Debt Reduction- Advice On Credit Card Debt Reduction, Debt Reduction Services, And Debt Reduction Plans

Christopher A asked:


Have a friend that is in a bit of credit card debt. She doesnt want to do banruptcy or charge offs, as it will affect her credit score. My question is, if she negotiates a bill, say currently 20k, and the CC company settles for 10k, will that show up on her credit report as something negitive.

Thanks for your time.

Suanne Morgenroth

Lady asked:


John McCain: Why vote for someone who has been documented several times saying he plans on starting “other” wars?
* In 2003, McCain said that ethanol “does nothing to reduce fuel consumption, nothing to increase our energy independence, nothing to improve air quality.” he described ethanol as a “vital alternative energy source, not only because of our dependency on foreign oil but its greenhouse reduction effects.” Yesterday, in Massachusetts, he reverted to his anti-ethanol position.

The majority of McCain’s “experience” is in war, and oil. He likes the label of “Maverick”, A maverick is somebody that bucks tradition and principles held by a majority of people. He’s in this for himself (not the american people like he says)

*Are people voting FOR John McCain? Or AGAINST Barack Obama?

*Are people voting FOR John McCain? Or for Sarah Palin?

Sarah Palin: Why vote for someone who has almost as little experience as Obama (this seems to be a key reason for not voting Obama) when he has the experience of Joe Biden with him?

Why vote for a woman who has a teenage daughter that is pregnant (not a big deal), but she slashed funding for teenage mothers. The mother a beautiful baby boy that has down syndrome, she also slashed funding for children with special needs!

She left little Wasilla $20 million dollars in debt. If she can do this to little Wasilla as MAYOR, what do you think she is going to do as Vice President of our country already in debt?

I’m not looking for arguements, but what is appealing about these things? Obama may raise my taxes, but they’re for GOOD change, not for nuclear power plants and wars. Cindy McCain wore an outfit on the first night of the RNC that cost $300,000 dollars, how much more in touch with the American people could you be, Cindy? Obama smoked pot, and inhailed! Didn’t most people when they were younger? Obama lacks experience, does he not have the help from a VP that has over 37 years of experience?

We could go round and round, but what is appealing about McCain/Palin??

http://thinkprogress.org/palin-digest/

http://www.ontheissues.org/International/John_McCain_Energy_+_Oil.htm

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_020408/content/01125110.guest.html.guest.html

Everything said here, is in the sources smart ones. Watch the youtube video, McCain says himself he will start “other” wars and will ask all young americans to serve.

Marianne Shimanuki

tybalt asked:


Are we there again?

Vicente Lawerence

chaos3000 asked:


Crowding out occurs when:

A. The public debt drives up real interest rates, leading to a reduction in investment spending and a lower future capital stock
B. Investment spending drives up interest rates, discouraging government borrowing
C. An increase in the tax rate leads to lower tax revenue
D. An increase in taxes reduces the incentive to work and lowers real GDP

Genevive Marlin

desirayisabelle asked:


The following is an excerpt from Lucent Technologies’ Management?
Executive Summary
We design and deliver the systems, software
and services that drive next-generation communications
networks. Backed by Bell Labs
research and development, we use our
strengths in mobility, optical, access, data and
voice networking technologies, as well as
services, to create new revenue-generating
opportunities for our customers, while
enabling them to quickly deploy and better
manage their networks. Our customer base
includes communications service providers,
governments and enterprises worldwide.
We have three segments organized
around the products and services we sell.
The reportable segments are Integrated Network
Solutions (“INS”), Mobility Solutions
(“Mobility”) and Lucent Worldwide Services
(“Services”). INS provides a broad range
of software and wireline equipment related
to voice networking (primarily consisting
of switching products, which we sometimes
refer to as convergence solutions, and voice
messaging products), data and network
management (primarily consisting of access
and related data networking equipment
and operating support software) and optical
networking. Mobility provides software and
wireless equipment to support radio access
and core networks. Services provides deployment,
maintenance, professional and managed
services in support of both our product
offerings as well as multi-vendor networks.
Beginning in fiscal 2001, the global
telecommunications market deteriorated,
resulting from a decrease in the competitive
local exchange carrier market and a significant
reduction in capital spending by established
service providers.This trend intensified
during fiscal 2002 and continued into fiscal
2003. Reasons for the market deterioration
included general economic slowdown, network
overcapacity, customer bankruptcies,
network build-out delays and limited availability
of capital.
We believe that the market for telecommunications
equipment has stabilized
and is starting to grow in certain areas. The
growing demands of enterprises and consumers
for additional services tailored to
their needs is creating the need for a new
convergence of networks, technologies and
applications.
Required
1. Using the Consolidated Balance
Sheets for Lucent Technologies for
September 30, 2004 and 2003, prepare
a common-size balance sheet.
2. Evaluate the asset, debt, and equity
structure of Lucent Technologies, as
well as trends and changes found on
the common-size balance sheet.
3. What concerns would investors and
creditors have based on only this
information?
4. What additional financial and nonfinancial
information would investors
and creditors need to make investing
and lending decisions for Lucent
Technologies?

LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES
CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
(in Millions, Except per Share Amounts)
September 30, September 30,
2004 2003
Assets
Cash and cash equivalents $ 3,379 $ 3,821
Marketable securities 858 686
Receivables 1,359 1,511
Inventories 822 632
Other current assets 1,813 1,213
Total current assets 8,231 7,863
Marketable securities 636 —
Property, plant, and equipment, net 1,376 1,593
Prepaid pension costs 5,358 4,659
Goodwill and other acquired intangibles, net 434 188
Other assets 928 1,608
Total assets $ 16,963 $ 15,911
Liabilities
Accounts payable $ 872 $ 1,072
Payroll and benefit-related liabilities 1,232 1,080
Debt maturing within one year 1 389
Other current liabilities 2,361 2,393
Total current liabilities 4,466 4,934
Postretirement and postemployment benefit liabilities 4,881 4,669
Pension liabilities 1,874 2,494
Long-term debt 4,837 4,439
Liability to subsidiary trust issuing preferred securities 1,152 1,152
Other liabilities 1,132 1,594
Total liabilities 18,342 19,282
Commitments and contingencies
8.00% redeemable convertible preferred stock — 868
Shareowners’ Deficit
Preferred stock—par value $1.00 per share; authorized shares:
250; issued and outstanding: none — —
Common stock—par value $.01 per share;Authorized shares:
10,000; 4,396 issued and 4,395 outstanding shares as of
September 30, 2004,and 4,170 issued and 4,169
outstanding shares as of September 30, 2003 44 42
Additional paid-in capital 23,005 22,252
Accumulated deficit (20,793) (22,795)
Accumulated other comprehensive loss (3,635) (3,738)
Total shareowners’ deficit (1,379) (4,239)
Total liabilities, redeemable convertible preferred stock
and shareowners’ deficit $ 16,963 $ 15911
I need the following questions answered from the summary.
2. Evaluate the asset, debt, and equity
structure of Lucent Technologies, as
well as trends and changes found on
the common-size balance sheet.
3. What concerns would investors and
creditors have based on only this
information?
4. What additional financial and nonfinancial
information would investors
and creditors need to make investing
and lending decisions for Lucent
Technologies?
I need the following questions answered from the summary.
2. Evaluate the asset, debt, and equity
structure of Lucent Technologies, as
well as trends and changes found on
the common-size balance sheet.
3. What concerns would investors and
creditors have based on only this
information?
4. What additional financial and nonfinancial
information would investors
and creditors need to make investing
and lending decisions for Lucent
Technologies?

Ima Hardister

kdjfqoeiw asked:


The following is an excerpt from Lucent
Technologies’ Management’s Discussion and
Analysis of Financial Condition and Results
of Operations:
Executive Summary
We design and deliver the systems, software
and services that drive next-generation communications
networks. Backed by Bell Labs
research and development, we use our
strengths in mobility, optical, access, data and
voice networking technologies, as well as
services, to create new revenue-generating
opportunities for our customers, while
enabling them to quickly deploy and better
manage their networks. Our customer base
includes communications service providers,
governments and enterprises worldwide.
We have three segments organized
around the products and services we sell.
The reportable segments are Integrated Network
Solutions (“INS”), Mobility Solutions
(“Mobility”) and Lucent Worldwide Services
(“Services”). INS provides a broad range
of software and wireline equipment related
to voice networking (primarily consisting
of switching products, which we sometimes
refer to as convergence solutions, and voice
messaging products), data and network
management (primarily consisting of access
and related data networking equipment
and operating support software) and optical
networking. Mobility provides software and
wireless equipment to support radio access
and core networks. Services provides deployment,
maintenance, professional and managed
services in support of both our product
offerings as well as multi-vendor networks.
Beginning in fiscal 2001, the global
telecommunications market deteriorated,
resulting from a decrease in the competitive
local exchange carrier market and a significant
reduction in capital spending by established
service providers.This trend intensified
during fiscal 2002 and continued into fiscal
2003. Reasons for the market deterioration
included general economic slowdown, network
overcapacity, customer bankruptcies,
network build-out delays and limited availability
of capital.
We believe that the market for telecommunications
equipment has stabilized
and is starting to grow in certain areas. The
growing demands of enterprises and consumers
for additional services tailored to
their needs is creating the need for a new
convergence of networks, technologies and
applications.
Required
1. Using the Consolidated Balance
Sheets for Lucent Technologies for
September 30, 2004 and 2003, prepare
a common-size balance sheet.
2. Evaluate the asset, debt, and equity
structure of Lucent Technologies, as
well as trends and changes found on
the common-size balance sheet.
3. What concerns would investors and
creditors have based on only this
information?
4. What additional financial and nonfinancial
information would investors
and creditors need to make investing
and lending decisions for Lucent
Technologies?

Leonora Alonzo

gws35 asked:


http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/08/science/earth/08climate.html
Meeting on Climate Opens With Calls for Urgent Action

In the spirit of international cooperation, world leaders agree that urgent action is needed to curb pollution.

So I, for one, finally agree that we have no choice but to end free trade.

How can we possibly justify the unneccesary burning of fossil fuels and the resulting pollution from all those ships crossing the ocean to bring cheap imports to Walmart, when the same items could be made right here in the USA for only a few dollars more.

We can no longer sit silently as these huge vessels cross the ocean belching pollution and all those greenhouse gas emissions.

How much longer must we continue the insanity of free trade, while it is contributing to global pollution and consuming fossil fuels?

SECONDLY, bringing those jobs back to the USA would cut down on unemployment, which is another issue President Obama is addressing.

The time for complacency is over. We can no longer sit back and say there’s nothing we can do to end free trade. We can no longer idly stand by saying we care more about cheap prices at Walmart than we do about saving the environment. The time has come to limit imports, and cut the cord of dependency on foreign sweatshops to supply the household items we need for our daily existence.

THIRDLY, if we cut imports by applying a tariff, the tariff would generate desperately needed revenues that would reduce our ruinous deficit, while reducing the trillion dollar trade deficit that increases our debt and weakens our currency.

Deficit reduction is another one of the issues President Obama says we must address.

In fact, during the campaign Obama himself said we must reform free trade:

http://www.ontheissues.org/2008/Barack_Obama_Free_Trade.htm

OBAMA: For far too long, certainly during the course of the Bush administration with the support of Sen. McCain, the attitude has been that any trade agreement is a good trade agreement. And NAFTA did not have enforceable labor agreements and environmental agreements.

And what I said was we should include those and make them enforceable. In the same way that we should enforce rules against China manipulating its currency to make our exports more expensive and their exports to us cheaper.

And when it comes to South Korea, we’ve got a trade agreement up right now, they are sending hundreds of thousands of South Korean cars into the US. That’s all good. We can only get 4,000 to 5,000 into South Korea. That is not free trade. We’ve got to have a president who is going to advocate on behalf of American businesses and American workers and I make no apology for that

Source: 2008 third presidential debate against John McCain Oct 15, 2008

Global trade is unsustainable if it favors only the few
This is the moment when we must build on the wealth that open markets have created, and share its benefits more equitably. Trade has been a cornerstone of our growth and global development. But we will not be able to sustain this growth if it favors the few, and not the many. Together, we must forge trade that truly rewards the work that creates wealth, with meaningful protections for our people and our planet. This is the moment for trade that is free and fair for all.
Source: Speech in Berlin, in Change We Can Believe In, p.268 Jul 24, 2008

Isn’t it time, then, to make meaningful changes in our foreign trade policy, and start reducing our $2 trillion dollar a year habit of reliance on imports?
Shovel Ready, correct! We have relocated our manufacturing pollution to other countries, where the same manufacturing creates even more pollution because of their lax or non-exitent environmental protections, PLUS we create the extra pollution of shipping the products back to the USA.

So we cut down our pollution here and increased global pollution by two or three times as much.

How smart was that?
Terry, good point! Much of air travel is totally unnecessary business travel, and much of that is businessmen flying overseas to keep up with their outsourced production or to shop for a foreign sweatshop that makes the cheapest imports.

We could cut way down on air travel by curtailing imports.
Gee, I would think I would get a lot of answers from all those liberals who are so dedicated to saving the environment.

Where are they today?

Willow Jarvie

Printninja asked:


Whenever you ask Christians about things like disasters, the death of innocent people, temptation, etc, their response is, “God gave us free will.”

In other words, they are saying that what we do to ourselves, and this planet, is entirely up to us.

But at the same time, Christians also say that you can “pray” to god for things… resistance from temptation, recovery from illness, safety of a loved one in a disaster, and that sometimes (but not always) god will intervene.

So which is it? And how does it work? Is it how hard you pray? How often? How many pray together? Is it Luck? Chance? Your faith? Piousness?

For that matter… wouldn’t it then be in our best interest to start to pray for a reduction in global warming right now? How about the national debt? Iraq? Bush growing a brain? Why don’t the scientists all bow down and pray at mission control when the Space Shuttle approaches?

Should I pray to Taco Bell so my next burrito isn’t tainted?

Aurora Neufeld

Bells asked:


(A) Investment will rise until it is equal to saving.
(B) We will be uncertain as to the resulting change in investment.
(C) We can be certain that investment will rise.
(D) We can be certain that investment will fall.

2. The basic consideration that underlies the balanced-budget multiplier is that…
(A) Tax increases are subject to a larger multiplier effect than are increases in government expenditures.
(B) Many taxes (for example, payroll taxes) are legally linked to disbursement programs (for example, old age and survivors insurance).
(C) Declines in government spending invariable cause increases in private investment spending.
(D) Individuals and businesses reduce their expenditures by some amount less than any increase in their taxes.

3. If the MPS is .25 and the economy has a recessionary gap of $5 billion, then equilibrium GDP is…
(A) $5 billion below the full-employment GDP.
(B) $5 billion above the full-employment GDP.
(C) $20 billion below the full-employment GDP.
(D) $20 billion above the full-employment GDP.

4. Other things equal, which of the policies will have the most expansionary effect on the economy?
(A) A balanced budget.
(B) A budget surplus held as an idle money balance.
(C) A budget deficit financed by creating new money.
(D) A budget surplus used for debt retirement.

5. If the economy is encountering inflation, supply-side economists might recommend…
(A) That fiscal policy not be used.
(B) Wage and price controls.
(C) Tax reduction to increase the size of the full-employment GDP.
(D) A tax increase to reduce disposable income and consumption.

Sirena Waack

fa$hion_guru asked:


House and Senate negotiators reached a compromise late Wednesday on a bill that makes sweeping changes to the federal government’s college financial aid programs.

The bill cuts the interest rate students pay on subsidized Stafford loans by half over four years and increases the maximum Pell grant for needy students.

Under a new program, starting in 2009 borrowers won’t have to devote more than 15 percent of their discretionary income to student-loan repayments, although any unpaid amounts will be added to the loan balance in most cases.

The bill also establishes a tuition-assistance program for students who commit to teaching high-need subjects in low-income public schools and a loan-forgiveness program for other public-sector workers.

Congress intends to pay for these and other programs by cutting the subsidies it pays to private-sector lenders who make federally guaranteed Stafford and Plus loans by $20.9 billion over five years.

Lenders have said these cutbacks will force them to curb benefits they have been offering, such as waiving or discounting origination fees and reducing interest rates for borrowers who make on-time payments for three or four years. Very few borrowers qualify for the interest-rate cuts and they’re not offered to students at all schools.

The bill, HR2669, incorporates provisions of bills passed earlier by the House and Senate and has been renamed the College Cost Reduction and Access Act. The compromise bill now goes back to the House and Senate for approval and then to President Bush. While Bush has endorsed most aspects of the bill, his administration has opposed certain provisions, such as reducing Stafford loan rates.

Here’s a closer look at some provisions of the bill, sponsored by Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez, and Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.:

Stafford loan rates: The bill would reduce the interest rate on subsidized Stafford loans by half over four years. Subsidized loans go to students who demonstrate financial need.

The rate cut would be phased in starting July 1. It would go from 6.8 percent today to 3.4 percent by 2011. In 2012, it would jump back to 6.8 percent unless Congress intervenes.

The rate cut only applies only to new subsidized Stafford loans, not ones that students have already taken out. It does not apply to unsubsidized Stafford loans, which students can take out regardless of financial need.

Income-based repayment: Starting July 1, 2009, borrowers would not have to devote more than 15 percent of their discretionary income to repaying Stafford student loans. This applies to both subsidized and unsubsidized Stafford loans, regardless of when the loans were taken out.

If a borrower is making reduced payments on a subsidized loan, the government will pay the unpaid amount for up to three years. After that, the unpaid amount will be added to the loan balance.

For unsubsidized loans, all unpaid amounts will be added to the balance.

After 25 years, all borrowers who are in this income-based repayment program will have any remaining balances forgiven.

The new program means “you don’t have to hold back from taking a job teaching or being an entrepreneur” because you can’t repay your loans, says Robert Shireman, executive director of the Project on Student Debt.

Pell grants: The bill would increase the maximum Pell grant, which generally goes to families making less than $40,000 or $50,000 per year. The maximum Pell grant would increase by $1,090 over the next five years, reaching $5,400 by 2012. Unlike loans, Pell grants do not have to be repaid.

Teacher tuition assistance: Undergraduate and graduate students who commit to teaching certain subjects, such as science and math, in low-income public schools for at least four years can receive up to $4,000 per year – for a total of $16,000 – in tuition assistance. Students must maintain at least a 3.25 grade point average to be eligible for this program, which would start next year. If students don’t fulfill the teaching obligation, the assistance becomes a loan they must repay, according to Miller’s office.

Loan forgiveness: Borrowers who work in other public-sector jobs such as the military, law enforcement, firefighting, nursing, public defenders, librarians and early childhood teachers can have any balance on their student loans forgiven after 10 years of service and loan repayment. To take advantage of this program, borrowers must have direct student loans or consolidate their loans under the government’s direct-loan program. This program begins July 1.

Plus loan auction: In a controversial move that marks a big departure from current practice, starting in 2009 the government would auction the right to provide government-guaranteed Plus loans to parents. In each state, the two lenders that offer the best deal to the government would provide all parent Plus loans in that state.

Today, all qualified lenders can offer Plus loans and parents can choose any lender they wish. This change would not affect the interest rate parents pay on Plus loans, but it would limit their selection.

The auction process would not apply to Stafford loans nor to Plus loans offered to graduate students.

Net Worth runs Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. E-mail Kathleen Pender at kpender@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page C – 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle

Fransisca Milanese