Exercise of the Month: Warrior I ? Health and Wellness at the ...

Target Body Part: Butt/Hips, Legs ? Thighs, Full Body/Integrated

Primary Muscles: Erector Spinae, Rectus Abdominus (abs), Gluteus Maximus (glutes), Quadriceps (quads), Hamstrings, Adductors

Secondary Muscles: (Synergists/Stabilizers) Transverse Abdominus, Gluteus Medius/Minimus (Abductors), Soleus, Gastrocnemius, Obliques

Equipment Needed:?No Equipment

Step 1
Starting Position: Stand with your feet hip-width apart, toes pointing forward and arms by your sides. Pull your shoulder blades down and back without arching your low back. Engage your abdominal/core muscles to stabilize your spine. Inhale.

Step 2

Exhale and take a large step forward with your right foot while raising your arms to the ceiling, palms facing each other. Keep your right foot pointed forward and turn your left foot out to the side 45 to 60 degrees. Your left heel should be on line with your right heel. Begin lunging forward into the right leg while keeping your back (left) leg very straight and strong. Do not allow the right knee to move forward past the right toes. Keep the back (left) heel pressing into the ground. Lower your hips toward the floor and square your shoulders and hips to the front of the matt. Support your weight by pushing through your left foot and reaching up through your arms. Lift your ribcage away from the pelvis without arching the low back.

Step 3
Hold this position for 3-5 slow, deep breaths (approximately 20-30 seconds) and repeat on the other side.

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How to make the Bush tax cuts work

The expiring Bush tax cuts would be worth more than $2.8 trillion over 10 years Instead of complaining about the size of the cuts and not doing anything constructive about it, policymakers ought to commit to using that size in a positive way.

By Diane Lim Rogers,?Guest blogger / May 15, 2012

Barack Obama smiles after signing into law a bill to extend the Bush-era tax cuts at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington in this 2010 file photo. Though they are set to expire, Rogers argues that the US should keep the Bush tax cuts but figure out a better way to pay for them.

Jim Young/Reuters/File

Enlarge

Here is the last of my ?Taxes for a Civilized Society? columns, published in Tax Notes last Monday, reprinted in full with the permission of Tax Analysts:

Skip to next paragraph Diane Lim Rogers

'EconomistMom' (Diane Lim Rogers) is Chief Economist of the Concord Coalition, a non-partisan, non-profit organization which advocates for fiscal responsibility, and the mom of four (amazing) kids to whom she dedicates her work. She?s been blogging since Mother?s Day 2008.

Recent posts

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This is my last column as a regular contributor to Tax Notes, so I thought I would close with a focus on my favorite tax topic, which somehow manages to stay evergreen because policymakers never quite settle the issue: the Bush tax cuts.

Policymakers are headed toward a big fiscal cliff after the election, with the expiration of the Bush tax cuts this time joined by automatic spending cuts known as the sequester. The looming sledgehammerlike spending cuts of about $1 trillion over 10 years have caused a panic. But the expiring tax cuts are worth several times that ? more than $2.8 trillion over 10 years, or more than $4.5 trillion including alternative minimum tax relief, even without counting interest costs.¹ It?s a good reminder that the most important aspect of the Bush tax cuts (leaving aside the politics) is their cost.

Instead of complaining about the size of the Bush tax cuts and not doing anything constructive about it, policymakers ought to commit to using that size in a positive way. The fact that we have a valuable policy lever available to us is fortunate.

Keep Them, but Pay for Them

Everyone loves the Bush tax cuts because they?re tax cuts. They increase after-tax incomes for most of us, so we personally benefit. The problem has been that financing them has kept the true cost out of the awareness of policymakers and the general public. The benefits of the tax cuts have been private goods, but the costs have been public bads.

Congressional Budget Office projections have shown repeatedly that achieving the current-law baseline level of revenues ? the level consistent with letting all the expiring tax cuts actually expire ? is one way to get us to an economically sustainable level of deficits over the next decade or two. (Beyond that we will need to cut net spending associated with the retirement programs.) But as I?ve emphasized many times, achieving current-law baseline levels doesn?t have to mean literally sticking to current law and letting the tax cuts expire as scheduled. It could instead mean paying for any of the tax cuts we choose to extend.

The question policymakers and the public must ask ourselves is not whether we like or have enjoyed having the Bush tax cuts, but which part of them we love the most, and whether we love them enough to be willing to pay for them. Do we prefer the Bush tax cuts (any part of them) to the other types of tax cuts (such as expensive tax expenditures) or areas of spending that would need to be given up to offset the cost of the Bush tax cuts?

If the answer is yes, then by all means we should extend those portions of the Bush tax cuts. Being forced to pay for something is a great way to figure out how valuable it really is. Having Bush tax cuts that are compliant with ?pay as you go? rules also would preserve the private benefits of the tax cuts we choose to extend, while getting rid of the associated public cost of higher deficits.

Let Go of Them to Pay for Better Policies

If we decide not to extend the tax cuts, it?s probably because there is a more attractive policy alternative.

The several-trillion-dollars cost of the Bush tax cuts is huge, yet the evidence of their economic benefits has been limited. If you go back and read several past issues of the ?Economic Report of the President? from the George W. Bush administration, you will notice that its praise of the Bush tax cuts mainly emphasizes how large they were (and still are). But that is an endorsement of the large income effects of the tax cuts ? effects that would occur under any cost-equivalent tax cut or spending increase. Holding the cost of the tax cuts constant, we have to ask: Are there alternative tax cuts or spending that would achieve better economic effects in terms of microeconomic incentives, macroeconomic impacts, and the distribution of income?

For example, we may need the Bush tax cuts to continue because our economy can?t handle that large of a withdrawal of fiscal stimulus at once. But there might be alternatives that provide more bang for the buck. We may want to keep the lower marginal tax rates under the Bush tax cuts to encourage the longer-term, supply-side growth of the economy, but are there alternative tax cuts or spending increases that could do better at increasing human capital formation, labor supply, and investments in new and socially valuable technologies? And could even deficit reduction be a surer route to economic growth than the Bush tax cuts have been? The answer to both is yes ? which means we should want those alternative policies and deficit reduction more.

Use Their Expiration for the ?Buffett Rule?

One way in which the Bush tax cuts have clearly been viewed as not economically helpful has been regarding the distribution of income. President Obama has always complained about the unfairness of them ? how they have given the lion?s share of their benefits to the rich. Obama repeatedly addresses his complaint by proposing to let expire only the top two brackets of the cuts ? the brackets that affect only households with annual incomes exceeding $250,000. But that doesn?t mean the rest of the Bush tax cuts (still worth more than $2 trillion over 10 years) would not benefit households now in the top brackets.

In fact, even if the top two brackets (now at 33 and 35 percent) reverted to their pre-2001 law levels (of 36 and 39.6 percent), households in them would still benefit the most in dollar terms from the extended lower rates in the lower brackets. The rich would still be receiving a disproportionate share of the Bush tax cuts ? no longer disproportionate relative to their shares of income, but still disproportionate relative to their shares of the population.

Because the $2.8 trillion in tax cuts disproportionately benefits the rich, letting them all expire would raise the tax burdens of the rich. In an earlier column, I pointed out that although the millionaires? share of the tax burden of letting all the Bush tax cuts expire is much smaller than it would be if only the upper-bracket Bush tax cuts were allowed to expire, the additional tax revenue collected from millionaires would be higher under full expiration.²

Whether all of the Bush tax cuts or just the upper-bracket ones are allowed to expire, the result would be greater progressivity. Such a policy decision could be taken as a proactive component of any ?Buffett rule.? Ideally, the expiration of some or all of the Bush tax rates, which on its own would generate reduced incentives to work and save, could be coupled with base-broadening reforms that would help promote the Buffett rule by reducing tax expenditures that solely or disproportionately benefit the rich but would also reduce rather than increase the distortions of the income tax system on economic decisions.

Let the Budgeteers Take Control

Given that the most valuable thing about the Bush tax cuts is their cost rather than the merits or flaws of the structure of the policy in terms of its base and rates, the budget committees and budget process will be a big deal in terms of what will happen to the tax cuts. The difference between ?business as usual? deficit financing and the outcome if pay-go rules are applied without exception is more than $4.5 trillion over 10 years.

The budget committees should flex their policy muscles and do the heavy lifting regarding the impending expiration of the Bush tax cuts. They could propose legislation requiring strict pay-go rules on the tax cuts and setting revenue levels in the budget resolution consistent with letting the full complement expire. They could also explain and illustrate how complying with pay-go doesn?t have to mean increasing tax burdens at a time when our economy cannot handle it. Any part of the tax cuts that we want to extend immediately can be paid for with gradual revenue increases or spending cuts over the rest of the 10-year budget window. And while the budget committees cannot dictate the specifics of tax policy (that is left up to the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance committees), they are the ones that set the ground rules and boundaries that the taxwriting committees must work within.

The budget committees also have the option of at least stating their preferences about the specifics of tax policy (such as the mix of rate increases versus base broadeners in the revenue-raising strategy) in the policy sections of the budget resolution or in the committee reports accompanying the legislative text of the resolution.

Politically, the hardest part about making the best of the Bush tax cuts has always been paying for them. That is why the role of the budget committees and the budget process is unusually critical on this particular, and large, tax policy decision.

Deal With the Turkey in the Lame Duck

All these ways of making the best of the Bush tax cuts are not precluded by the fact that this is a presidential as well as congressional election year. If we consider the many ways in which policymakers have failed over the years regarding decisions about what to do about the Bush tax cuts, it?s clear we can?t blame just the budget committees for not putting their foot down about the current-law baseline and pay-go. When Obama and Republicans want to keep extending and deficit-financing them, we can understand why Congress on its own was unable to get its bipartisan act together and behave better. Doing the right thing by the Bush tax cuts requires strong leadership unencumbered by unrealistic campaign promises.

There are several reasons to be optimistic about doing better once we get past the next election. The near-term economy is not as fragile as it was two years ago, the last time the Bush tax cuts were about to expire, making the idea of letting go, even gradually, more palatable. At the same time, the various debt crises in Europe serve as a warning about the unsustainability of the U.S. fiscal outlook and its implications for the economy in terms of longer-term growth and shorter-term stability.

Finally, after this November?s election, no matter who is elected president, we are likely to have a president who is less tied to a campaign promise that commits him to keeping the Bush tax cuts and who was voted into office by a public that is now far less enamored of the Bush tax cuts than it has ever been.

The cliff on the Bush tax cuts comes less than two months after the election. Is that too little time to do better than business as usual? While it may not be possible to replace the Bush tax cuts and the rest of the federal income tax with a full-out version of base-broadening, rate-reducing, revenue-raising fundamental tax reform like the plans recommended by bipartisan groups, it is not hard to set a goal in the lame-duck session of making only positive, even if small, steps regarding the Bush tax cuts. In the lame-duck session, Congress and the administration can commit to either letting parts of the Bush tax cuts go or turning them into more fiscally responsible versions that achieve better economic results.

At a minimum, policymakers should not have to revert to full extension of the cuts as a form of compromise as they have done in the past. Deficit-financed extensions should be limited in scope and temporary in timing, and permanent extensions should comply with strict pay-go rules over the 10-year budget window. Policymakers will be able to do this with the help and leadership of the budget committees working with a president who is able to get off the campaign trail and back to work, all of them cheered on by an American public that well understands by now the inevitability and necessity of hard choices. They can turn this turkey of the Bush tax cuts into something much better.

FOOTNOTES

¹ Congressional Budget Office, ?The Budget and Economic Outlook, Fiscal Years 2012 to 2022,? Jan. 2012, Doc 2012-1855? 2012 TNT 21-26 .

²Diane Lim Rogers, ?Who Wants to Tax a Millionaire?? Tax Notes, Feb. 6, 2012, p. 725, Doc 2012-1867 , 2012 TNT 24-16 .
?END OF FOOTNOTES

_______________________________________

Less time required for Tax Notes means maybe, finally, more time to get back to this blog!? And I have a new project developing that I hope to be able to tell readers about soon.? Thank you for sticking with me through thick and thin here!

The Christian Science Monitor has assembled a diverse group of the best economy-related bloggers out there. Our guest bloggers are not employed or directed by the Monitor and the views expressed are the bloggers' own, as is responsibility for the content of their blogs. To contact us about a blogger, click here. To add or view a comment on a guest blog, please go to the blogger's own site by clicking on economistmom.com.

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Acquiring the Ideal Personal computer ? The very first Time Email ...

Email

So you have lastly decided it is time for a alter. Regardless of

what suggestions you follow that old function horse of a desktop

laptop or computer you may have has outlived its usefulness with slow

loading applications plus a continuous rise in operation

noise.

Looking for that Excellent Personal computer is usually about as a lot enjoyable

as buying a brand new vehicle and about as frustrating also when

sorting via the numerous brands even though attempting to determine

which ?bells and whistles? very best fit your requirements. Besides all

that attempting to return one thing that?s so big could be each

inconvenient and incredibly complicated to do. So creating the proper

choice the initial time will be the wise path of selection.

For starters you will require to determine what you need to do with

your personal computer. Are you currently into the video game scene or are you currently

a person who likes to just surf the world wide web and occasionally

do some book keeping with uncomplicated word processing software program?

If you are into video games you are going to want a machine

that may deal with the high degree of graphics and superior

sound excellent. Alternatively if you are not into all

that high adrenalin stuff you may possibly get by using a

much less high-priced technique. Despite the fact that, if you would like to remain on the

secure side I would suggest going with one thing far more

?high-end? so you do not need to invest yet another massive chunk of

alter to upgrade the program you just purchased.

You can find two simple routes it is possible to take when buying a

new laptop or computer.

1) Obtain a ?Brand Name? Personal computer

two) Obtain a ?Clone? Computer

A ?BRAND-NAME? laptop or computer is 1 that?s manufactured by a

corporation which is recognizable by name.

Some Advantages/Disadvantages of ?Brand-Name? computers

consist of:Benefits:Consumer Support- In the event you are experiencing issues together with your

pc you are going to have the alternative to get in touch with a

representative with the organization which you bought the PC from

to obtain support in solving your difficulty.

Consumer support is possibly the top reason to purchase a

brand-name personal computer.

Warranty- Getting a warranty is usually good given that it acts as

a style of security blanket for you.

In case a component on your laptop or computer ought to fail you ought to be

in a position to get the item fixed at no charge just so long as the

/>warranty has not expired.

Read and comprehend a company?s warranty policy Ahead of you

buy a pc from them.

This way you will have a fantastic understanding with the procedures

to follow in case a issue ought to arise.

Pre-installed Software- Numerous organizations will consist of software program

packages which are all set up and prepared to go for you on your

pc.

Even though, a disadvantage of obtaining a brand-name personal computer

with software program pre-installed is which you typically wind up with

a lot more than fits your requirements and typically just outcomes using the

wasting of space on your storage device.

Further Support- Most brand-name laptop or computer businesses are

also in a position to supply you with internet websites that may well give you

with existing software program updates, user manuals, or simple

troubleshooting assist.

Disadvantages

The use of Proprietary parts- the term Proprietary refers to

items which are exclusive to an individual business and that

business only.

So if a component was to malfunction on your laptop or computer immediately after

warranty and you necessary to replace it you can not just go

to your nearby laptop or computer shop and buy any old component even

if it was intended for exactly the same function as the item that

failed.

You?d be forced to purchase the precise exact same item that came out

with the pc or else the laptop or computer would additional than most likely

cease to function appropriately.

Getting to purchase proprietary parts typically entails the need to have to

spot an order which indicates you will need to wait for the portion
/>
to arrive or you will need to send your personal computer into the

organization or an authorized dealer of that corporation for

repairs.

People today using a house based enterprise would most likely not be too

pleased with that circumstance at all.

Integrated/On-board parts- Within the laptop or computer globe whenever you

hear the word integrated or on-board it indicates that a

certain portion for instance the modem or sound port exactly where you

plug within your speakers, is built-in or component with the pc

major board (Also recognized as the Motherboard).

This indicates that if any of these items really should fail, you cannot

just eliminate them from the pc and replace them having a

new component. They?re generally soldered directly towards the principal

board and are stuck there.

Though, some computers do present a strategy to disable a

malfunctioning device which will permit you to install your

own shop purchased device to take the location with the broken

portion.

From a personal computer technicians point of view this really is not generally

effortless to do.

It just depends upon what brand of laptop or computer you presently

have. Meaning some are simpler to function on than other people.

A ?CLONE? personal computer is actually a clone or perhaps a copy of its brand-name

counterpart using the exception that rather of corporation

precise or proprietary parts, the items employed to create a

clone laptop or computer are from various unique businesses rather

of only 1.

Let?s say that should you had been to go to a nearby business that

builds ?clone? computers, and you tell them what you will need,
/>
probabilities are they do not use parts which are distinct to only

that sort of laptop or computer like the brand-name personal computer corporations

do.

This really is a superb factor mainly because it indicates that they are going to

in all probability use components which are interchangeable with quite a few

distinct brands and are uncomplicated to come by if necessary.

Some Advantages/Disadvantages of ?Clone? computers consist of:Benefits:Cost- compared to brand-name computers the clone will

commonly be simpler on your pocket book when buying 1

with related characteristics as its brand-name counterpart.

This really is most most likely on account of the funds that?s saved by not

providing the high-end consumer service. Even though, that may possibly

not be the only reason for the lower costs.

Simply Accessible Replacement Parts- Due to the fact the clone

pc was built with parts which are not any 1 firm

precise, you?ll be able to get parts for the clone pc that may

be applied even if the brand is distinct from the 1 that was

inside the personal computer whenever you originally purchased it.

NOTE: Prior to you get any parts, it can be important to ensure

that the replacement parts are compatible together with your

certain computers method requirements.

Either consult the manual that really should have came along with your

laptop or computer or get assist from a knowledgeable buddy or repair

individual.

Disadvantages:Warranties- Unless you acquire a service strategy you might

generally not have as an appealing warranty as you?d

using a brand-name pc business.

Whatever you do just ensure that you realize how lengthy the

/>warranty is for and as to what type of repairs the warranty

covers ahead of you make the buy.

Consumer Support- With brand-name personal computer firms you?re

commonly supplied having a 24-hour toll totally free number which you

can call in case you have questions or concerns along with your

laptop or computer.

Clone computers are much more than most likely not going to have a

24-hour aid service, but rather you?ll be forced to only

have the ability to call throughout common company hours.

Also, it?s a lot more than most likely that there won?t be any 1

internet site which you can go to to be able to learn info

concerning troubleshooting questions you could have.

For service it could be needed to take the pc back to

the shop which you purchased it at or you might need to do some

analysis on the individual parts that went into the pc

and check out the manufacturer?s internet site for troubleshooting

recommendations.

Lastly, if all else fails it is possible to definitely take what you

have learned from this post and becoming which you know what

you?ll need now, but do not know exactly where to go and get that

?Perfect Computer?, the most beneficial resource at your disposal are

the really males and woman that function at your neighborhood electronics

shop.

It truly is their duty to assist you get hold of that ?Perfect

Computer? that greatest fits your requirements. All you should do is

tell them what you strategy on making use of that personal computer for and they

ought to be far more than pleased to assist you from there.

In other Computers and Technology Email news:

ROCK HILL, S.C. ? 3D Systems Corporation has been named a finalist in the Consumer Electronics Computers and Peripherals category for the 2012 TechAmerica Foundation American Technology Awards . ?

AUSTIN, TX? ? BOXX Technologies, a leading authority on dedicated rendering and an innovator in high-performance computing systems for product design, visualization, engineering, visual effects, and more, today announced that they will demonstrate their 3DBOXX workstation computers featuring NVIDIA? MaximusT technology at the NVIDIA GPU Technology Conference, May 14 ?

Russian startup Pirate Pay is taking aim at the growing popularity of illegal file-sharing as it looks to cooperate with music?labels?and movie studios to stem the distribution of copyrighted materials on the Internet. The company?s technology launches attacks on ?BitTorrent swarms,? or groups of computers hosting pirated content, making it impossible for them to share copyrighted material ?

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Power Discretes Market to 2016 ? Energy Efficiency In

Intermec, Inc. has announced its newest vehicle-mount computers, the CV41 and CV61, designed to integrate with any forklift.

Scytl, the worldwide leader in election software solutions, announced today the successful implementation of its online voting encryption technology for use on Google Android? and Apple? iOS smartphones and tablet computers.

Advanced NuForce technology delivers highest-resolution USB to S/PDIF conversion with NuForce U192S which accepts data word lengths of 16 and 24-bits at a maximum sample-rate of 192kHz, thus permitting playback of high-resolution digital audio recordings via the more common USB ports found on computers. http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5 ?

A look at how selected companies providing computers, components, services and related software are faring:

3D printers are growing in popularity, but the technology is still so new that many consumers wrestle with finding the best products on the market. A new consumer review site, called 3DPrinterReviews.co, is seeking to change that.Denver, CO May 14, 2012 Digital technology is growing increasingly advanced all the time. This is hardly limited to computers and Internet technology, though ?

Paul Brient to highlight PatientKeeper?s unique approach to driving physician adoption of technology and enabling hospitals to achieve Meaningful UseWaltham, MA May 14, 2012 PatientKeeper?, Inc., the leading provider of physician healthcare information systems, today announced that Paul Brient, president and CEO of PatientKeeper, will speak at ThinkEquity LLC?s eighth annual Private ?

---

Blog # 6b0f5d5cb4e2b410bfe4 source: Mirella Leuty is a prodigious fount of knowledge about and she also is knowledgeable in Email you will be able to enjoy more from them on her popular site ? May 14, 2012, 8:56 am
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Customer Service, The Music Business, and Kool Aid

Sometimes the best way to see where you?re going is to look back at where you?ve been.?As a big proponent of drinking your own Kool-Aid, I was thinking back on some of the things I write about frequently, and what I?m passionate about.

We have three major themes here; Customer Service, Search Engine Optimization, and most broadly, Business Change. All of those are general enough that I have a lot of fodder to pull from; especially on that business change topic, finding things to write about is rarely a struggle for me. But some themes keep showing up.

The Music Business is one of those. As I write this post, there are twenty articles at Answer Guy Central that contain the phrase ?Music Business? (you can see them by clicking the link). And when it comes to the idea of customer service, well, all you need to see how important I think great customer service is to your business is a?visit?to The Answer Guy?s Verizon Wireless Customer Service Wall of Shame.

I just took a close look at the Wall of Shame for the first time in a while, asking myself which of the examples of awful customer service was ?the worst?. Nissan of Manhattan Customer Service, our very first Wall of Shame enshrinee, was pretty bad. and Verizon Wireless Customer Service was so bad it was almost comical; we did rename the Wall of Shame in their honor, after all!

But the absolute worst customer service example on our customer service wall of shame belongs to A&E Factory Service Appliance Repair. A&E?s customer service is so?bad that when I was faced with seeking repair for a clothes washer this week I thought first about replacing the washer instead just to avoid the possibility that A&E might be involved.

Instead, I have a great story.

I visited PC Richard, where the washer had been purchased about ten years ago. PC Richard is a small appliance store chain that resisted the urge to get huge?and remains in business, probably as a result of that decision. The washing machine market has gone though some changes that make replacing the misbehaving washer a challenge, so I agreed to have PC Richard send a repair person.

Things didn?t start well. PC Richard couldn?t give me a time window for the repair visit until the morning of the service call, and by about 10:30 AM I hadn?t received the promised telephone call. I contacted them, and found out why; the PC Richard customer service agent had my phone number wrong.

But from there, all was . . . great!

The person I spoke with fixed my record, told me that I should expect the repair person between noon and 4 PM, and when the repairman showed up exactly at noon he was an actual PC Richard employee and not an A&E subcontractor. Or at least he had on a PC Richard shirt, which in the ?perception is reality? game is a big piece of the puzzle (by the way, ?perception is reality? is a big theme here, too, and Answer Guy Central?s Search Rank for that well-known phrase is similar to how Google sees us for business change):

It only got better from there. When the PC Richard repairman recommended that I reconsider my plans to repair the washer, he also declined to charge me for his service call. He went so far as to contact his dispatch center and speak with them until they agreed that I needn?t pay for him having shown up, and when they resisted he told them that since they had screwed up my phone number and?inconvenienced?me, it was the least they could do to make things right.

I never asked for that great customer service, by the way; PC Richard?s guy just delivered it on his own.

But back to that other business change topic. The music business is one that?s undergone tremendous business change in a (not-really-all-that) rapid manner. My favorite ?real business change? story was when Neil Young called piracy the new radio. And maybe it still is. But yesterday The Counting Crows, no sales slouches themselves, went past a theoretical discussion of piracy, releasing four of their songs from their latest album via BitTorrent, for free?and in the process legitimized BitTorrent as a file sharing technology for the next time a government agency tries to shut it down.

As Counting Crows frontman Adam Duritz points out, ?It?s not just about getting music to the people who would buy it anyway ? even though that is, of course, very good?the hardest thing to do is make new fans.??That?s real business change.

All of this was running through my head today, so you can file it under ?ramblings of a business consultant?. And in case you missed it, yeah, this piece was really all about search engine optimization and long tail marketing.

Want to talk? Reach me here. And remember: in both customer service and other business change issues, honesty works.

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Washington uses JPMorgan to double down on reforms

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Reverberations from JPMorgan Chase's multibillion-dollar trading loss deepened in Washington on Tuesday, with the Democratic leader of the Senate blasting the nation's largest bank for "gambling" and congressional Republicans putting the brakes on a plan to soften Wall Street reforms.

Both Republicans and Democrats are still trying to understand the political implications of the trading debacle at one of Wall Street's highest-profile banks as they gauge how it will play in the election-year debate.

Democrats in Congress have been quick to describe the losses as evidence that a casino mentality persists at large banks, but current and former officials in the administration of President Barack Obama have struck a more cautious tone.

"I would suggest that JPMorgan take their business to Las Vegas because it's just a gamble," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who represents Nevada, told reporters.

Former Obama White House Chief of Staff William Daley, who also once worked at JPMorgan, was dismissive of those comments and said banks have to take risks.

"This is a serious time and only serious statements should be made about these things, and we should not demeanor trivialize the importance of these issues, and I don't consider banking gambling," Daley said in an interview with CNBC.

Earlier in the day, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the losses were the result of poor risk management, but avoided bashing JPMorgan officials.

Speaking at an event sponsored by the Peterson Foundation, Geithner said the trades gone bad make the case for the tough rules laid out in the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial oversight law, one of Obama's main legislative achievements.

Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers also used the trading blunder to promote Wall Street reforms.

"I think that whatever one thought about how large a safety buffer was necessary 10 days ago, it seems to me that in light of what has happened, one would tend to have a bias towards larger safety buffers, larger capital requirements, larger levels of liquidity," Summers said in an interview for the Freeland File show on Reuters.com (www.reuters.com/reuterstv)

Last week, JPMorgan disclosed it could lose more than $2 billion because of trades the bank says were intended to hedge risk but went awry. The bank's critics said the trades were speculative and not hedges.

JPMorgan Chief Executive Jamie Dimon, speaking at the bank's annual shareholders meeting in Florida on Tuesday, again apologized for the mistakes that led to losses.

GOP SENATOR WANTS DIMON TO EXPLAIN

Republicans have reacted cautiously to the losses, saying more information is needed before conclusions can be drawn.

It has, however, caused U.S. House of Representatives leaders to put the brakes on legislation intended to loosen derivatives rules required by Dodd-Frank.

Republican Rep. Frank Lucas, chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, said on Tuesday he would delay a vote on bills to rein in and clarify swaps regulation, citing the JPMorgan trading loss.

The bills, which were set to be taken up this Thursday, were unrelated to the trading loss, he said, but added that the Committee "will take the time to gather all relevant information before we proceed to ensure there are no unintended consequences of the legislation that would encourage recklessness in our financial institutions."

Senate Republicans have called for hearings and Richard Shelby, the top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, wants Dimon and regulators to come before Congress to explain what happened, his spokesman said.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's campaign said on Tuesday that JPMorgan's huge trading losses were an unfortunate part of a free market economy.

Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom told NBC that while Romney supports some financial regulation, the losses at one of the nation's largest banks involved investors, not taxpayers, and that rules for Wall Street should not hamper investments.

Amid the heated political rhetoric, several analysts have cautioned that the losses are unfortunate for JPMorgan shareholders, but are not evidence that financial giants are on the brink of ruin.

Financial regulators are expected to publicly weigh in next week when Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro and Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Gary Gensler appear on Tuesday before the Senate Banking Committee for a hearing on derivatives reform.

(Reporting By Dave Clarke, Alexandra Alper, Susan Cornwell and Susan Heavey; Editing by Jan Paschal)

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With Its New Google+ iPhone App, Google Finally Gets It Right

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