ZOMBIE DEBT: HOLLYWOOD VIDEO is dead, but bills still haunt consumers

Talk about Red Tape: Consumers across the country say they are being harassed into paying bills they don’t owe to a company that no longer exists. And it’s not the first time. Like a monster in a bad horror flick, every time this Hollywood Video debt collection controversy seems to be killed, it keeps coming back to life.

When Hollywood Video and its parent, Movie Gallery, went out of business in [...]

Facebook IPO continues to be a headache for those involved ….

Fri May 25, 2012 1:10am EDT
(Reuters) – Claims by four of Wall Street’s main market makers against Nasdaq over Facebook’s botched IPO are likely to exceed $100 million.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/25/us-facebook-fidelity-thousands-idUSBRE84N10120120525 

Several brokerages stop taking Facebook IPO orders | Reuters

Investors who want Facebook Inc shares when the No. 1 online social network goes public later this week may have lost the opportunity. TD Ameritrade and Fidelity’s brokerage arm both stopped accepting orders of Facebook shares as of Tuesday evening, according to representatives for each of the companies.

Morgan Stanley & Co did the same, according to three advisers at the firm who declined to be named because they are not [...]

Greece Euro Exit ‘Firmly on the Cards,’ – Fidelity

Fidelity Loses Nearly Half A Billion On Green Mountain Implosion

by ZH

 

Fidelity is happy to announce it has an opening for a new consumer discretionary analyst, because the current one, the one who recommended the firm’s investment in Green Mountain, is now looking for a job. Fidelity’s GMCR position , which as of 3:59 pm amounted to $1.13 billion, was minutes later trimmed by $445 million, after the company finally posted earnings (and we use the term loosely) which may have [...]

Innovation for the People, by the People

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com…o-innovate/?hp

INNOVATION, OBAMA ADMINISTRATION, VOLUNTEERS AND COMMUNITY SERVICE
Today’s and next week’s Fixes columns will focus on prizes and challenges as catalysts for innovation. This week, David Bornstein is taking a look at examples from the federal government’s open innovation strategies. Next week, Tina Rosenberg will explore how prizes have been used throughout history to accelerate innovation and will highlight examples of how they are being rediscovered today.

“A good government implies two [...]

STIMULUS: Frenzy after doors on bank courier van fly open and bags of money spill out onto road

By Liz Navratil , Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Thousands of dollars went missing this afternoon after the doors of a bank courier van opened, causing bags of money to spill out onto the road and people to gather in a frenzy.

Upper St. Clair police Lt. James Englert said people had pulled alongside the road and were trying to collect money when police arrived on Route 19 near Boyce Road to help a driver [...]

Happy Birthday United States Marines

For ten years now, our Corps has been engaged in continuous combat operations against those who threaten the security of America and our allies. We turned the tide in the Anbar province of Iraq and continue to see success today in southwest Afghanistan. While it has come at a cost … we have much to be proud of.

This past year in operations around the world including humanitarian disaster relief, counter-piracy, [...]

The 11 craziest things in Rick Perry’s ‘Fed Up’ manifesto

By Grace Wyler

Texas Gov. Rick Perry has been taking a lot of heat over some of the more controversial claims made in his 2010 small government treatise Fed Up! Our Fight To Save America From Washington.

The book is a fiery, anti-Washington treatise that lays bare Perry’s ideas on the dangers of federal overreach and the primacy of the 10th Amendment. Incredulous pundits and reporters are heralding it as a [...]

“Disturbing” Rumblings Of Panic Begin A Investors Pull Almost $40 Billion From Money Market Funds

Short-term credit markets are already hemorrhaging thanks to the lack of progress on the debt deal in Congress.

This week, banks moved $37.5 billion from money market funds that are invested in Treasuries and other presumably safe securities, Dealbook reported — “the biggest weekly drop this year.”

Just between Monday and Wednesday, investors pulled $17 billion treasury-only funds.

Peter Crane, President of Crane Data, told Dealbook why these initial withdrawals should not be ignored:

“It’s [...]

Let’s Talk Investing! (Feb. 03, 2011)

by fishhook

Today, let’s focus on the “indexed” stock fund. Indexed funds are designed to mimic a certain index, the s&p 500 for example, and will provide a less-than-index-average rate of return. Mutual fund sales people will argue that the return will not be that much less, however, if you choose the “low cost” funds offered by Fidelity and others. Indexed funds are [...]

Netflix is getting Comcast to build out their video network for them.

by Mr. Mutt

User A surfs the net, checks emails, watches a few video clips here and there. They consume 100Mb in a month.

User B does all of the above but also watches a NetFlix movie every night, adding 6Gb of consumption to their monthly usage.

Both user A and user b pay the same amount to Comcast. But because user b is consuming so much more bandwidth, both [...]

Nasdaq has “no issues” with yesterday’s trading, but is cancelling trades … doesn’t make much sense

from http://www.nasdaqtrader.com/TraderNews.aspx?id=ETA2010-30

# NASDAQ OMXSM reported that we had no technology or system issues associated with the trading that occurred between 2:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m., ET, today, Thursday, May 6, 2010.
# Both NASDAQ® and NASDAQ OMX BXSM (BXSM) operated continuously and the NASDAQ Closing Cross ran successfully.
# There is no indication at this time that a NASDAQ market participant experienced a technological failure in connection with this event. There is [...]