Blogtalk Radio

Book Trailer for Strange Sheets

Calling all authors,poets and readers!!

Come Join me on African-American Literary Divas site! A place for authors, poets, and readers to network!!!

www.african-americanliterarydivas.spruz.com

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Damn...Tiger Woods is the first Athlete to earn 1 billion!!

I need to start swinging some golf clubs.. Go ahead Tiger of course the amount spans throughout his entire career!!

Tiger Woods becomes first athlete to earn $1 billion




Forbes reports that Tiger Woods is now the first athlete in history to earn $1 billion over the course of a career.

Not bad for a 33-year old who's still in the prime of his career. According to Forbes, he passed the $1billion mark when he earned $10 million for winning the FedEx Cup last week. It might be a mistake to put too much emphasis on the Forbes calculation since a huge chunk of Woods' earnings come from endorsement deals where financial terms are not disclosed. His career earnings on the PGA Tour are now up to $92,862,539, to be exact.

But his golf earnings represent a tiny part of his income. In 2008 alone, Woods earned an estimated $110 million, with just $5.775 million coming from the PGA Tour. Given that he only played six events that year, his earnings per event came to a mind-blowing $18.3 million including endorsements.

In addition to his deal with Nike, Woods has earned millions from contracts with companies including Titleist, General Mills, American Express, Accenture, Electronic Arts, and until recently, General Motors.

It will be interesting to see how well Woods' income stream lines up after he retires. Michael Jordan hasn't played in the NBA since 2003, but he still earns about $45 million per year -- mostly from Nike and far more than the highest paid athletes in baseball, basketball, or football earn as players.

The whole world is feeling IT!! Unemployment!!

And this is why my Blood is Boiling..I tell you I am hotter than Fish grease!!

Ten views of unemployment around the world
The United States is not alone. We just saw the unemployment rate creep higher to 9.8% for September, and the rest of the world is coming with us.

The worldwide recession is still circling the globe, it seems, leaving slashed jobs in its wake. While the rise in unemployment is essentially a fact of life, how countries are responding to it differs widely. Some are spending aggressively to protect jobs; for example, by chipping in some extra cash to pay for shorter work weeks.

In the 30 countries comprising the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), unemployment is as low as 3.2% in the Netherlands and as high as 17.6% in Spain, as of July 2009.

For the 16 countries in Europe using the euro, unemployment has reached 9.6%, slightly below the September level in the United States. For the OECD as a whole, unemployment is expected to hit 10% in the second half of next year, which will translate to 57 million people without jobs.

Developing economies have been hit hard as well. The jobless rate in Mexico reached its highest level in 13 years, though the situation has eased slightly in Brazil. South Africa is experiencing its worst recession in 17 years, with 25% of the population out of work.

How are different countries handling this? Take a look:

1. Germany
Unemployment is up to 7.7%, as of July, from 7.3% in 2008 (annualized). But, it's down from 8.4% in 2007. Government subsidies have been used to support shorter work weeks as a way to prevent mass layoffs.

2. France
French unemployment reached 9.2% in July, up sharply 7.8% for all of 2008, but it could reach 10% by the end of this year. The government has used measures from selective payroll tax exemptions to short-work arrangements to keep the effects of high unemployment at bay.

3. Britain
The country's unemployment rate has reached a high of 7.9%, an almost 13-year high. By next year, the total number of people out of work is expected to pass 3 million. Fortunately, new job losses are down from the highs seen last spring.

4. Spain
Over the past decade, Spain created a third of all new euro-zone jobs. Now, it has the OECD's highest rate of unemployment.

5. Ireland
Unemployment jumped from 6% last year (and 4.7% in 2007) to 13.3% by July 2009.

6. Japan
Unemployment fell to 5.5% in August from 5.7% in July -- the highest rate since the post-World War II era. But, the number of people without jobs gained 32.7% (to 3.61 million) from a year earlier. Temporary work arrangements have increased substantially, now accounting for roughly a third of the workforce in Japan, which is the world's second largest economy.

7. China
The official urban rate of unemployment hit 4.3% for the second quarter of 2009, but this doesn't include millions of migrant workers and employees furloughed by state companies (but not counted as layoffs). In a workforce of 210 million for the country's urban centers, 9 million were registered as unemployed. The number of migrant workers who lost their jobs could be as high as 30 million, but there's no official tally.

8. India
With 95% of the workforce in the "informal" sector, it's hard to get a sense of the recession's impact on the Indian job market. An official employment survey is conducted only once every five years.

9. Mexico
The country sustained an unemployment rate increase of 6.28% in August -- the highest in more than 13 years. Now, 45 million workers are estimated to be out of jobs, up 4.2% year-over-year. The government is planning reforms to lower costs for investors in public works projects and to cut a bit of the red tape. Also, it is now paying a third of the salaries of auto industry workers as a way to reduce plant layoffs.

10. South Africa
At 23.6% for the second quarter of 2009, the unemployment rate is already sky-high, and that's up from 23.1% from the same period in 2008. This is the country's worst recession since 1992. The rest of the African continent has fared better, though shrinking demand elsewhere in the world is having an effect. Of course, I doubt Somalia's feeling the pinch the way the rest of the world is.

Some Mo' Shit!!Now This is WHAT makes my blood boil!!

With the economy the way it is....This is totally unacceptable! I tell you it has my blood surging through my veins to know this!! Our tax money went to bail out Freddie Mac and this is how they show their appreciation? This is some BULLSHIT!!


New Freddie Mac CEO hits the compensation jackpot


Freddie Mac has a new CEO and his name is Ross Kari. Can you guess his compensation? Is it reasonable in light of the fact that Freddie Mac is controlled by the government?

In these days when we have 5.4 million people who have been on unemployment for at least six months, Kari's compensation is $5.5 million, which includes $2 million as a signing on bonus and a generous salary of $2.3 million.

Freddie Mac was bailed out by the government to the tune of $51 billion and more bailout money may be needed. Outside pay experts are outraged. Paul Hodgson of The Corporate Library said: "We are in a period when this shouldn't be acceptable. ... Even if pay is competitive to the market, that doesn't make it OK today."

Kari comes from Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB). His compensation there was $580,000 and he received a $100,000 signing bonus. Fifth Third received $3.4 billion in TARP money, so it was not 100% pure and clean of mismanagement.

Do you believe that Kari's compensation is over the top in this economy?

Friday, October 2, 2009

OUR HEARTS AND PRAYERS GOES OUT TO KANDI BURRUSS DURING THIS AWFUL TIME...


Atlanta Housewife's Fiance Stabbed, Killed In Strip Club

ATLANTA -- Kandi Burruss, the newest cast member of the hit reality show, “The Real Housewives of Atlanta,” is coping with the tragic death of her fiance, A.J., who has been featured regularly on the show.

Burruss' publicist, Lisa Nelson, confirmed to WSBTV.com reporter Brian Johnson that the incident has left the Atlanta housewife stunned and speechless. Nelson, who represented Burruss during the taping of the show, told Johnson that the family is asking for privacy during this very difficult time.

Burruss, an award-winning singer-songwriter and former member of the ’90s R&B group Xscape, has had numerous disagreements with her mother on the show over her relationship with A.J.

Atlanta police told Channel 2 Action News that A.J. received a severe head injury from a fight at The Body Tap Club in the 1200 block of Marietta Blvd. in Atlanta.

Police didn't have a motive for the altercation, but the investigation is still under way.

THERE'S ENTIRELY TOO MUCH GOING ON IN THE WORLD TODAY AND A LOT OF IT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE. WE WOULD LIKE TO THINK THAT OUR FAMILY MEMBERS ARE UNTOUCHABLE FROM THE EVILS OF THE WORLD BUT THAT IS FAR FROM THE CASE..STAY PRAYED UP PEOPLE AND ASK GOD TO COVER YOUR FAMILY MEMBERS WITH THE BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST!!!