internet marketing

My return to New York has reminded me of the existence of “Cool.”  It was conspicuously absent from my summer stomping ground, Menlo Park, and I certainly don’t have much of it naturally, so I forgot about it until a few weeks ago.

You can imagine my not-in-Kansas-anymore reaction to passing clubs on a Saturday with a line around the corner — “hackathons” don’t exactly draw such crowds. While I’ve lived in NYC twice before during the summers of 2002 and 2009, I had mostly forgotten about Cool. Perhaps it’s because the tech world has always been the anti-Cool (or “Zero Cool” if you want…) and much of its culture and identity has been developed around an aversion to all forms of hipness.

Yet I can’t help but think about how the release of The Social Network will change mainstream perception of the tech world. In the same way that Hot Topic and Urban Decay hip-ified and mainstream-ified punk/goth/grunge right around the time when kids like me worshipped Kurt Cobain, I wonder if the same thing will happen to the once sacredly anti-Cool world of nerdom.

One of the first things I did upon my return to the city was accompany a friend to “Nerd Nite“. It was a series of lectures about topics that ranged from Race & Role Playing Games to Cancer. And while I thought I knew the types of people that attended stuff like this, I had clearly misjudged – when I looked around the room halfway through I noticed there was a healthy percentage of very dressed-up model-esque types in attendance. And for further evidence, look no further than the NY Times Sunday Styles section — with stories on TEDx, iPhones for babies, and, of course, The Social Network.

Has geekdom officially jumped the shark?

I was in high school in 2001 when the PBS Frontline Report “The Merchants of Cool” came out. I watched it with my best friend and remember how it shook our collective worlds in this profound way (when you’re 17, everything is profound). It was an hour-long exploration into how marketers try to manipulate teens. We were right in the sweet spot of the demographic and I was at once outraged and enlightened. Was everything I so deeply believed in just the product of some evil marketing overlord?

Thankfully, nerds have always been pretty crappy marketers (huge exception: Apple). They never had to be good because of phenomenons like “virality” and network effects and because advertising and branding were professions reserved for people who had some interest in Cool. The marketing budget for many tech/mobile startups is $0, even today. But I dare you to try and launch an energy drink with a $0 marketing budget.

I believe that is changing. There’s a great presentation about the impending convergence between Madison Avenue and Silicon Valley. While it will still take some time for Cool to trickle all the way across the country to Silicon Valley, I can feel its omnipresence in NYC Tech, even more strongly than I did just last summer. NYC knows how to manufacture Cool, and the cruise-ship-like behavior of big brands is finally starting to embrace “digital spend” in more creative ways (thanks Old Spice guy).

This feels somewhat new, and I’ll be honest, kind of bizarre. What happens in a world where where Paul Graham and Ashton Kutcher are homeboys, Biz Stone hawks liquor and Mark Zuckerberg is the new Kurt Cobain?

Stay tuned.

Amanda Peyton is the co-founder of MessageParty, a location-based mobile messaging application. She is a Y Combinator alumni, recent MIT Sloan graduate, and New York City resident. This column has been modified from a version originally published in her newsletter. Find out more at amandapeyton.com.

Follow us on Twitter.

Sign up for Mediaite’s daily newsletter.

Digital marketing budgets are expected to increase steadily during the next few years, according to Datran Media’s Annual Marketing & Media Survey, which reaches out to more than 5,000 marketing executives from Fortune 500 brands, top publishers, and leading advertising and media agencies.

This is good news for those of you hoping to break into the digital marketing industry. Whether you’re passionate about search, affiliate, social media, or another area of marketing, there are a few things you can do to prove your worthiness to prospective employers.

We asked five industry insiders about their top tips for aspiring digital marketers. Find their suggestions below and add your own in the comments.

1. Get Hands-On Marketing Experience

A degree in marketing or communications can take you a distance, but most employers are looking for candidates with marketing experience, whether that’s from a previous job, internship or side project. If you already have work experience in the marketing world, congratulations. For the rest of you, internships or other projects will be key.

“Any hands-on involvement with campaign creation, analytics, or optimization can be extremely beneficial to aspiring digital marketers,” says Traci Kuiphoff, online marketing manager at BareNecessities.com. “If you’re in school or a recent grad, the best way to gain experience is to do an internship at a company or agency that has a department or focus in online or digital marketing. Not only do you get real world hands-on experience, but it’s also great to put on your resume when you’re ready for a full-time position.”

If you are in college, look for paid or for-school-credit marketing internships at your college’s job fairs, via job search sites, and on social media sites. You could even land your next gig through Twitter.

If you don’t land an internship or find a position of interest, create your own project or enter a marketing contest. While studying marketing and international business at NYU Stern’s Undergraduate School of Business, a classmate and I entered the John Caples Student Campaign of the Year contest and created a digital marketing campaign for Pentel. Our campaign included a mix of digital, social and direct marketing communications, along with thoroughly gathered success metrics. Not only did we win first place, which included summer internships and a cash prize, but we also met industry experts who have acted as mentors to us.

2. Know the Lingo

Being able to analyze marketing campaigns and understand what worked or didn’t is the key role of a digital marketer — in order to do that, you’ll need to know (and love) the industry jargon.

“Understanding metrics on the web is key,” says Naishi Zhang, assistant marketing manager at Barnes & Noble. “The Internet provides so many ways of analyzing user behavior, and knowing how to gather and interpret data is important for success. Read widely and learn the lingo, so when someone asks about the CTR of a banner ad or the number of page views a landing page received, you’ll be ready.”

Mastering marketing terminology and metrics, and knowing what they mean, will take time and practice, but you can get a basic knowledge by picking up a marketing 101 textbook or attending an introductory course. Check out local college or continuing education courses. If that isn’t an option, the Internet is at your disposal. About.com’s glossary of marketing terms and HubSpot’s glossary of social media marketing terms are both very useful for beginners, and you should also read some of the top marketing blogs to get your daily fill of information.

3. Nurture Your Personal Online Presence

Rick Bakas, director of social media marketing at St. Supéry Vineyards and Winery said he believes a person’s online presence can be a major deciding factor on whether an aspiring digital marketer makes the cut for a job. “If an employer is deciding between two candidates,” he notes, “they might go with the person with the strong following online. Build your personal brand online. You have to show you can build your personal brand if you’re going to build someone else’s.”

Your personal brand is value-added in the job market.

“Your online clout is sometimes referred to as ’social currency,’” he continues. “In other words, there’s a value associated with your online personal brand. Increased value carries as much weight as a great resume. A high Klout.com score for example, will help you stand out and validate what your resume says about you.”

Your Klout score is a number between 0 and 100 that measures the size of your engaged audience, the likelihood that they will amplify your messages, and your overall influence within your network. Bigger isn’t always better. Bakas explains, “Aspiring marketers would do well to grow an engaged online following, not necessarily a large online following. Again, Klout.com is a great tool to evaluate the strength of your online presence.”

4. Dabble in Everything, Specialize in Something

There isn’t just one career path in marketing. You can choose to work for an agency, with an in-house team, or start your own firm. There are multiple marketing disciplines, including affiliate, search, social media, e-mail, mobile, and display marketing, to name a few. Teams come in all sizes — some in which teammates specialize in certain areas, and others where a team can be composed of just one stellar know-it-all.

The best way to get a taste of all of the options is to dabble in a bit of everything. “Digital marketing agency experience can be extremely valuable — at an agency you can be exposed to all avenues of digital marketing from paid search, social media, mobile and everything in between,” Kuiphoff advises. ”Most likely, you’ll touch a number of different accounts which can help you choose a vertical focus or specialty.”

Once you have a base knowledge in each area of marketing, you’ll be better equipped to choose a more specific path of focus. Having a specialty enables you to hone your skills in that area and become an expert, which is a valuable asset to potential employees.

5. Attend Industry Meetups and Conferences

“Put the ’social’ in social media and spend time engaging with people in the real world,” Bakas says. “Go to lots of events to create or nurture quality interactions that can later continue online. Use plancast.com to see which upcoming events are worth going to. These experiences are ripe with opportunities to meet other digital marketers. The strongest relationships are the ones nurtured online and offline.”

Kuiphoff adds, “Digital marketing conferences not only provide a great networking opportunity, but most offer in-depth workshops that can enhance your skill set.”

Some worthwhile conferences to consider include SXSW, Search Marketing Expo, Web 2.0 Expo, Ad Age Digital Conference, ad:tech, Search Engine Strategies and Pivot.

If you’re not into the hustle and bustle of industry conferences, you can consider a more toned-down approach by attending or organizing your own Meetups. There are thousands of marketing Meetups around the world. The NY Entrepreneurs Business Network and San Francisco Entrepreneur Meetup are two of the largest.

6. Keep a Pulse on the News

Because of the nature of the Internet, digital marketing is ever-changing. If you don’t keep up with the latest trends and news, it shows in interviews and on the job. Sarah Hofstetter, SVP of emerging media and client strategy at digital marketing agency 360i, says it well:

“Remember that standing still is going backwards. Yes, it’s an adage that has been used for years to inspire ambition, but it is blatantly obvious in the digital landscape. Not only does that technology evolve at a lightening pace that transcends Moore’s law, but consumer behavior is shifting at a radical pace, and media consumption becomes more and more fragmented.

“Being on top of consumer behavior –- understanding what they’re doing online, what motivates them and their social and mobile behavior –- and staying ahead of that by learning what’s in the market and what’s on the come, will help ensure you don’t get stuck on the sidelines when interviewing for jobs in digital marketing.”

Kuiphoff recommends subscribing to industry blogs and newsletters to stay on top of the latest news. Some of my personal favorites include Ad Age, ClickZ, eMarketer, BrandWeek and AdWeek.

7. Get Technical

You won’t be coding programs or building full websites as a digital marketer, but you will need to work with developers and designers or other web specialists to communicate your marketing design needs. A basic knowledge of how the web works, HTML, and one or two programming languages, such as PHP, JavaScript, CSS and Ruby, will help you understand the current boundaries and opportunities that will affect your marketing campaigns.

“It’s important for anyone working in the digital world, whether it’s marketing or designing features for a product, to have a basic understanding of coding,” suggests Dharmishta Rood, a research assistant at Harvard Business School and fellow at the Center for Future Civic Media at MIT. “There are great experiential benefits from understanding the underlying technologies that shape what we do online — it’s easier to understand how users can interact with content, what is possible for design with things like CSS and JavaScript, and understand the nuances of basic technical terminology.”

8. Perfect Your Resume

Everyone needs a resume; what you do with it is up to you. To help you stand out, here are a few tips from our digital marketing experts:

• “Demonstrate that you can produce results and work in a fast-paced environment, whether you’ve had previous digital experience or not. Don’t be afraid to include things about yourself that may not be directly related to the job. Resumes get scanned quickly, so it always helps to inject something creative and clever.” — Naishi Zhang, assistant marketing manager, Barnes & Noble
• “One way you can make your resume stand out is to get certified. Google has a certification program for Adwords. If you have a paid search marketing focus this can help assure a client/employer that you’re proficient in the system.” — Traci Kuiphoff, online marketing manager, BareNecessities.com
• “I’m a big believer in making sure your resume is on LinkedIn, and to have recommendations on LinkedIn. Start asking for recommendations soon. LinkedIn is like your digital resume. Make sure the facts match up. Also, Google your name to see what comes up — your prospective employers will.” — Rick Bakas, director of social media marketing, St. Supéry Vineyards and Winery
• “Use keywords to describe your previous experience that make sense for the specific job you’re applying for — if the job description or department does ’social media outreach’ and your description of all those Twitter @replies, Facebook messages and moderated blog post comments is currently called ‘customer service,’ this does not play up your strengths as a digital marketer. Use common sense though. If their keywords don’t match your experience, don’t write anything untruthful, and consider doing things to get the types of experience for the jobs you want, such as volunteering to help with the social media of a non-profit whose cause you support.” — Dharmishta Rood, research assistant, Harvard Business School

To showcase your skills alongside multimedia and other online assets, check out some digital alternatives to the paper resume, including video resumes, VisualCVs, social resumes and LinkedIn profiles.

9. Let Curiosity and Passion Drive You

“Sure, it’s great to know about Facebook, iAds and whatever is coming next from Silicon Valley,” Hofstetter points out, “but when we’re looking for key talent at 360i, nothing matters to us more than intellectual curiosity and passion…In a business where answers and solutions aren’t always obvious, you need to be innately curious (about everything) and obsessed with the ‘why’ behind the ‘what.’ ”

It may sound cheesy at first, but she has a point. Without inquisitiveness and zeal, we’re just work drones on a mission to take over the Internet. Plus, these traits have a positive effect on the way we work, Hofstetter says:

“People who have these qualities can innovate and identify trends from seemingly ordinary data — they’re the first to try new things (platforms, tools, technology) and think about how marketers can benefit from them. They don’t always have the answers, but when you’re being asked to do never-been-done-before things, there isn’t a rulebook. That’s why when we’re recruiting, we look for people who know how to ask the right questions.

10. Unplug for Your Sanity

Staring at a computer screen all day long can take a toll on your body, mind and social life. Get away from that monitor and breathe for crying out loud!

Bakas advocates getting out every once in a while to work on who you are as a person outside of work. “Because transparency is important, it’s important to be a good person in the real world,” he says. “It’ll translate into the digital world — you can’t fake being a good person if you’re a jerk in real life. Unplug for your own sanity, but also to continue growing as a person in life.”

I second that. Now, get out of here and get a job.

Digital Marketing Job Listings

Every week we put out a list of social media and web job opportunities. While we post a huge range of job listings, we’ve selected some of the best digital marketing jobs from the past two weeks to get you started. Happy hunting!

• Digital Strategist at Vladimir Jones in Colorado Springs, CO.
• Brand Manager at sweetgreen in Washington, DC.
• Director of Digital Strategy at DeVries Public Relations in New York, NY.
• Marketing Manager/Director at BreakoutBand in Brooklyn, NY.
• Sr. Marketing Manager at WOWIO in Los Angeles, CA.

More Job Search Resources from Mashable

- 5 Tips for Aspiring Social Media Marketers/> - 10 Tips For Aspiring Community Managers/> - 5 Tips for Aspiring Copywriters and Art Directors/> - HOW TO: Land a Career in Digital Public Relations/> - Top 5 Tips for Aspiring Music Bloggers

Image courtesy of RICEinteractive; iStockphoto, track5

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My return to New York has reminded me of the existence of “Cool.”  It was conspicuously absent from my summer stomping ground, Menlo Park, and I certainly don’t have much of it naturally, so I forgot about it until a few weeks ago.

You can imagine my not-in-Kansas-anymore reaction to passing clubs on a Saturday with a line around the corner — “hackathons” don’t exactly draw such crowds. While I’ve lived in NYC twice before during the summers of 2002 and 2009, I had mostly forgotten about Cool. Perhaps it’s because the tech world has always been the anti-Cool (or “Zero Cool” if you want…) and much of its culture and identity has been developed around an aversion to all forms of hipness.

Yet I can’t help but think about how the release of The Social Network will change mainstream perception of the tech world. In the same way that Hot Topic and Urban Decay hip-ified and mainstream-ified punk/goth/grunge right around the time when kids like me worshipped Kurt Cobain, I wonder if the same thing will happen to the once sacredly anti-Cool world of nerdom.

One of the first things I did upon my return to the city was accompany a friend to “Nerd Nite“. It was a series of lectures about topics that ranged from Race & Role Playing Games to Cancer. And while I thought I knew the types of people that attended stuff like this, I had clearly misjudged – when I looked around the room halfway through I noticed there was a healthy percentage of very dressed-up model-esque types in attendance. And for further evidence, look no further than the NY Times Sunday Styles section — with stories on TEDx, iPhones for babies, and, of course, The Social Network.

Has geekdom officially jumped the shark?

I was in high school in 2001 when the PBS Frontline Report “The Merchants of Cool” came out. I watched it with my best friend and remember how it shook our collective worlds in this profound way (when you’re 17, everything is profound). It was an hour-long exploration into how marketers try to manipulate teens. We were right in the sweet spot of the demographic and I was at once outraged and enlightened. Was everything I so deeply believed in just the product of some evil marketing overlord?

Thankfully, nerds have always been pretty crappy marketers (huge exception: Apple). They never had to be good because of phenomenons like “virality” and network effects and because advertising and branding were professions reserved for people who had some interest in Cool. The marketing budget for many tech/mobile startups is $0, even today. But I dare you to try and launch an energy drink with a $0 marketing budget.

I believe that is changing. There’s a great presentation about the impending convergence between Madison Avenue and Silicon Valley. While it will still take some time for Cool to trickle all the way across the country to Silicon Valley, I can feel its omnipresence in NYC Tech, even more strongly than I did just last summer. NYC knows how to manufacture Cool, and the cruise-ship-like behavior of big brands is finally starting to embrace “digital spend” in more creative ways (thanks Old Spice guy).

This feels somewhat new, and I’ll be honest, kind of bizarre. What happens in a world where where Paul Graham and Ashton Kutcher are homeboys, Biz Stone hawks liquor and Mark Zuckerberg is the new Kurt Cobain?

Stay tuned.

Amanda Peyton is the co-founder of MessageParty, a location-based mobile messaging application. She is a Y Combinator alumni, recent MIT Sloan graduate, and New York City resident. This column has been modified from a version originally published in her newsletter. Find out more at amandapeyton.com.

Follow us on Twitter.

Sign up for Mediaite’s daily newsletter.

Digital marketing budgets are expected to increase steadily during the next few years, according to Datran Media’s Annual Marketing & Media Survey, which reaches out to more than 5,000 marketing executives from Fortune 500 brands, top publishers, and leading advertising and media agencies.

This is good news for those of you hoping to break into the digital marketing industry. Whether you’re passionate about search, affiliate, social media, or another area of marketing, there are a few things you can do to prove your worthiness to prospective employers.

We asked five industry insiders about their top tips for aspiring digital marketers. Find their suggestions below and add your own in the comments.

1. Get Hands-On Marketing Experience

A degree in marketing or communications can take you a distance, but most employers are looking for candidates with marketing experience, whether that’s from a previous job, internship or side project. If you already have work experience in the marketing world, congratulations. For the rest of you, internships or other projects will be key.

“Any hands-on involvement with campaign creation, analytics, or optimization can be extremely beneficial to aspiring digital marketers,” says Traci Kuiphoff, online marketing manager at BareNecessities.com. “If you’re in school or a recent grad, the best way to gain experience is to do an internship at a company or agency that has a department or focus in online or digital marketing. Not only do you get real world hands-on experience, but it’s also great to put on your resume when you’re ready for a full-time position.”

If you are in college, look for paid or for-school-credit marketing internships at your college’s job fairs, via job search sites, and on social media sites. You could even land your next gig through Twitter.

If you don’t land an internship or find a position of interest, create your own project or enter a marketing contest. While studying marketing and international business at NYU Stern’s Undergraduate School of Business, a classmate and I entered the John Caples Student Campaign of the Year contest and created a digital marketing campaign for Pentel. Our campaign included a mix of digital, social and direct marketing communications, along with thoroughly gathered success metrics. Not only did we win first place, which included summer internships and a cash prize, but we also met industry experts who have acted as mentors to us.

2. Know the Lingo

Being able to analyze marketing campaigns and understand what worked or didn’t is the key role of a digital marketer — in order to do that, you’ll need to know (and love) the industry jargon.

“Understanding metrics on the web is key,” says Naishi Zhang, assistant marketing manager at Barnes & Noble. “The Internet provides so many ways of analyzing user behavior, and knowing how to gather and interpret data is important for success. Read widely and learn the lingo, so when someone asks about the CTR of a banner ad or the number of page views a landing page received, you’ll be ready.”

Mastering marketing terminology and metrics, and knowing what they mean, will take time and practice, but you can get a basic knowledge by picking up a marketing 101 textbook or attending an introductory course. Check out local college or continuing education courses. If that isn’t an option, the Internet is at your disposal. About.com’s glossary of marketing terms and HubSpot’s glossary of social media marketing terms are both very useful for beginners, and you should also read some of the top marketing blogs to get your daily fill of information.

3. Nurture Your Personal Online Presence

Rick Bakas, director of social media marketing at St. Supéry Vineyards and Winery said he believes a person’s online presence can be a major deciding factor on whether an aspiring digital marketer makes the cut for a job. “If an employer is deciding between two candidates,” he notes, “they might go with the person with the strong following online. Build your personal brand online. You have to show you can build your personal brand if you’re going to build someone else’s.”

Your personal brand is value-added in the job market.

“Your online clout is sometimes referred to as ’social currency,’” he continues. “In other words, there’s a value associated with your online personal brand. Increased value carries as much weight as a great resume. A high Klout.com score for example, will help you stand out and validate what your resume says about you.”

Your Klout score is a number between 0 and 100 that measures the size of your engaged audience, the likelihood that they will amplify your messages, and your overall influence within your network. Bigger isn’t always better. Bakas explains, “Aspiring marketers would do well to grow an engaged online following, not necessarily a large online following. Again, Klout.com is a great tool to evaluate the strength of your online presence.”

4. Dabble in Everything, Specialize in Something

There isn’t just one career path in marketing. You can choose to work for an agency, with an in-house team, or start your own firm. There are multiple marketing disciplines, including affiliate, search, social media, e-mail, mobile, and display marketing, to name a few. Teams come in all sizes — some in which teammates specialize in certain areas, and others where a team can be composed of just one stellar know-it-all.

The best way to get a taste of all of the options is to dabble in a bit of everything. “Digital marketing agency experience can be extremely valuable — at an agency you can be exposed to all avenues of digital marketing from paid search, social media, mobile and everything in between,” Kuiphoff advises. ”Most likely, you’ll touch a number of different accounts which can help you choose a vertical focus or specialty.”

Once you have a base knowledge in each area of marketing, you’ll be better equipped to choose a more specific path of focus. Having a specialty enables you to hone your skills in that area and become an expert, which is a valuable asset to potential employees.

5. Attend Industry Meetups and Conferences

“Put the ’social’ in social media and spend time engaging with people in the real world,” Bakas says. “Go to lots of events to create or nurture quality interactions that can later continue online. Use plancast.com to see which upcoming events are worth going to. These experiences are ripe with opportunities to meet other digital marketers. The strongest relationships are the ones nurtured online and offline.”

Kuiphoff adds, “Digital marketing conferences not only provide a great networking opportunity, but most offer in-depth workshops that can enhance your skill set.”

Some worthwhile conferences to consider include SXSW, Search Marketing Expo, Web 2.0 Expo, Ad Age Digital Conference, ad:tech, Search Engine Strategies and Pivot.

If you’re not into the hustle and bustle of industry conferences, you can consider a more toned-down approach by attending or organizing your own Meetups. There are thousands of marketing Meetups around the world. The NY Entrepreneurs Business Network and San Francisco Entrepreneur Meetup are two of the largest.

6. Keep a Pulse on the News

Because of the nature of the Internet, digital marketing is ever-changing. If you don’t keep up with the latest trends and news, it shows in interviews and on the job. Sarah Hofstetter, SVP of emerging media and client strategy at digital marketing agency 360i, says it well:

“Remember that standing still is going backwards. Yes, it’s an adage that has been used for years to inspire ambition, but it is blatantly obvious in the digital landscape. Not only does that technology evolve at a lightening pace that transcends Moore’s law, but consumer behavior is shifting at a radical pace, and media consumption becomes more and more fragmented.

“Being on top of consumer behavior –- understanding what they’re doing online, what motivates them and their social and mobile behavior –- and staying ahead of that by learning what’s in the market and what’s on the come, will help ensure you don’t get stuck on the sidelines when interviewing for jobs in digital marketing.”

Kuiphoff recommends subscribing to industry blogs and newsletters to stay on top of the latest news. Some of my personal favorites include Ad Age, ClickZ, eMarketer, BrandWeek and AdWeek.

7. Get Technical

You won’t be coding programs or building full websites as a digital marketer, but you will need to work with developers and designers or other web specialists to communicate your marketing design needs. A basic knowledge of how the web works, HTML, and one or two programming languages, such as PHP, JavaScript, CSS and Ruby, will help you understand the current boundaries and opportunities that will affect your marketing campaigns.

“It’s important for anyone working in the digital world, whether it’s marketing or designing features for a product, to have a basic understanding of coding,” suggests Dharmishta Rood, a research assistant at Harvard Business School and fellow at the Center for Future Civic Media at MIT. “There are great experiential benefits from understanding the underlying technologies that shape what we do online — it’s easier to understand how users can interact with content, what is possible for design with things like CSS and JavaScript, and understand the nuances of basic technical terminology.”

8. Perfect Your Resume

Everyone needs a resume; what you do with it is up to you. To help you stand out, here are a few tips from our digital marketing experts:

• “Demonstrate that you can produce results and work in a fast-paced environment, whether you’ve had previous digital experience or not. Don’t be afraid to include things about yourself that may not be directly related to the job. Resumes get scanned quickly, so it always helps to inject something creative and clever.” — Naishi Zhang, assistant marketing manager, Barnes & Noble
• “One way you can make your resume stand out is to get certified. Google has a certification program for Adwords. If you have a paid search marketing focus this can help assure a client/employer that you’re proficient in the system.” — Traci Kuiphoff, online marketing manager, BareNecessities.com
• “I’m a big believer in making sure your resume is on LinkedIn, and to have recommendations on LinkedIn. Start asking for recommendations soon. LinkedIn is like your digital resume. Make sure the facts match up. Also, Google your name to see what comes up — your prospective employers will.” — Rick Bakas, director of social media marketing, St. Supéry Vineyards and Winery
• “Use keywords to describe your previous experience that make sense for the specific job you’re applying for — if the job description or department does ’social media outreach’ and your description of all those Twitter @replies, Facebook messages and moderated blog post comments is currently called ‘customer service,’ this does not play up your strengths as a digital marketer. Use common sense though. If their keywords don’t match your experience, don’t write anything untruthful, and consider doing things to get the types of experience for the jobs you want, such as volunteering to help with the social media of a non-profit whose cause you support.” — Dharmishta Rood, research assistant, Harvard Business School

To showcase your skills alongside multimedia and other online assets, check out some digital alternatives to the paper resume, including video resumes, VisualCVs, social resumes and LinkedIn profiles.

9. Let Curiosity and Passion Drive You

“Sure, it’s great to know about Facebook, iAds and whatever is coming next from Silicon Valley,” Hofstetter points out, “but when we’re looking for key talent at 360i, nothing matters to us more than intellectual curiosity and passion…In a business where answers and solutions aren’t always obvious, you need to be innately curious (about everything) and obsessed with the ‘why’ behind the ‘what.’ ”

It may sound cheesy at first, but she has a point. Without inquisitiveness and zeal, we’re just work drones on a mission to take over the Internet. Plus, these traits have a positive effect on the way we work, Hofstetter says:

“People who have these qualities can innovate and identify trends from seemingly ordinary data — they’re the first to try new things (platforms, tools, technology) and think about how marketers can benefit from them. They don’t always have the answers, but when you’re being asked to do never-been-done-before things, there isn’t a rulebook. That’s why when we’re recruiting, we look for people who know how to ask the right questions.

10. Unplug for Your Sanity

Staring at a computer screen all day long can take a toll on your body, mind and social life. Get away from that monitor and breathe for crying out loud!

Bakas advocates getting out every once in a while to work on who you are as a person outside of work. “Because transparency is important, it’s important to be a good person in the real world,” he says. “It’ll translate into the digital world — you can’t fake being a good person if you’re a jerk in real life. Unplug for your own sanity, but also to continue growing as a person in life.”

I second that. Now, get out of here and get a job.

Digital Marketing Job Listings

Every week we put out a list of social media and web job opportunities. While we post a huge range of job listings, we’ve selected some of the best digital marketing jobs from the past two weeks to get you started. Happy hunting!

• Digital Strategist at Vladimir Jones in Colorado Springs, CO.
• Brand Manager at sweetgreen in Washington, DC.
• Director of Digital Strategy at DeVries Public Relations in New York, NY.
• Marketing Manager/Director at BreakoutBand in Brooklyn, NY.
• Sr. Marketing Manager at WOWIO in Los Angeles, CA.

More Job Search Resources from Mashable

- 5 Tips for Aspiring Social Media Marketers/> - 10 Tips For Aspiring Community Managers/> - 5 Tips for Aspiring Copywriters and Art Directors/> - HOW TO: Land a Career in Digital Public Relations/> - Top 5 Tips for Aspiring Music Bloggers

Image courtesy of RICEinteractive; iStockphoto, track5

For more Business coverage:

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Small Business <b>News</b>: Social Media Secrets

Pssst. We've got something important to tell you about a new tool that can totally transform your business. In terms of upfront investment, there is no cost,

Sony announces PlayStation Rewards PlayStation 3 <b>News</b> - Page 1 <b>...</b>

Read our PlayStation 3 news of Sony announces PlayStation Rewards.

FAIR Blog » Blog Archive » Juan Williams, Fox <b>News</b> Liberal

It's not totally clear what he means by that, but Williams does a pretty good job as a Fox News Liberal-- i.e., someone willing to attack left-liberal groups and leaders while doing very little to promote an actual left-leaning ...

Small Business <b>News</b>: Social Media Secrets

Pssst. We've got something important to tell you about a new tool that can totally transform your business. In terms of upfront investment, there is no cost,

Sony announces PlayStation Rewards PlayStation 3 <b>News</b> - Page 1 <b>...</b>

Read our PlayStation 3 news of Sony announces PlayStation Rewards.

FAIR Blog » Blog Archive » Juan Williams, Fox <b>News</b> Liberal

It's not totally clear what he means by that, but Williams does a pretty good job as a Fox News Liberal-- i.e., someone willing to attack left-liberal groups and leaders while doing very little to promote an actual left-leaning ...

personal finances help

If navigating the murky waters of credit scores and debt leaves you scratching your head and wishing someone would just tell you what to do, you’re in luck. Credit Sesame is a new startup launching in private beta today at TechCrunch Disrupt that’s looking to help do just that — give the site access to your financial data, and it will present you with a handful of options, along with bulletpoints explaining why they work for you. If you’d like to try the site out for yourself, head to CreditSesame.com/TechCrunch and use the password OpenSesame.

Credit Sesame doesn’t take long to set up — the company says it takes a couple of minutes — but it does require sensitive information including your social security number (which the site needs in order to access your credit history). That may make some users wary, but the site is aware of potential privacy and security issues, and has a FAQ that talks about how it protects your data here.

Once you’ve entered your information, the site will visualize key data like your credit and debt (it’s clearly taking some design cues from BillShrink and Mint’s pretty graphs). It will also offer recommendations for how you can save money — the company says it analyzes thousands of financial products to determine which are the best fit for each user, and Credit Sesame says it saves an average home owner up to $600 per month. Proposals are based on pre-qualified loans, and Credit Sesame says that it uses the “same pricing engine that top banks use” to find those products.

Q&A:

GT: I get consume value proposition. How are you going to compete with and what’s your advantage vs. Mint, BillShrink, etc.

A: Companies out there like Mint do a great job helping with finances. But what really helps.. most companies lack ingredients. One is consumer intelligence. Second is product intelligence. Our core competence is product intelligence. Analytics that brings it all together.

SP: I think it’s well designed. Hard to get distribution. Broader questions that founders here need to ask themselves: why am I founding a company in the first place. Might be that you want financial independence, build lifestyle business. Third reason which is bad: you think you’ve spent your career in Silicon Valley and highest level status is to be a founder. The founders who fall into first two categories, sometimes lifestyle businesses become incredible industries. Founders see a problem that desperately needs solving. Third class doesn’t usually succeed. I think everyone needs to ask which they are. Not saying you guys are the third.

A: I’m a serial entrepreneur. I sold to a lot of banks and had a good exit. I noticed that banks are great, but their objectives aren’t aligned with consumer’s best interest. When consumers go to a lot branches, they want to know if they should be worried, if there is something they should do different. And the answers they get aren’t sufficient.

VR: What is the user experience. How much info do I need to give to get started. WIth recommendations, how hard is it to do those?

A: Takes two minutes, answer 5-6 questions. Once you enter information we aggregate everything. We refresh that data for you. Our system knows enough about the client/market that if an opportunity arises we’ll present the option and the system can do it for them.

'When I married Donna, I could get both hands around her waist,' said my husband's grandfather. Pointing at his full-figured wife, he boasted, 'Now look how much I got. That's what I call an investment!' — Katherine Eby, via Reader's Digest.com

In essence, that funny anecdote is right. Of course it doesn't sound very flattering to Katherine's grandmother-in-law, but that's exactly what investment is all about: making sure that your accounts and net worth grow bigger over time.

Investment is that exercise of putting money in a financial account, in your business, in a friend's business, or even in some other companies' business, for the pursuit of growing one's money. Investment is an effort to get one's money to "grow."

Investment works on the principle of "compounded interest." Interest that is added to your principal, or initial investment, itself gets to earn interest. So if you've initially invested $200, at the interest rate of 2.5%, at the maturity term of one month, you'll be earning $5 at the end of that month. If you renew the term of your money, your $205 will then earn $5.13 ($5.125) when another month is over. Certificates of deposit accounts or time deposits work exactly like this.

On the other hand, mutual funds work on the principle of snowballed profits. Mutual funds are as good as stocks and bonds, only you don't manage them yourself. Rather, trained financial experts are hired to manage your money. To invest in mutual funds, you can look into a broker that charges low commissions and check out their offerings.

Basic Tips For Investing In A Business

Investments could also mean those things you purchase or put money in, in order to further your business. Most people take additional studies in order to get the credentials needed to help them advance in their chosen careers. Other people invest in machinery, gadgets and equipment in order to make their lives easier. Then, most businesses invest in people which make up their workforce — their much-needed manpower.

Here are three informal rules of thumb by which you can measure your investments and purchases:

Greenpeace dumps on Nintendo Wii <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

Read our Wii news of Greenpeace dumps on Nintendo.

AMERICAblog <b>News</b>: In Afghanistan, &#39;The insurgency seems to be <b>...</b>

News and opinion about US politics from a liberal perspective.

Exclusive: Yahoo Courts Former <b>News</b> Corp. Digital Exec Ross <b>...</b>

He's baaaaaack. Former Fox Interactive Media President Ross Levinsohn, that is, who is the top candidate to replace Hilary Schneider as Yahoo's US head, according to several sources close to the situation.

bench craft company complaints
bench craft company complaints

Greenpeace dumps on Nintendo Wii <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

Read our Wii news of Greenpeace dumps on Nintendo.

AMERICAblog <b>News</b>: In Afghanistan, &#39;The insurgency seems to be <b>...</b>

News and opinion about US politics from a liberal perspective.

Exclusive: Yahoo Courts Former <b>News</b> Corp. Digital Exec Ross <b>...</b>

He's baaaaaack. Former Fox Interactive Media President Ross Levinsohn, that is, who is the top candidate to replace Hilary Schneider as Yahoo's US head, according to several sources close to the situation.

bench craft company complaints bench craft company complaints

If navigating the murky waters of credit scores and debt leaves you scratching your head and wishing someone would just tell you what to do, you’re in luck. Credit Sesame is a new startup launching in private beta today at TechCrunch Disrupt that’s looking to help do just that — give the site access to your financial data, and it will present you with a handful of options, along with bulletpoints explaining why they work for you. If you’d like to try the site out for yourself, head to CreditSesame.com/TechCrunch and use the password OpenSesame.

Credit Sesame doesn’t take long to set up — the company says it takes a couple of minutes — but it does require sensitive information including your social security number (which the site needs in order to access your credit history). That may make some users wary, but the site is aware of potential privacy and security issues, and has a FAQ that talks about how it protects your data here.

Once you’ve entered your information, the site will visualize key data like your credit and debt (it’s clearly taking some design cues from BillShrink and Mint’s pretty graphs). It will also offer recommendations for how you can save money — the company says it analyzes thousands of financial products to determine which are the best fit for each user, and Credit Sesame says it saves an average home owner up to $600 per month. Proposals are based on pre-qualified loans, and Credit Sesame says that it uses the “same pricing engine that top banks use” to find those products.

Q&A:

GT: I get consume value proposition. How are you going to compete with and what’s your advantage vs. Mint, BillShrink, etc.

A: Companies out there like Mint do a great job helping with finances. But what really helps.. most companies lack ingredients. One is consumer intelligence. Second is product intelligence. Our core competence is product intelligence. Analytics that brings it all together.

SP: I think it’s well designed. Hard to get distribution. Broader questions that founders here need to ask themselves: why am I founding a company in the first place. Might be that you want financial independence, build lifestyle business. Third reason which is bad: you think you’ve spent your career in Silicon Valley and highest level status is to be a founder. The founders who fall into first two categories, sometimes lifestyle businesses become incredible industries. Founders see a problem that desperately needs solving. Third class doesn’t usually succeed. I think everyone needs to ask which they are. Not saying you guys are the third.

A: I’m a serial entrepreneur. I sold to a lot of banks and had a good exit. I noticed that banks are great, but their objectives aren’t aligned with consumer’s best interest. When consumers go to a lot branches, they want to know if they should be worried, if there is something they should do different. And the answers they get aren’t sufficient.

VR: What is the user experience. How much info do I need to give to get started. WIth recommendations, how hard is it to do those?

A: Takes two minutes, answer 5-6 questions. Once you enter information we aggregate everything. We refresh that data for you. Our system knows enough about the client/market that if an opportunity arises we’ll present the option and the system can do it for them.

'When I married Donna, I could get both hands around her waist,' said my husband's grandfather. Pointing at his full-figured wife, he boasted, 'Now look how much I got. That's what I call an investment!' — Katherine Eby, via Reader's Digest.com

In essence, that funny anecdote is right. Of course it doesn't sound very flattering to Katherine's grandmother-in-law, but that's exactly what investment is all about: making sure that your accounts and net worth grow bigger over time.

Investment is that exercise of putting money in a financial account, in your business, in a friend's business, or even in some other companies' business, for the pursuit of growing one's money. Investment is an effort to get one's money to "grow."

Investment works on the principle of "compounded interest." Interest that is added to your principal, or initial investment, itself gets to earn interest. So if you've initially invested $200, at the interest rate of 2.5%, at the maturity term of one month, you'll be earning $5 at the end of that month. If you renew the term of your money, your $205 will then earn $5.13 ($5.125) when another month is over. Certificates of deposit accounts or time deposits work exactly like this.

On the other hand, mutual funds work on the principle of snowballed profits. Mutual funds are as good as stocks and bonds, only you don't manage them yourself. Rather, trained financial experts are hired to manage your money. To invest in mutual funds, you can look into a broker that charges low commissions and check out their offerings.

Basic Tips For Investing In A Business

Investments could also mean those things you purchase or put money in, in order to further your business. Most people take additional studies in order to get the credentials needed to help them advance in their chosen careers. Other people invest in machinery, gadgets and equipment in order to make their lives easier. Then, most businesses invest in people which make up their workforce — their much-needed manpower.

Here are three informal rules of thumb by which you can measure your investments and purchases:

bench craft company complaints

Greenpeace dumps on Nintendo Wii <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

Read our Wii news of Greenpeace dumps on Nintendo.

AMERICAblog <b>News</b>: In Afghanistan, &#39;The insurgency seems to be <b>...</b>

News and opinion about US politics from a liberal perspective.

Exclusive: Yahoo Courts Former <b>News</b> Corp. Digital Exec Ross <b>...</b>

He's baaaaaack. Former Fox Interactive Media President Ross Levinsohn, that is, who is the top candidate to replace Hilary Schneider as Yahoo's US head, according to several sources close to the situation.

bench craft company complaints bench craft company complaints

Greenpeace dumps on Nintendo Wii <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

Read our Wii news of Greenpeace dumps on Nintendo.

AMERICAblog <b>News</b>: In Afghanistan, &#39;The insurgency seems to be <b>...</b>

News and opinion about US politics from a liberal perspective.

Exclusive: Yahoo Courts Former <b>News</b> Corp. Digital Exec Ross <b>...</b>

He's baaaaaack. Former Fox Interactive Media President Ross Levinsohn, that is, who is the top candidate to replace Hilary Schneider as Yahoo's US head, according to several sources close to the situation.

bench craft company complaints bench craft company complaints

Greenpeace dumps on Nintendo Wii <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

Read our Wii news of Greenpeace dumps on Nintendo.

AMERICAblog <b>News</b>: In Afghanistan, &#39;The insurgency seems to be <b>...</b>

News and opinion about US politics from a liberal perspective.

Exclusive: Yahoo Courts Former <b>News</b> Corp. Digital Exec Ross <b>...</b>

He's baaaaaack. Former Fox Interactive Media President Ross Levinsohn, that is, who is the top candidate to replace Hilary Schneider as Yahoo's US head, according to several sources close to the situation.

bench craft company complaints bench craft company complaints

foreclosure homes

Florida foreclosure mill owner who chucked out 70,000 families in 2009 is unspeakably rich

Cory Doctorow at 10:28 PM Tuesday, Oct 19, 2010 

David J. Stern is a Florida lawyer who operates a foreclosure mill, a firm that foreclosed on more than 70,000 homes last year. According to a deposition from Tammie Mae Kapusta, a former employee, Stern's firm cut many corners, foreclosing on homes without serving notice, ignoring mortgage payments that would have prevented foreclosure, and "yelling at" employees who talked to homeowners on the phone, because that was "giving them too much time."

Apparently, it's working for Stern, who just bought the mega-mansion next to his mega-mega-mansion on a private island so he could tear it down and install a tennis court. Seriously, this guy sounds like the villain in a Carl Hiaassen novel, except Hiaassen's villains are more believable and less evil.

But while the banks are ultimately responsible, the root of the problem appears to lie with "foreclosure mill" law firms like Stern's. These operations process foreclosure cases on behalf of lenders, and their business model is based on moving the paperwork through as quickly as possible. That's why such firms have pioneered practices like "robo-signing" -- whereby their employees process thousands of court documents in pending foreclosures without ever actually reviewing them, as the law requires. Of course, it's in the banks' interest for their contractors to move quickly, because the faster a foreclosure moves, the less time a struggling borrower has to fight it...

And from Mother Jones:

His $15 million, 16,000-square-foot mansion occupies a corner lot in a private island community on the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. It is featured on a water-taxi tour of the area's grandest estates, along with the abodes of Jay Leno and billionaire Blockbuster founder Wayne Huizenga, as well as the former residence of Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball. (Last year, Stern snapped up his next-door neighbor's property for $8 million and tore down the house to make way for a tennis court.) Docked outside is Misunderstood, Stern's 130-foot, jet-propelled Mangusta yacht -- a $20 million-plus replacement for his previous 108-foot Mangusta. He also owns four Ferraris, four Porsches, two Mercedes-Benzes, and a Bugatti -- a high-end Italian brand with models costing north of $1 million a pop.

Is David J. Stern the poster boy for the foreclosure mess?

(via Lowering the Bar)

(Image: Sign Of The Times - Foreclosure, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from respres's photostream)

Response from a Banker:

You ungrateful louts!

We bankers worked hard to give the great unwashed masses one helluva “going into bankruptcy” party that lasted for almost four years! We gave a bunch of worthless lumpens an opportunity to live in a house well beyond their means. Now that we have to separate them from the houses and herd them back into the flea infested tenements appropriate to their life’s station, some bottom feeding lawyers have the gall to suggest we don’t have a “legal” right to foreclose. Well I’ll be gob-smacked if that’s not enough to make a grown man cry. As GWB responded when asked about what the Constitution might have to say he retorted, “It’s just a goddamed piece of paper.” We bankers know what we know. And we know these houses belong to our RMBS whether we did everything according to your outmoded rules or not. They belong to us. Get used to it. It’s hard enough to have to explain to some turbaned oil sheik why the 10 million dollars of the RMBS he bought are now worth half that let alone trying to explain why we might not even own the houses that backed the loans. But we want to be fair. So we paid a little overtime plus incentives for a bunch of our backoffice people in India to review the files. By golly they didn’t find a single problem except for one fellow who found over half his cases were problematic. The only good thing about that was we only had to pay him half what the others got. And then we fired him since it was obvious he was a trouble maker.

We bankers are geniuses when we bother to think about it. We managed to turn an $80,000 rathole in the ghetto of Pittsburgh, CA (and that’s 90% of it) into a $280,000 palace in just three years and then sold it to a poor Hispanic cook working at a retirement home. He makes $45,000 a year and his wife works at McDonald’s making $20,000. You should have seen the happy looks on their three kids’ faces at the housewarming. We got them into a great negam loan that only cost $650 a month for the first three years. Sure, it ballooned to $1400 but it looked like that house would be worth nearly a million by then. At least that’s what the Iranian real estate salesman said. And he was their best friend so they certainly thought he was giving an honest opinion. How could he have guessed it would auction for $55,000 three years later? Life is uncertain. And now they’re back in a two bedroom apartment with cots and a sleeper in the living room. I like to think this experience has whetted their appetite for a better condition of living now that they’ve had a first hand experience at “living the dream.” Unfortunately, the refinance mortgage they took out two years in for a half percent better rate didn’t have the “jingle keys” provision so they’re paying back the $250,000 they owe the bank week by week. But you know what? They made a deal with us and they signed the papers. We didn’t have a gun to their head. A deal’s a deal. You gotta respect the law in these matters. That’s very important for you to understand. We expect you to stand by your commitments and read the fine print.

You need to understand that we’re just middle men who go out and put deals together for our “clients.” Our clients are primarily the Sovereign Wealth Funds all sitting on piles of cash accumulating from the obscene profits being made on oil. That money has to go somewhere and it’s our job to create investment opportunities that at least appear to have a better rate of return than T-Bills. We’re just working schmucks like anyone else. Maybe paid a little better – but we earn every dollar! It’s hard working with fools on both sides of the deal. Our tongues are bloody nearly every day.

You all have the gall to want to “rein in” the investment professionals at Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan. Do you realize what would happen if you had your way? If our great investment bank’s operations were curtailed, the clients would just go elsewhere to find someone willing to put together a great money making deal like, for instance, buying a 75 year lease on Chicago’s parking meter operation. Suppose that deal hadn’t gone through. An hour’s parking would have remained at two bits instead of a buck. By jacking the rates, extending the hours and making the meters operate seven days a week instead of five we are doing our part in reducing traffic conjestion. And what thanks do we get? None. Shows you just how sincere these “green” people are. All they can do is belly ache about the loss of street fairs because the new meter owners demand fair compensation for the lost revenue. It’s obvious these “street fairs” are losing propositions or they’d make enough money to pay the franchise with money left over. We’re promoting social efficiency by eliminating these economically sterile activities. We have stores if the lumpenfolk want to buy things. In fact we have more “store per person” than any other country in the world – nearly 25 square feet of it. We need to generate sales in those stores so the renters can pay back the CMBS holders. Street fairs are diverting dollars to sales that do not benefit our clients and, therefore, do not benefit our country.

My suggestion is that you folks get back out there and start spending again because, face it, that’s the only task you’re really fit to perform. You are the Great American Consumer and it should make your chest swell with pride. Your consumption is a vital part of the wonderful world wealth making machine. China makes stuff and you consume it and digest it and drop it out your backsides. We have tried to keep you supplied with enough dollars so that you can do your job. But now you have reneged on your obligations. You have failed to heed your wonderful V.P. Dick Cheney’s advice to hold hands and buy an SUV. There is a price to be paid for your stubborn refusal to spend beyond your means. You are now “little people.”

So stop whining about your government catering to the banks. We fund your government. You bitch and moan at the thought of any tax increase so your government has to come to us, hat in hand, every year for a couple trillion dollars in loans. You think a government in that kind of financial condition is in any position to tell us how to run our business? Just keep in mind that the Fed is an independent organization. In fact it can’t even be audited. I advise you entertain a certain meekness when dealing with the organization that owns your government and that your uncharitable understanding of the situation puts the cart before the horse.

Breathe Better With Bitter - Science <b>News</b>

Science News. Vol. 175, March 28, 2009, p. 11. [Go to]. Citations & References : seperator. D. A. Deshpande et al. Bitter taste receptors on airway smooth muscle bronchodilate by localized calcium signaling and reverse obstruction. ...

&quot;Xbox 2&quot; game WarDevil canned Xbox 360 <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

Read our Xbox 360 news of. ... "Xbox 2" game WarDevil canned Related content. Latest WarDevil: Unleash the Beast Within screenshots; News WarDevil trailer set for Tokyo ; News Digi-Guys shows off gorgeous Xbox 2 war game ...

Viral Football: A Funeral For Sky Sports <b>News</b> (On Freeview) » Who <b>...</b>

2 Responses to “Viral Football: A Funeral For Sky Sports News (On Freeview)”. Greg says: October 26, 2010 at 10:10 am. I'm pretty sure this is what my dad does every Saturday. Every week, without fail, he phones me up complaining about ...

bench craft company complaints
bench craft company complaints

Breathe Better With Bitter - Science <b>News</b>

Science News. Vol. 175, March 28, 2009, p. 11. [Go to]. Citations & References : seperator. D. A. Deshpande et al. Bitter taste receptors on airway smooth muscle bronchodilate by localized calcium signaling and reverse obstruction. ...

&quot;Xbox 2&quot; game WarDevil canned Xbox 360 <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

Read our Xbox 360 news of. ... "Xbox 2" game WarDevil canned Related content. Latest WarDevil: Unleash the Beast Within screenshots; News WarDevil trailer set for Tokyo ; News Digi-Guys shows off gorgeous Xbox 2 war game ...

Viral Football: A Funeral For Sky Sports <b>News</b> (On Freeview) » Who <b>...</b>

2 Responses to “Viral Football: A Funeral For Sky Sports News (On Freeview)”. Greg says: October 26, 2010 at 10:10 am. I'm pretty sure this is what my dad does every Saturday. Every week, without fail, he phones me up complaining about ...

bench craft company complaints bench craft company complaints

Florida foreclosure mill owner who chucked out 70,000 families in 2009 is unspeakably rich

Cory Doctorow at 10:28 PM Tuesday, Oct 19, 2010 

David J. Stern is a Florida lawyer who operates a foreclosure mill, a firm that foreclosed on more than 70,000 homes last year. According to a deposition from Tammie Mae Kapusta, a former employee, Stern's firm cut many corners, foreclosing on homes without serving notice, ignoring mortgage payments that would have prevented foreclosure, and "yelling at" employees who talked to homeowners on the phone, because that was "giving them too much time."

Apparently, it's working for Stern, who just bought the mega-mansion next to his mega-mega-mansion on a private island so he could tear it down and install a tennis court. Seriously, this guy sounds like the villain in a Carl Hiaassen novel, except Hiaassen's villains are more believable and less evil.

But while the banks are ultimately responsible, the root of the problem appears to lie with "foreclosure mill" law firms like Stern's. These operations process foreclosure cases on behalf of lenders, and their business model is based on moving the paperwork through as quickly as possible. That's why such firms have pioneered practices like "robo-signing" -- whereby their employees process thousands of court documents in pending foreclosures without ever actually reviewing them, as the law requires. Of course, it's in the banks' interest for their contractors to move quickly, because the faster a foreclosure moves, the less time a struggling borrower has to fight it...

And from Mother Jones:

His $15 million, 16,000-square-foot mansion occupies a corner lot in a private island community on the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. It is featured on a water-taxi tour of the area's grandest estates, along with the abodes of Jay Leno and billionaire Blockbuster founder Wayne Huizenga, as well as the former residence of Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball. (Last year, Stern snapped up his next-door neighbor's property for $8 million and tore down the house to make way for a tennis court.) Docked outside is Misunderstood, Stern's 130-foot, jet-propelled Mangusta yacht -- a $20 million-plus replacement for his previous 108-foot Mangusta. He also owns four Ferraris, four Porsches, two Mercedes-Benzes, and a Bugatti -- a high-end Italian brand with models costing north of $1 million a pop.

Is David J. Stern the poster boy for the foreclosure mess?

(via Lowering the Bar)

(Image: Sign Of The Times - Foreclosure, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from respres's photostream)

Response from a Banker:

You ungrateful louts!

We bankers worked hard to give the great unwashed masses one helluva “going into bankruptcy” party that lasted for almost four years! We gave a bunch of worthless lumpens an opportunity to live in a house well beyond their means. Now that we have to separate them from the houses and herd them back into the flea infested tenements appropriate to their life’s station, some bottom feeding lawyers have the gall to suggest we don’t have a “legal” right to foreclose. Well I’ll be gob-smacked if that’s not enough to make a grown man cry. As GWB responded when asked about what the Constitution might have to say he retorted, “It’s just a goddamed piece of paper.” We bankers know what we know. And we know these houses belong to our RMBS whether we did everything according to your outmoded rules or not. They belong to us. Get used to it. It’s hard enough to have to explain to some turbaned oil sheik why the 10 million dollars of the RMBS he bought are now worth half that let alone trying to explain why we might not even own the houses that backed the loans. But we want to be fair. So we paid a little overtime plus incentives for a bunch of our backoffice people in India to review the files. By golly they didn’t find a single problem except for one fellow who found over half his cases were problematic. The only good thing about that was we only had to pay him half what the others got. And then we fired him since it was obvious he was a trouble maker.

We bankers are geniuses when we bother to think about it. We managed to turn an $80,000 rathole in the ghetto of Pittsburgh, CA (and that’s 90% of it) into a $280,000 palace in just three years and then sold it to a poor Hispanic cook working at a retirement home. He makes $45,000 a year and his wife works at McDonald’s making $20,000. You should have seen the happy looks on their three kids’ faces at the housewarming. We got them into a great negam loan that only cost $650 a month for the first three years. Sure, it ballooned to $1400 but it looked like that house would be worth nearly a million by then. At least that’s what the Iranian real estate salesman said. And he was their best friend so they certainly thought he was giving an honest opinion. How could he have guessed it would auction for $55,000 three years later? Life is uncertain. And now they’re back in a two bedroom apartment with cots and a sleeper in the living room. I like to think this experience has whetted their appetite for a better condition of living now that they’ve had a first hand experience at “living the dream.” Unfortunately, the refinance mortgage they took out two years in for a half percent better rate didn’t have the “jingle keys” provision so they’re paying back the $250,000 they owe the bank week by week. But you know what? They made a deal with us and they signed the papers. We didn’t have a gun to their head. A deal’s a deal. You gotta respect the law in these matters. That’s very important for you to understand. We expect you to stand by your commitments and read the fine print.

You need to understand that we’re just middle men who go out and put deals together for our “clients.” Our clients are primarily the Sovereign Wealth Funds all sitting on piles of cash accumulating from the obscene profits being made on oil. That money has to go somewhere and it’s our job to create investment opportunities that at least appear to have a better rate of return than T-Bills. We’re just working schmucks like anyone else. Maybe paid a little better – but we earn every dollar! It’s hard working with fools on both sides of the deal. Our tongues are bloody nearly every day.

You all have the gall to want to “rein in” the investment professionals at Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan. Do you realize what would happen if you had your way? If our great investment bank’s operations were curtailed, the clients would just go elsewhere to find someone willing to put together a great money making deal like, for instance, buying a 75 year lease on Chicago’s parking meter operation. Suppose that deal hadn’t gone through. An hour’s parking would have remained at two bits instead of a buck. By jacking the rates, extending the hours and making the meters operate seven days a week instead of five we are doing our part in reducing traffic conjestion. And what thanks do we get? None. Shows you just how sincere these “green” people are. All they can do is belly ache about the loss of street fairs because the new meter owners demand fair compensation for the lost revenue. It’s obvious these “street fairs” are losing propositions or they’d make enough money to pay the franchise with money left over. We’re promoting social efficiency by eliminating these economically sterile activities. We have stores if the lumpenfolk want to buy things. In fact we have more “store per person” than any other country in the world – nearly 25 square feet of it. We need to generate sales in those stores so the renters can pay back the CMBS holders. Street fairs are diverting dollars to sales that do not benefit our clients and, therefore, do not benefit our country.

My suggestion is that you folks get back out there and start spending again because, face it, that’s the only task you’re really fit to perform. You are the Great American Consumer and it should make your chest swell with pride. Your consumption is a vital part of the wonderful world wealth making machine. China makes stuff and you consume it and digest it and drop it out your backsides. We have tried to keep you supplied with enough dollars so that you can do your job. But now you have reneged on your obligations. You have failed to heed your wonderful V.P. Dick Cheney’s advice to hold hands and buy an SUV. There is a price to be paid for your stubborn refusal to spend beyond your means. You are now “little people.”

So stop whining about your government catering to the banks. We fund your government. You bitch and moan at the thought of any tax increase so your government has to come to us, hat in hand, every year for a couple trillion dollars in loans. You think a government in that kind of financial condition is in any position to tell us how to run our business? Just keep in mind that the Fed is an independent organization. In fact it can’t even be audited. I advise you entertain a certain meekness when dealing with the organization that owns your government and that your uncharitable understanding of the situation puts the cart before the horse.

bench craft company complaints

Breathe Better With Bitter - Science <b>News</b>

Science News. Vol. 175, March 28, 2009, p. 11. [Go to]. Citations & References : seperator. D. A. Deshpande et al. Bitter taste receptors on airway smooth muscle bronchodilate by localized calcium signaling and reverse obstruction. ...

&quot;Xbox 2&quot; game WarDevil canned Xbox 360 <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

Read our Xbox 360 news of. ... "Xbox 2" game WarDevil canned Related content. Latest WarDevil: Unleash the Beast Within screenshots; News WarDevil trailer set for Tokyo ; News Digi-Guys shows off gorgeous Xbox 2 war game ...

Viral Football: A Funeral For Sky Sports <b>News</b> (On Freeview) » Who <b>...</b>

2 Responses to “Viral Football: A Funeral For Sky Sports News (On Freeview)”. Greg says: October 26, 2010 at 10:10 am. I'm pretty sure this is what my dad does every Saturday. Every week, without fail, he phones me up complaining about ...

bench craft company complaints bench craft company complaints

Breathe Better With Bitter - Science <b>News</b>

Science News. Vol. 175, March 28, 2009, p. 11. [Go to]. Citations & References : seperator. D. A. Deshpande et al. Bitter taste receptors on airway smooth muscle bronchodilate by localized calcium signaling and reverse obstruction. ...

&quot;Xbox 2&quot; game WarDevil canned Xbox 360 <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

Read our Xbox 360 news of. ... "Xbox 2" game WarDevil canned Related content. Latest WarDevil: Unleash the Beast Within screenshots; News WarDevil trailer set for Tokyo ; News Digi-Guys shows off gorgeous Xbox 2 war game ...

Viral Football: A Funeral For Sky Sports <b>News</b> (On Freeview) » Who <b>...</b>

2 Responses to “Viral Football: A Funeral For Sky Sports News (On Freeview)”. Greg says: October 26, 2010 at 10:10 am. I'm pretty sure this is what my dad does every Saturday. Every week, without fail, he phones me up complaining about ...

bench craft company complaints bench craft company complaints

Breathe Better With Bitter - Science <b>News</b>

Science News. Vol. 175, March 28, 2009, p. 11. [Go to]. Citations & References : seperator. D. A. Deshpande et al. Bitter taste receptors on airway smooth muscle bronchodilate by localized calcium signaling and reverse obstruction. ...

&quot;Xbox 2&quot; game WarDevil canned Xbox 360 <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

Read our Xbox 360 news of. ... "Xbox 2" game WarDevil canned Related content. Latest WarDevil: Unleash the Beast Within screenshots; News WarDevil trailer set for Tokyo ; News Digi-Guys shows off gorgeous Xbox 2 war game ...

Viral Football: A Funeral For Sky Sports <b>News</b> (On Freeview) » Who <b>...</b>

2 Responses to “Viral Football: A Funeral For Sky Sports News (On Freeview)”. Greg says: October 26, 2010 at 10:10 am. I'm pretty sure this is what my dad does every Saturday. Every week, without fail, he phones me up complaining about ...

bench craft company complaints bench craft company complaints

personal finances help

Well, you can’t privatize Social Security and I would like someone to

explain how it would be done? The term “privatizing SS” is a cover and

that is all the Washington Post has ever been, a cover for the International Inverstors that own our debt, or Corpostacracy, or Oligarchs,

whatever you want to call them. WAPO is sofening up the public for what is

coming as that is their job and what the WAPO always dois

I N T E R G O V E R N M E N T A L……..D E B T………………………

This is debt that the government owes itself from borrowing from itself,

mostly (100%) from Social Security since it is the only government entity

that produces a surplus to do so. Most on here understand the national debt and who ownes it. You also need to realize that the Clinton Administration did not produce surpluses. Increased borrowing from Social

Security is how deficits were magically transformed into surpluses under President Clinton. The mythical Clinton supluses came from borrowed money,

meaning they weren’t surpluses at all, they were deficits.

T H E………D E F I C I T…..R E D U C T I O N…C O M M I T T E E

Co-chaired by Simpson is going to wipe out the intergovernmental debt.

It is going to be the final theft and death of Social Security. This is

going to happen no matter what faction of the Duopoly is in majority. It is our money that was taken from our paychecks and borrowed. The collusional media such as WAPO and the MSMs are using their diversional tactics to mislead the public, they have been successful in dividing the

populace into factions. They have used mosquedebating and Koran burning to

help this along. The term privatizing social security is just being used as cover. There is no way to do privatized Social Security other than

MANDATES to invest in the Stock Market, this is not security, nor is it

social.

The International Investors that own our debt dictate policy, write the

legislation and in effect , are our government. We will remain the

M I L I T A R Y….E M P L O Y M E N T…E C O N O M I C…C O M P L E X..

with much more AUSTERITY shoved at us by the owners of our debt.

However, Obama is chipping away at the TRADE DEFICIT….a $60 billion

arms sale to Saudia Arabia alone….their are many more coming.

So we still have our factories of death in full production.

We still have our criminal Wars of Terror , all this , making the War

Industry is some way responsible for every paycheck in America. I do not

believe in the “Lesser of Evil” theory. Criminal activity is just that, no

matter what tag of the Duopoly is in the majority. The scare tactics they

are using to keep both of the Duopoly’s base is just that , TACTICS.

I don’t have to “win”. If you still don’t see the game being played, well

you just don’t want to. Obama isn’t a socialist, and Palin isn’t Hitler.

But they both get their money from the same doners.

I will exercise my right to vote, and I will vote my conscience remembering

that as I speak, the cripples, the widows, the orphans, the widowers, the

disabled, the carnage, the drones, the million dead Iraq, the evesdropping,

the undercover ops on enviromenalists, the torture, the rendition, the

30,000 prisoners in Iraq, the prisoners in Afghan,

and my vote won’t be Democrat or Republican…..I still have a concsience,

and haven’t been dumbed down by watching the Maddow vs Beck show or reading

the WAPO.

First things first, the good folks over at Corrente are having a fundraising drive. Please go over and give 'em some cash to help 'em stay afloat. Now, onto business:

While things look pretty bleak in America, we can take comfort from the fact that we aren't alone in letting our economy get looted by multinational financial institutions. In Ireland, where eyes are doing anything but smiling, things are getting really dire:

The cost of bailing out the Republic of Ireland's stricken banks has risen to 45bn euro (£39bn), opening a huge hole in the Irish government's finances.

Oh. That sounds bad.

The increased cost will see the government run a budget deficit equivalent to 32% of GDP this year.

Yeah, that's pretty bad. But how much will this hurt Seamus Average?

Mr Lenihan defended the cost of the bail-out measures, which will cost the Republic's two million taxpayers the equivalent of 22,500 euros each

Holy crap! And the Irish have already implemented austerity measures to raise taxes and cut public services. Does this mean they'll have to do even more of that to pay for yet another massive bank bailout? Why, yes it does:

Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan today warned that further austerity measures will have to be imposed after the Central Bank revealed the total cost of the bailout for Irish banks will be almost €50 billion.

Speaking separately, Taoiseach Brian Cowen refused to rule out further tax increases in the forthcoming Budget and said "revenue raising" options would be required as well as spending cuts in the Budget, which is due to take place in December.

Speaking on RTE radio at lunchtime, Mr Cowen refused to outline how much would have to be found through austerity measures.

Ireland, then, is becoming a feudal state where people are taxed not to pay for police, fire departments, schools, hospitals or pensions. Instead they're taxed to bail out failed financial institutions. And what's more, they're having their taxes increased to bail out failed financial institutions. The banks are the feudal lords living in castles and the taxpayers are the serfs.

But hey, some people are happy about this charming turn of events! Here's Danny McCoy, the director-general at the Irish Business and Employers Confederation (which I gather is their version of the Chamber of Commerce):

The announcement of the final scale of its bank rescue plan concludes a month in which the troubles of Ireland’s economy have again been centre stage. Rating agencies and analysts have questioned the capacity of our small economy to cope with its emerging debt. Ireland has also become a test bed for state recovery strategies, including the introduction of austerity measures and the resolution of complex banking problems.

Thursday’s figures reveal the undeniably high, but manageable, costs of the domestic bank bail-out. The one-off impact is to push the ratio of deficit to gross domestic product to 32 per cent. However, the Irish government has also committed to framing a budgetary plan to reduce the underlying deficit to 3 per cent by 2014. This plan will help to satisfy market concerns by providing clarity on the scale of the painful, but deliverable, fiscal adjustments needed in coming years. And underneath, Ireland’s economy is much stronger than it at first appears.

Well yeah, you definitely don't want to go by how it "appears," do you? Because it appears that Ireland has unemployment of almost 14%. That's, like, pretty bad and stuff. But Mr. McCoy tells us the Irish are eating their crap sandwich and loving it:

Difficult though the situation is, the state has reacted swiftly. Stern measures to address the public finances – including public sector wage cuts, expenditure cuts and increases in personal taxation – have been introduced with widespread acceptance by the public.

Acceptance. Riiiiiiiight. That's why the ruling Fianna Fáil party is facing a nine-point deficit against the center-left Labour Party. After all, who doesn't love having their taxes jacked up even as their pension gets slashed? It's like having an angel eat whipped cream off your nipples!

Measures to fix the banking crisis through a new National Asset Management Agency have received a more mixed reaction. However, the aim of taking bad property loans off bank balance sheets to enable recapitalisation is sound.

Oh joys! The Irish have their own version of Timmy Geithner's cash-for-trash initiative! I can't imagine why that would get a mixed review! After all, buying worthless housing securities is almost as much fun as having your pension looted!

Of course, I shouldn't mock the Irish too much for their impending enslavement by the financial industry. After all, as Digby notes, we're about to get the same treatment here in the US:

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) slammed Democrats Thursday for campaigning against Republicans on Social Security.

At an event for the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget Thursday morning, he took on Democrats who have gone after Republican candidates for supporting Ryan’s Roadmap for America’s Future. The plan includes partial privatization of accounts for those under 55.

What! How dare you campaign against policy proposals I made! The opposition party isn't supposed to oppose things!

“We’ve got to get beyond weaponizing these issues for political gain in the short run,” he said, adding that Congress and President Barack Obama aren’t offering any solutions on Social Security. “We’ve got to get through this political moment. The political weaponization of entitlement reform is very unfortunate. It’s hurting our chances of actually getting bipartisan agreement in the near future. It’s unfortunate but we’ve got to get out there."

Gee, Paul, I'd feel so bad for you, except Republicans have successfully and relentlessly weaponized any and all tax increases for the past 30 years.

Anyway, I hope lots of people are prepared to fight this crap in the coming years. Our corrupt business and political elites aren't satisfied with the looting they gave us with the 2008 financial crisis. They're going to start coming after everything else we have too.

Surprise: Fox <b>News</b> signs Juan Williams to new $2 million deal <b>...</b>

Fox News Chief Executive Roger Ailes handed Williams a new three-year contract Thursday morning, in a deal that amounts to nearly $2 million, a considerable bump up from his previous salary, the Tribune Washington Bureau has learned. ...

The Fox <b>News</b> “Lawn Jockey” and The Tolerant Left | RedState

Juan Williams' firing did not happen in a vacuum. It happened in the context of him having been the official Fox News lawn jockey stooge for years.

Fox <b>News</b> Gives Fired NPR Reporter Juan Williams Fat New Contract <b>...</b>

Williams, who has served as a part-time contributor on Fox News since 1997, got an expanded, multi-year deal from the cable channel Thursday. Terms were not disclosed, though a source close to the network said Williams is getting a pay ...

eric seiger eric seiger

Well, you can’t privatize Social Security and I would like someone to

explain how it would be done? The term “privatizing SS” is a cover and

that is all the Washington Post has ever been, a cover for the International Inverstors that own our debt, or Corpostacracy, or Oligarchs,

whatever you want to call them. WAPO is sofening up the public for what is

coming as that is their job and what the WAPO always dois

I N T E R G O V E R N M E N T A L……..D E B T………………………

This is debt that the government owes itself from borrowing from itself,

mostly (100%) from Social Security since it is the only government entity

that produces a surplus to do so. Most on here understand the national debt and who ownes it. You also need to realize that the Clinton Administration did not produce surpluses. Increased borrowing from Social

Security is how deficits were magically transformed into surpluses under President Clinton. The mythical Clinton supluses came from borrowed money,

meaning they weren’t surpluses at all, they were deficits.

T H E………D E F I C I T…..R E D U C T I O N…C O M M I T T E E

Co-chaired by Simpson is going to wipe out the intergovernmental debt.

It is going to be the final theft and death of Social Security. This is

going to happen no matter what faction of the Duopoly is in majority. It is our money that was taken from our paychecks and borrowed. The collusional media such as WAPO and the MSMs are using their diversional tactics to mislead the public, they have been successful in dividing the

populace into factions. They have used mosquedebating and Koran burning to

help this along. The term privatizing social security is just being used as cover. There is no way to do privatized Social Security other than

MANDATES to invest in the Stock Market, this is not security, nor is it

social.

The International Investors that own our debt dictate policy, write the

legislation and in effect , are our government. We will remain the

M I L I T A R Y….E M P L O Y M E N T…E C O N O M I C…C O M P L E X..

with much more AUSTERITY shoved at us by the owners of our debt.

However, Obama is chipping away at the TRADE DEFICIT….a $60 billion

arms sale to Saudia Arabia alone….their are many more coming.

So we still have our factories of death in full production.

We still have our criminal Wars of Terror , all this , making the War

Industry is some way responsible for every paycheck in America. I do not

believe in the “Lesser of Evil” theory. Criminal activity is just that, no

matter what tag of the Duopoly is in the majority. The scare tactics they

are using to keep both of the Duopoly’s base is just that , TACTICS.

I don’t have to “win”. If you still don’t see the game being played, well

you just don’t want to. Obama isn’t a socialist, and Palin isn’t Hitler.

But they both get their money from the same doners.

I will exercise my right to vote, and I will vote my conscience remembering

that as I speak, the cripples, the widows, the orphans, the widowers, the

disabled, the carnage, the drones, the million dead Iraq, the evesdropping,

the undercover ops on enviromenalists, the torture, the rendition, the

30,000 prisoners in Iraq, the prisoners in Afghan,

and my vote won’t be Democrat or Republican…..I still have a concsience,

and haven’t been dumbed down by watching the Maddow vs Beck show or reading

the WAPO.

First things first, the good folks over at Corrente are having a fundraising drive. Please go over and give 'em some cash to help 'em stay afloat. Now, onto business:

While things look pretty bleak in America, we can take comfort from the fact that we aren't alone in letting our economy get looted by multinational financial institutions. In Ireland, where eyes are doing anything but smiling, things are getting really dire:

The cost of bailing out the Republic of Ireland's stricken banks has risen to 45bn euro (£39bn), opening a huge hole in the Irish government's finances.

Oh. That sounds bad.

The increased cost will see the government run a budget deficit equivalent to 32% of GDP this year.

Yeah, that's pretty bad. But how much will this hurt Seamus Average?

Mr Lenihan defended the cost of the bail-out measures, which will cost the Republic's two million taxpayers the equivalent of 22,500 euros each

Holy crap! And the Irish have already implemented austerity measures to raise taxes and cut public services. Does this mean they'll have to do even more of that to pay for yet another massive bank bailout? Why, yes it does:

Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan today warned that further austerity measures will have to be imposed after the Central Bank revealed the total cost of the bailout for Irish banks will be almost €50 billion.

Speaking separately, Taoiseach Brian Cowen refused to rule out further tax increases in the forthcoming Budget and said "revenue raising" options would be required as well as spending cuts in the Budget, which is due to take place in December.

Speaking on RTE radio at lunchtime, Mr Cowen refused to outline how much would have to be found through austerity measures.

Ireland, then, is becoming a feudal state where people are taxed not to pay for police, fire departments, schools, hospitals or pensions. Instead they're taxed to bail out failed financial institutions. And what's more, they're having their taxes increased to bail out failed financial institutions. The banks are the feudal lords living in castles and the taxpayers are the serfs.

But hey, some people are happy about this charming turn of events! Here's Danny McCoy, the director-general at the Irish Business and Employers Confederation (which I gather is their version of the Chamber of Commerce):

The announcement of the final scale of its bank rescue plan concludes a month in which the troubles of Ireland’s economy have again been centre stage. Rating agencies and analysts have questioned the capacity of our small economy to cope with its emerging debt. Ireland has also become a test bed for state recovery strategies, including the introduction of austerity measures and the resolution of complex banking problems.

Thursday’s figures reveal the undeniably high, but manageable, costs of the domestic bank bail-out. The one-off impact is to push the ratio of deficit to gross domestic product to 32 per cent. However, the Irish government has also committed to framing a budgetary plan to reduce the underlying deficit to 3 per cent by 2014. This plan will help to satisfy market concerns by providing clarity on the scale of the painful, but deliverable, fiscal adjustments needed in coming years. And underneath, Ireland’s economy is much stronger than it at first appears.

Well yeah, you definitely don't want to go by how it "appears," do you? Because it appears that Ireland has unemployment of almost 14%. That's, like, pretty bad and stuff. But Mr. McCoy tells us the Irish are eating their crap sandwich and loving it:

Difficult though the situation is, the state has reacted swiftly. Stern measures to address the public finances – including public sector wage cuts, expenditure cuts and increases in personal taxation – have been introduced with widespread acceptance by the public.

Acceptance. Riiiiiiiight. That's why the ruling Fianna Fáil party is facing a nine-point deficit against the center-left Labour Party. After all, who doesn't love having their taxes jacked up even as their pension gets slashed? It's like having an angel eat whipped cream off your nipples!

Measures to fix the banking crisis through a new National Asset Management Agency have received a more mixed reaction. However, the aim of taking bad property loans off bank balance sheets to enable recapitalisation is sound.

Oh joys! The Irish have their own version of Timmy Geithner's cash-for-trash initiative! I can't imagine why that would get a mixed review! After all, buying worthless housing securities is almost as much fun as having your pension looted!

Of course, I shouldn't mock the Irish too much for their impending enslavement by the financial industry. After all, as Digby notes, we're about to get the same treatment here in the US:

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) slammed Democrats Thursday for campaigning against Republicans on Social Security.

At an event for the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget Thursday morning, he took on Democrats who have gone after Republican candidates for supporting Ryan’s Roadmap for America’s Future. The plan includes partial privatization of accounts for those under 55.

What! How dare you campaign against policy proposals I made! The opposition party isn't supposed to oppose things!

“We’ve got to get beyond weaponizing these issues for political gain in the short run,” he said, adding that Congress and President Barack Obama aren’t offering any solutions on Social Security. “We’ve got to get through this political moment. The political weaponization of entitlement reform is very unfortunate. It’s hurting our chances of actually getting bipartisan agreement in the near future. It’s unfortunate but we’ve got to get out there."

Gee, Paul, I'd feel so bad for you, except Republicans have successfully and relentlessly weaponized any and all tax increases for the past 30 years.

Anyway, I hope lots of people are prepared to fight this crap in the coming years. Our corrupt business and political elites aren't satisfied with the looting they gave us with the 2008 financial crisis. They're going to start coming after everything else we have too.

Surprise: Fox <b>News</b> signs Juan Williams to new $2 million deal <b>...</b>

Fox News Chief Executive Roger Ailes handed Williams a new three-year contract Thursday morning, in a deal that amounts to nearly $2 million, a considerable bump up from his previous salary, the Tribune Washington Bureau has learned. ...

The Fox <b>News</b> “Lawn Jockey” and The Tolerant Left | RedState

Juan Williams' firing did not happen in a vacuum. It happened in the context of him having been the official Fox News lawn jockey stooge for years.

Fox <b>News</b> Gives Fired NPR Reporter Juan Williams Fat New Contract <b>...</b>

Williams, who has served as a part-time contributor on Fox News since 1997, got an expanded, multi-year deal from the cable channel Thursday. Terms were not disclosed, though a source close to the network said Williams is getting a pay ...

eric seiger eric seiger