Wigan's Roberto Martinez was being strongly tipped to take over at Liverpool after talks with the club's American owners Fenway Sports Group in Miami last week.
But there was still no word from Martinez as he arrived back in Manchester today following a family holiday in Barbados and Wigan chairman Dave Whelan has issued a deadline of Thursday for an agreement to be reached.
The story took a new twist today with Swansea boss Rodgers, who originally turned down the chance to speak to FSG, appearing firmly back in frame with online bookies Sky Bet. He is now 1/2 to be appointed Reds' manager with Martinez out to 2/1.
It now appears to be definitely a two-horse race with Borussia Dortmund manager Jurgen Klopp out to 12/1 after being as short as 2/1 early on Monday.
Football trader Joe Petyt explained: "When Martinez was photographed with FSG's John Henry in America he became the strong favourite but even during that time we saw sustained money for Rodgers.
"In the last 24 hours the amount of money we've seen on Rodgers has increased substantially which indicates to us that some people have heard that he's going to take the job."
10 Money Mistakes: Which Ones Did You Make? - CNBC
Two weeks ago, during Financial Literacy Month, USA Today ran an article suggesting my generation needs to get a clue about money.
Citing studies showing most young people have “poor financial literacy” and leading with the story of a 29-year-old who can’t budget, the article says, “Today’s twentysomethings hold an average debt of about $45,000, which includes everything from cars to credit cards to student loans to mortgages.”
At 26, I’ve accumulated $14,878 in student loans – not that bad compared to other students I’ve met, but not good considering I borrowed to get a graduate degree that I probably didn’t need. That’s my biggest blunder so far, but when it comes to money, older isn’t necessarily wiser.
CNN tallied up the national average consumer debt at the start of the year: $210,236. Even if you take mortgages out of the equation, it’s still more than $36,000. And according to an April poll hosted by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC), “When asked to describe the state of their personal financial situation, 80 percent of more than 1,400 respondents admitted their finances were in need of a major overhaul.”
How many of these mistakes have you made?
1. Paying Much, Earning LittleBad move: Paying 20 percent interest on a credit card while earning 1.25 percent on your savings.
Better move: After ensuring you’ve got an adequate cash cushion for emergencies, use low-earning savings to pay off high-interest debt. Exception: if there’s any chance you’ll lose your job, gather as much cash as possible.
2. Buying New When Used Would Do
Bad move: Shelling out $20,000 to $30,000 for a new car.
Better move: Avoid a monster depreciation hit by buying used. Cars are made better today than in years past, which makes buying them used less risky.
3. Passing up retirement plans
Bad move: Not participating in your employer’s 401(k) or other retirement plan at work, especially if they offer matching money. Not only are you failing to save for retirement, you’re missing potential tax deductions and something rare in the financial world: free money.
Better move: Sock all the money you can spare into a tax-advantaged retirement plan like a company 401(k) or an IRA. Take advantage of employer matching contributions and tax breaks.
4. Being the First on Your Block to Own the Latest Gadget
Bad move: Waiting in line, paying a premium, or worse yet, borrowing so you can own the latest tech bells and whistles.
Better move: Being first is an expensive pastime. Wait a few months and you can own a debugged version for less.
5. Paying Retail for Stuff You Rarely Use
Bad move: Spending big bucks on a ladder, lawnmower, snow blower, or other expensive hardware you’re going to use infrequently.
Better move: Borrow rarely used stuff from friends or family, rent it, or form a neighborhood co-op to share the expense, storage, and use among the people on your block. Going in on something with just one neighbor reduces both cost and clutter by 50 percent.
6. Paying Extra for Low Deductibles
Bad move: Paying a lot more for car, home, or sometimes health insurance because it includes a low deductible.
Better move: Self-insuring by raising your deductibles to as high as you can comfortably afford. Raise your car or home insurance from $250 to $1,000 and you can cut your premium by 15 to 30 percent.
7. Buying Books
Bad move: Paying $29 for a best-selling hardcover that isn’t as good as your friend said and that you found too boring to finish. Even if it’s great, how many times are you really going to read it?
Better move: Reading the copy you already paid for – it’s sitting on the shelves of your local library. And you might not even have to leave your desk to get it, because it could be available as a free download – see our article Thousands of E-books: Free.
8. Paying for Water
Bad move: Spending $1.50 for a plastic cylinder containing an abundant and freely available natural resource: water.
Better move: Buying an insulated water bottle and filling it yourself. Don’t trust your local water quality? Purchase a home water filter.
9. Buying into Brands
Bad move: Paying $8.50 for 100 name-brand tablets of acetaminophen.
Better move: Looking a few inches further down the same shelf and getting the 500-tablet bottle of the generic brand with the same exact ingredients for $11.99, thus saving 70 percent. Read "7 Things You Should Always Buy Generic" and stop contributing to some big company’s advertising budget.
10. Wasting Savings
Bad move: Saving $500 a year being a little more frugal, then wasting it on a $2 coffee every weekday morning.
Better move: Whenever you figure out a way to carve a few bucks out of the budget, increase your savings by a like amount. Otherwise, you’re likely to fritter it away elsewhere – the financial equivalent of running in place.
What bonehead money moves have you made or seen others make? Add to our list by posting on our Facebook page!
-Brandon Ballenger is a writer for Money Talks News, a consumer/personal finance TV news feature that airs in about 80 cities as well as around the Web. This column first appeared in Money Talks News.
China Drowning in Money: What It Means for the U.S. - The Heritage Foundation
Global financial markets are keenly interested in China’s short-term economic direction and policy choices. American policy should look farther. If China chooses to try to stimulate its economy in the second half of the year, even if successful, it will only exacerbate a more pressing long-term challenge.
This challenge in part takes the form of too much money. While attention is focused on when the People’s Republic of China (PRC) might catch the U.S. in terms of GDP, it has already passed the U.S. on some measures of its monetary base. Such high liquidity typically precedes periods of stagnation or even outright economic contraction. It is one of the surer reasons for anticipating that China’s true economic growth might slow sharply, a possibility that has clear implications for American policy.
Moreover, excess Chinese liquidity has already had an impact in the U.S. The two economies are linked by Beijing’s chosen balance-of-payments rules, which tie the yuan to the dollar and compel the PRC to hold excess reserves in American bonds. The U.S. has its own money supply management challenges, and communication between the two countries’ monetary authorities will be valuable.
Not for All the Money in China
There are many different ways to measure the supply of money. There are also pronounced differences in national monetary systems, which cause natural differences among economies. For a large economy, the PRC is immature financially, so that more capital stays within the banking system. This is a well-recognized long-term problem.[1]
One manifestation of the problem is a comparatively high ratio of broad money M2 (currency in circulation plus demand and time deposits) to GDP. China is well above the global average on this measure, while a somewhat similar economy in Brazil is well below. Nearly all of the countries that have higher M2/GDP ratios than China are in Europe, which, in light of recent developments, is not reassuring.[2]
More importantly, the ratio for the PRC is not only high but has been rising steadily. Since the financial crisis, a number of countries have rising liquidity, including the U.S. However, those countries with both high and clearly rising liquidity (Spain, for example) are a small and unhealthy bunch. This is not good company for China to be keeping.
The U.S. is only one point of comparison, but it is an instructive one. In 1998, China’s M2 was 70 percent smaller than America’s. In 2011, it was 40 percent larger. While Chinese GDP expanded greatly in that period, it was still only half of American GDP at the end of last year. Yet the PRC had $3.8 trillion more in broad money supply sloshing around.
Measurements of leveraging show roughly similar problems. China’s dependence on bank loans for financing intensified with the lending explosion in 2009. In 1998, loan volume was 102 percent of GDP. By 2008, it had only inched higher to 106 percent of GDP. Just three years later, though, it had jumped to 123 percent of GDP. More comprehensive measures of credit show still higher figures and steeper climbs.[3]
What Happens Next?
There is plenty of discussion at present about short-term weakness in the Chinese economy and whether additional stimulus is the right response. The longer term is clear: On its present policy path, the effective stimulus Beijing can apply through monetary policy will continue to decline.
At the high levels of liquidity that have now been reached, further leveraging has and will continue to become increasingly ineffective. More and more money must be employed to get the same results. Barring a major policy misstep, there is no true crisis imminent. However, a crisis must loom as a possibility at some point.
This leaves Beijing with unpleasant choices. More monetary stimulus will have only a limited impact now at the cost of digging deeper into a hole that China must eventually climb out of. Whether or not further short-term stimulus is chosen, the PRC must eventually de-leverage to some extent. This will exert downward pressure on growth for some time. After years where growth has been inflated by a flood of new money, this signifies instability, and the Communist Party does not like instability.
How liquidity is drained, however, could matter a great deal. Broad money should at least stabilize relative to GDP, and total credit should slow relative to GDP. It would be greatly preferable if, at the same time, bank lending were to become less important. This could occur with financial reform. The PRC should have more commercialized banks that are more circumspect about lending under the wrong conditions. It should have more financial options so that banking is less important relative to bonds, stocks, futures, and other financial outlets.
Financial reform is not only painful; it takes time. Interest rate liberalization, de-control of financial markets (with attendant risk), and partial privatization in banking cannot be done overnight. Beijing has a bit of time, since there is no impending crisis, but genuine reform should start as soon as possible. If it begins quickly, the payoff from reform can more than offset the discomfort from the inevitable deleveraging. The PRC’s financial system can shift from a source of instability to a source of efficiency.
American Involvement
Like it or not, the U.S. is already involved in the Chinese liquidity problem. Some portion of excess Chinese liquidity inevitably spills into the U.S.—and more than anywhere else, because the yuan is tied to the dollar. Most famously, this was part of the feedback loop that contributed to the recent financial crisis. It has continued since, with Chinese money entering the U.S. in various ways.[4]
But, as it was before the financial crisis, Chinese liquidity overflow into the U.S. remains only part of the loop. Though American money supply is now smaller, the U.S. economy is still much bigger, and the dollar is the world’s reserve currency. Extra American liquidity, whether due to low interest rates in the middle of the last decade or quantitative easing more recently, spills over onto the rest of the globe.
When it finally becomes willing to deal with its own monetary problems, Beijing will therefore cast a nervous eye to the Federal Reserve. To a lesser extent, the Fed should do the same with regard to the People’s Bank. The U.S. should:
- Continue and enhance information exchange with China on monetary policy. Countries make their own monetary choices, but transparent and timely communication helps make for better policy.
- Plan for notable economic change in the PRC in the medium term. Beijing could adopt financial reform and become much more efficient, or it might refuse and see true growth slow considerably.
- Intensify bilateral and Asian regional trade and investment liberalization, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, to help protect friends and allies against a possible Chinese slump.
Tightening the Taps Together?
China and the U.S. face the same long-term challenge to unwind money growth. The two challenges are connected, though the PRC’s is clearly more daunting. China must act or lose monetary policy as a tool, and American policymakers should be aware of the stakes.
Derek Scissors, PhD, is Senior Research Fellow in Asia Economic Policy in the Asian Studies Center at The Heritage Foundation.
MONEY MARKETS-Spanish bank CDS falls, relief seen temporary - Reuters
LONDON |
LONDON May 29 (Reuters) - Spanish efforts to recapitalise Bankia, its fourth biggest lender, have eased pressure on the cost of insuring Spanish bank debt against default - but not for long because the move is seen as further undermining the country's precarious finances.
The fate of Spain and its banking system is increasingly intertwined as markets worry that any bank rescue will further drive up national borrowing costs in a vicious cycle.
The cost of insuring debt issued by Santander and BBVA fell on Tuesday, having risen in the beginning of May when risk sentiment was also hurt by an anti-austerity vote in the Greek elections.
But analysts expect the fall in the cost of insuring Spanish bank debt against default to be short-lived and that spreads will realign with those on sovereign bonds on concerns that Bankia could be just the start of a rolling rescue of an over leveraged banking system.
Bankia's parent company BFA has asked for 19 billion euros in government help, in addition to 4.5 billion the state has already pumped in to cover possible losses on repossessed property, loans and investments.
Analysts worry that Spain could eventually be forced to seek an international bailout with unforeseeable consequences for the euro zone and financial markets.
A government source told Reuters on Tuesday Spain will recapitalise the nationalised lender by issuing new debt, not by injecting bonds, and will likely adopt on Friday a new mechanism to back its regions' debt.
"I guess a couple of weeks ago we didn't have news about this bailout. I am surprised that people have taken it that optimistically. I guess having something injected is better than nothing," Michael Hampden-Turner, credit strategist at Citigroup said.
"We are likely to see quite a lot of volatility in the bank CDS premium as the summer goes on. We see some volatility but I think it's probably a temporary thing. I think it's likely to realign (with sovereign CDS prices)."
The cost of insuring debt issued by Santander against default fell 11 basis points on the day to 401 bps, while the BBVA equivalent shed 10 bps to 441 bps, according to Markit data.
Five-year Spanish sovereign CDS meanwhile flirted with a record high of 560 bps, trading at 556 bps - little changed on the day and up from 508 bps in late April. Ten-year Spanish government bond yields also remained above 6 percent danger levels and not far from 7 percent - a level where Portugal and Ireland had to start considering bailouts.
"It seems like (increasingly) the credit risk is being transferred over to the sovereign fundamentally, that's why we have seen Spain hovering near its record wide," Markit analyst Gavan Nolan said.
On bank CDS prices, he said: "They had widened out a lot in the previous few weeks. Mainly I think it's a bit of a pull-back from that."
The trouble for Spanish banks could worsen if clearing house LCH.Clearnet SA further increases the cost of using Spanish bonds to raise funds via its repo service.
Earlier this month the clearer raised the initial margin on two- to 30-year Spanish debt, with the largest move in the 10- to 15- year maturity sector.
"Imposition of higher initial margin charges from LCH on Spanish government repo is almost an inevitability now. This may further depress liquidity in both the underlying government bond market and term repo market for Spain," Don Smith, economist at ICAP said.
For those with more money than taste... the £125,000 diamond encrusted gold coins on sale to celebrate Queen's jubilee - Daily Mail
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Forget commemorative mugs or tea towels, there's now a much more elaborate souvenir on sale to mark the Queen's diamond jubilee.
But with a price tag of 125,000, you'll need more money than taste in order to afford it.
The East India Company has released 60 minted gold coins, one for each year of Queen Elizabeth II's reign, encrusted with diamonds to celebrate the royal milestone.
Despite the hefty price tag, the company has revealed that it has had 'brisk and determined interest' from monarchist collectors and investors from across the globe.
Diamond Queen: The East India Company have released 60 of these gold coins encrusted with diamonds to mark the jubilee
The gold coins weigh a kilo and feature the head of the Queen wearing a diamond tiara, necklace and brooch with the words 'Elizabeth Regina, Diamond Jubilee 1952-2012' around the outside.
They have also released 60 silver coins of the same design and weight but at a 'cheaper' price of 25,000.
Each kilo struck by The Royal Mint represents over 1,000 hours of craftsmanship - and the company has received particularly high interest in the coins from international buyers.
As a result, the company is now scheduling private viewings in Monaco, Moscow, Geneva, Hong Kong, the Middle East and India.
The East India Company, which has a flagship store in Mayfair, has long-standing links to the British monarchy.
Expensive souvenir: Diamonds are encrusted in the tiara, necklace and brooch of the Queen's image raising the price of the one kilo gold coin to 125,000
Queen Elizabeth I founded the East India Company in 1600 by Royal Charter.
In the 19th century, the company set jewels in a tiara for Britain's other diamond Queen, Queen Victoria, when she was crowned Empress of India.
Sanjiv Mehta, CEO of East India Company said: 'The company was instrumental in building the British Empire with its legacy still visible today in what we know as the Commonwealth Nations.
'We chose to commission the Royal Mint, another quintessential British brand who first minted coins for us over 200 years ago, with this unique project to create a timeless tribute that reflects the grand achievement it celebrates.'
Commemorative: Sixty silver coins have also been made and are on sale for 25,000
Given the expensive nature of the purchase, buyers get more for their money than just the coin.
It is presented on royal purple velvet in a bespoke presentation case, designed by British company Linley.
A diamond-magnifying loupe is hidden in the base compartment of the presentation case, which enables owners to get a close-up view of the encrusted diamonds.
The purchase also includes a book which tells the story of the Queen Elizabeth II's 60-year reign.
Money from California's 9/11 plates not going to victims' kids - San Jose Mercury News
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- After the 2001 terrorist attacks, California lawmakers sought a way to channel the patriotic fervor and use it to help victims' families and law enforcement. Their answer: specialty memorial license plates emblazoned with the words, "We Will Never Forget."
Part of the money raised through the sale of the plates was to fund scholarships for the children of California residents who perished in the attacks, while the majority -- 85 percent -- was to help fund anti-terrorism efforts.
But an Associated Press review of the $15 million collected since lawmakers approved the "California Memorial Scholarship Program" shows only a small fraction of the money went to scholarships. While 40 percent has funded anti-terror training programs, $3 million was raided by Gov. Jerry Brown and his predecessor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, to plug the state's budget deficit.
Millions more have been spent on budget items with little relation to direct threats of terrorism, including livestock diseases and workplace safety.
Moreover, the California Department of Motor Vehicles has been advertising the plates as helping the children of Sept. 11 victims even though the state stopped funding the scholarship program seven years ago. The specialty plate fund continues to take in $1.5 million a year.
Californians who lost loved ones in the attacks take the raid on the license plate fund as an affront to the memory of those who died.
"I can't believe that they would do that," said Candice Hoglan, who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and bought a plate to commemorate her nephew, Mark Bingham. "We're paying extra for the plate; we're making a point, and it means a lot to us."
Bingham was killed on United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed in Pennsylvania, and was one of the passengers who led the attempt to wrest control from the hijackers. His mother, Alice Hoagland, also was troubled by the program's apparent drift from its original purpose.
"I'm sorry that as we retreat in time from 9/11, we seem to be retreating in our resolve never to forget," she said in a telephone interview.
The plates, which cost an initial $50 plus a $40 annual renewal fee, feature an American flag partially obscured by clouds and the "never forget" slogan. Residents of California, where all four jetliners were bound when they were hijacked, have bought or renewed the plates more than 200,000 times since 2002.
Of the other states directly associated with the 2001 attacks, only Virginia has established a similar specialty plate program. Yet it did not set up a special fund for the proceeds of its "Fight Terrorism" plate.
For the past decade, the California DMV has said on its website that the money will "fund scholarships for the children of Californians who died in the September 11, 2001, terror attacks and helps California's law enforcement fight threats of terrorism." It advertises the program with the slogan, "Be a patriot."
While the DMV description of the program was not "totally disingenuous," the department should probably remove references to the scholarship program, said Joe DeAnda, a spokesman for the state treasurer's office, which disburses the money.
"It's out of date and it's on DMV to update that," he said.
Late Friday, the department modified the description of the license plate on its website to remove the reference to the scholarship program in response to the investigation by the AP, which began in March. Spokeswoman Jan Mendoza said the reason promotional materials were not updated sooner was "unknown."
The DMV still lists the scholarship program on the online and hardcopy form drivers fill out to buy the license plates, but Mendoza said the department will change this next time the forms are printed.
The legislation establishing the plates had earmarked 15 percent of the revenue for scholarships. Yet only $21,381 has reached the children and spouses of the three dozen California residents killed during the terrorist attacks. The state treasurer's office closed the scholarship program in 2005, the sign-up deadline for potential recipients, and has $60,000 in reserve.
The total amount dedicated to scholarships was 1.5 percent of the $5.5 million raised through the sale of the plates through 2005.
The original legislation said the remainder of the money would go to "law enforcement, fire protection, and public health agencies" to be used "exclusively for purposes directly related to fighting terrorism."
But in 2008, former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, borrowed $2 million to close a budget gap. Last year, Brown, a Democrat, borrowed another $1 million.
Neither loan has been repaid nor are their deadlines to ensure they will be. Elizabeth Ashford, a spokeswoman for Brown, said the loans have done no harm.
"We're trying to simultaneously balance the budget and fund important programs," she said. "If there was an indication that borrowing this money was going to negatively impact this program, we wouldn't borrow the money."
The rest of the money has gone to a wide array of budgets and programs.
The Legislature sent $3.7 million to the California Department of Food and Agriculture, according to the Department of Finance, to establish an online food monitoring database and implement a variety of worker safety programs, including hiring industrial hygienists to tend to worker health.
But it is difficult to say precisely where the money has gone. Late Friday, the agriculture department delivered documents it said were in response to a California Public Records Act request the AP filed eight weeks earlier.
The response contained itemized budget reports going back six years and listing payments for all types of government functions, ranging from salaries and benefits, to printing costs and communication equipment. Among the details: $18,163 for furniture in 2006 and $11,492 for auto inspection in 2009.
The response also included a legislative report on the threats the agriculture department is targeting with an online database the license plate program helps fund . A similar report from 2006, when the license plate money was first authorized, lists bioterrorism as a potential danger. But the 2011 report focuses on food safety and livestock concerns, including foot-and-mouth disease and meat and poultry monitoring.
Director of Animal Health and Food Safety Services Annette Whiteford said the department does not track license plate money separately from other funds.
She said it would be wasteful to reserve the money exclusively for anti-terrorism work. For example, the department uses some of the money to buy safety suits that would be essential during an anthrax attack but also are useful for routine food investigations.
"The things that I worry about in the animal food safety division are very high consequence events, but very infrequent. So I always try to leverage those resources," she said.
Another $2 million has gone to programs that aim to protect Californians from all manner of potential threats, not just those related to terrorism.
The California Emergency Management Agency used nearly $1 million in memorial license plate money for general operations, including administrative costs, buying and fueling cars, and hiring a person from 2007 to 2009 to coordinate five so-called "fusion centers," according to documents obtained through a Public Records Act request.
The other $1 million went directly to the fusion centers, which were founded after the 2001 attacks to focus on terrorist threats but have since switched to an "all crimes" approach that includes gang activity and natural disasters.
Herb Wesson, who wrote the license plate bill when he was speaker of the California Assembly, said he was saddened to hear how the money had been spent.
"I understand the financial climate they find themselves in, but they are not following the spirit and intent of the legislation," said Wesson, now president of the Los Angeles City Council. "The lion's share of the money was supposed to be given to local law enforcement so that they could beef up their anti-terrorism operations."
About 40 percent of the total raised to date, or $6 million, has gone to anti-terrorism training programs for firefighters and law enforcement officers. There is a slight discrepancy between the DMV's revenue figures and the Department of Finance's expenditure figures that neither agency could explain.
Patricia Anderson, who paid $98 for a personalized memorial plate reading "WE R 4US," said she signed up for the program primarily to show respect for victims of the 9/11 attacks. Anderson said she was disheartened but not surprised to learn that much of the money has gone to fill the state deficit or used for general purposes.
"That's California," said Anderson, who now lives near Austin, Texas. "It's kind of a given these days -- nothing is spent on what it's supposed to be."
Finance Ministry, Bank Indonesia Not Dismayed by Recent Economic Slump - thejakartaglobe.com
The Finance Ministry and Bank Indonesia are optimistic that the recent slump in the financial markets will be just temporary, given that the country’s economy is in solid condition.
Investors scared off by events in Indonesia and abroad on Friday led the country’s benchmark stock index to its biggest single-day fall in almost seven months.
The rupiah also weakened overseas as investors reduced their holdings in Indonesian assets amid concern that the government’s regulatory framework would deter foreign investment. There were also fears that Greece’s withdrawal from the euro zone would siphon money from emerging markets.
Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo said he was optimistic that the nation’s economic growth was to remain strong, referring to the recent report issued by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
He said robust investment and a pick up in investment would be the key drivers in the domestic economy.
The Paris-based organization said in a report on May 22 that Indonesia’s economy “has continued to grow at a rapid pace, despite signs of slowing elsewhere in Asia and its impact on regional trade.”
The OECD predicted Indonesia’s economy will expand 5.8 percent this year and 6 percent next.
Hartadi Sarwono, a deputy governor at the central bank, acknowledged there had been a reallocation of assets from emerging market assets into safe-haven assets.
He also denied talk that Bank Indonesia would impose tight controls in foreign exchange, replacing the nation’s current free-floating foreign exchange system, which ensures the free movement of capital in and out of the country.
Investor Daily
Although some of the comments may seem a little negative, lets face it the Queen's achievment of being on the throne for 60 years is commendable. So why not have something like this to celebrate the jubilee, it goes without saying that this is certainly a once in a life time occasion.
- Geoff Wall-Davis, Longbridge, Birmingham, England., 29/5/2012 19:28
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