Department of Financial Institution that Anthone took funds from his investors at times as “earnest money” and the businesses that he allegedly told these investors would be for a sandwich shop, a female fitness center plus residential townhouses. If this allegation is true it obviously qualifies as criminal behavior, albeit financial crime.
In 2004 Antone was charged in the King County District Court with attempted theft and unregistered contracting. He did not appear and was considered a fugitive until July 2005 when he was arrested. Prior to the trial in 2006 for these charges he made restitution to the defendant in the amount of $10,000 and pleaded guilty to a lesser contracting charge.
In the criminal complaint it is stated that the fraud victims of Antone have won in a civil court that ordered Antone to pay an amount of $600,000 to the defrauded investors. To date none of the money has been paid by Antone. By the way if you need a wonderful and helpful Seattle criminal lawyer you may want to consider the respected law Offices of Blair & Kim. They are exceptional Seattle criminal lawyer and cover assault, DWI, dui and domestic violence. They serve not only Seattle but also Tacoma, bellevue, everett and Renton as well as Bothell. While this particular case in question qualifies as white collar crime there has been a fair share of other types of criminal activity in the Seattle area as of late. For instance, Clinton Chad Grainger, age 22 was arrested recently after being involved in a fight at the Folklife Festival and was carrying a gun that was strapped to his ankle. he has plead guilty to the class C felony he is charged with.
Grainger according to the King County deputy prosecutor Ian Goodhew was at the festival and hand a gun strapped to his ankle when he became involved in a fight. The person he was fighting with noticed the weapon in question……
He has been confined since the shooting took place on May 24 and could be sentenced from three to eight months. I hope for his sake that he has a good criminal lawyer, he is going to need it I think.

I think it is fair to state that the iPhone is not the only game in town, especially these days as it’s competitors fiercly try to cut into it’s share of this trendy and very lucrative market.. Now there’s the new iPhone G3 that Apple Inc. has come out with. As much news coverage as it has had you would think that the Apple iPhones are in a class all their own. This is quite untrue. As a matter of fact, the iPhones have a truckload of competition these days. For them it must feel like the dog days of summer as they fend off assualt after fierce assault.

Nonetheless, iPhone is still in fact the most famous mobile phone in the country. After all, individuals will camp out and stand in lines to purchase the latest iPhone when they are released for sale as if they are anticipating the latest batman movie. The iPhone G3 is an even superior handheld gadget than the original and the iPhone G3 is three times faster,  believe it or not, which is really amazing when you stop to think about it…. They come also come in cool new colors of White and Bondai Blue.

Some new items have similar features and even some extra features which the iPhone does not have.  As an example the Cingular 8525 may even be far superior to the iPhone G3. It’s another of the Smart Phones and has all the capabilities as the iPhone. It has a touch screen and also functions as a multi media device. The Cingular 8525 runs Windows Mobile 5.0.

Yet Another cellular device that is similar to the iPhone is Verizons 2 new phones, the LG phone named Venus and another LG phone named The Voyager. LG Electronics makes both these phones. The Voyager has extremely fast web access. In addition to this, the Venus has a touch screen and the keypad slides out.

perhaps the best new cellular device to give the iPhone a true run is the new Samsung Instinct. This one is offered by the Sprint Network and may prove to be even superior in overall performace than the Apple iPhone, although only father time will eb able to tell for sure.

The iPhone has until now, remained the better product but technology is such that many more devices are in the making to compete with the Apple iPhone. Owners of the iPhone absolutely love them but more and more owners are hacking their device to be free of the AT&T network. The network has responded by bring suit against the customer who in fact does.

Meanwhile, as mentioned on the articles posted just yesterday, the heavyweight Sprint Corp. has been nipping at the heels of their very hip and trendy competitors.

The 2 technology Giants, Sprint and Apple, are facing off again a very stiff competition for a very lucrative market. You can bet that investors and market analysts alike will be watching this battle unfold very carefully indeed. And I am not precisely sure what the reason is, but lately there has been a ton of stories regarding laptops, ipods and mobile computing generally and handheld devices specifically. Mobile computing has really come a long way and it has taken a real quantam leap in a short period of time, largely driven by ferocious competition between technology companies and also innovation and the continuation of the size reduction of the veritable microchip as laid out by Moore’s law. Of course, all of this can only be a boon to consumers as it drives prices down and as new and improved versions of tech items arrive on the marketplace on a consistent basis….In this specific case,  iPhone 3 has been launched and nipping at it’s heels, the Sprint corporation has released its new Palm Treo 800W. Just another day in the technology office I guess. In any event, the Palm Treo 800W handset is the newest phone to be added to Sprints vaunted Palm Treo line. The new Palm Treo is a very intelligent cellular phone to be certain which runs Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional. It was made with the business professional in mind and runs on Sprints Broad Band Network. The data speed is actually quite impressive for the business professional. Quicker and more reliable overall connection to the Internet will be a reliable service. The Palm Treo 800W Palm also features WiFi and GPS services. The user will be able to access his email almost instantaneously. Additional geeky news from the technosphere as I like to call it can be found at the Merlins News Blog  Over there you may find a lot of gadget and mobile computing as well as general news stories. In any case, this brand new Palm Treo will prove to be quite invaluable to professional business users for certain. It is much like having your laptop in the palm of your hands. It is easy to carry and easy to use and will become the business professionals most reliable assistant. It also has a full QERTY keyboard and 1 touch buttons to most applications. It also has the Sprint navigation search and GPS search for maps. 256MB user memory (about 170MB available user memory) is also on this phone. In addition, the touch screen supports the16 bit (65K colors, Qualcomm MSM6800A chipset).  

According to various news sources such as the respected online Businesswire, Medical Properties Trust, Incorporated stated recently that it has acquired for just under twenty million dollars, the real estate of the HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital of Fayetteville, Arkansas. This particular transaction represents the completion of the previously announced $358 million portfolio acquisition from HCP, Inc. By the way more health, wellness, medical and alternative healing related news may be found over at the Health News blog Here there are a plethera of wellness and fitness related articoes and editorials as well.Medical Properties Trust likewise stated it will report its second quarter financial results on Thursday, August 7, 2008 before trading on the New York Stock Exchange and host a conference call and webcast at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time with regards to these particular second quarter results. All in all,

the Medical Properties Trust corporation is a real estate investment trust formed to capitalize on the various shifting trends in the healthcare delivery field by acquiring and developing net-leased healthcare facilities. These facilities include inpatient rehabilitation hospitals, long-term acute care facilities, ambulatory surgery centers and other single-discipline healthcare facilities, such as heart hospitals, and orthopedic hospitals as well.