Millions of pensioners gripped by fuel poverty
Posted on January 23rd, 2012
A growing number of UK pensioners are falling into fuel poverty as a result of high gas and electricity prices, according to a new study from Age UK.
An ICM survey conducted on behalf of the charity found that nearly half of the 1,000 pensioners polled said they turned their heating down when not warm enough in an effort to save money.
The study also revealed that 2 million pensioners around the country are regularly going to bed when they are not tired just to keep warm.
Mervyn Kohler from Age UK was quoted in the Guardian as saying, ‘The figures are stark and show that people have been shaken rigid by the enormous rise in prices we saw in the second half of last year, and for individuals living on fairly straitened incomes, that hike in one of the two essential areas – the other being food – has really put the frighteners on our older population,’
She continued, ‘People who are cutting back on the amount of fuel they are using are jeopardising their health. They are g
Tags: Fuel Poverty, Poverty
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What’s cooler than a Facebook conference? A Sean Parker after-party.
Posted on January 23rd, 2012
When somebody who was played by Justin Timberlake in a Hollywood movie decides to throw a party, the expectations are pretty high.
And Sean Parker, the man behind free music-sharing service Napster and an early Facebook advisor, clearly likes to give people what they want.
Parker, who is an investor in the music service Spotify, pulled out all the stops in a post-Facebook developers conference party on Thursday that was a cross between a backstage concert pass and Trimalchio’s feast.
The party was reminiscent of the dot-com boom era in the late 1990s, when extravagant blowouts thrown by well-funded startups were practically a weekly event. A decade later, Web company valuations are on the rise again, led by companies like Facebook, Groupon and Zynga, and talk of another tech bubble is in the air again.
This time around of course, the broader economy is sputtering and unemployment is stuck at 9.1 percent. Bu
Tags: Parker, Sean Parker
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Vince Cable: footballers deserve lavish pay, bankers don’t
Posted on January 21st, 2012
The Business Secretary set out plans to reform the pay of top executives in the City, whose pay has soared by 12 per cent while most employees are seeing real term cuts in their pay.
Mr Cable said he was often asked “why I don’t make the same fuss about footballers”, while claiming that pay for bankers is too high.
“There is a difference,” he said. “Failure is severely punished. Rewards for the few are lavish but quality is recognised. Nor do we have fundamental objection from the fan base. But they do expect rewards to reflect merits.”
Mr Cable said he wanted a change in business culture to make sure there were no longer “rewards for failure and mediocrity”.
The Business Secretary said he would like to see fewer lords on the board and more new directors whose “achievements are before them rather than behind them”.
“I’d like to see a couple of directors on every board who are new and haven’t served on boards before,” he said.
Tags: Lavish Pay, Pay
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Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) Continues to Ride on Da Vinci’s Success
Posted on January 8th, 2012
Over the past decade, shares of Intuitive Surgical , a niche maker of robotic surgical equipment, rose from $10 per share to the $460s. Since March 2009, the bottom of the previous bear market, shares have quadrupled. Today, with its trailing P/E at 40, shares can hardly be considered cheap, but analysts believe that with the expansion of its robotic line to other medical procedures, Intuitive Surgical may be well poised to grow exponentially. There are plenty of skeptics who are bearish on Intuitive Surgical – after all, with the economy still in fragile state, are hospitals and medical facilities about to spend heavily on robotic surgeons? What separates it from the pack of “future stocks” – such as solar power companies or Tesla Motors – which have all been severely punished for their speculative forecasts?
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Penetration Pricing Strategy
Posted on January 6th, 2012
The mention of penetration pricing strategy always manages to raise eyebrows. Admirable in some cases; cheeky and underhand, otherwise. The intent of penetration pricing is honorable, of course. It simply aims at boosting the market share of an established product or capturing customers in case of a new launch by underpricing it. Implementing this strategy is akin to playing with fire, as a few dubious qualities associated with it can create unnecessary problems for any company. Advantages of Penetration Pricing Does penetration pricing work? It definitely does, and it succeeds in taking your rivals completely by surprise, giving them no time to recover from your onslaught. If your sales pick up, thanks to word-of-mouth publicity, nothing else could be better.
- Penetration price strategy is implemented with the sole intention of spreading your presence in the market.
Tags: Penetration Pricing, Penetration Pricing Strategy, Pricing Strategy, Strategy
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Euro woes: No joy for 10-year-old currency
Posted on January 4th, 2012
2012 marks 10 years since Europeans first held euro notes and coins in their hands. But prospects are grim for Europe’s single currency in the New Year, as the region’s leaders warn of tough sacrifices in this “most severe test in decades”.
With recession looming, the sense of optimism that greeted the united currency at its inception seems to have evaporated.
The birth of an ambitious project – a common currency – was celebrated with no less than a big bang.
“The euro is the beginning of a stronger European Union. We shall be the best in the world, the best in the world!” promised Romano Prodi, the former European Commission president back in 2002.
Yet 10 years down the road, the euro is not in the best of shape: a spiraling sovereign debt crisis, credit downgrades, rising interest rates, tens of millions unemployed, budget cuts, and violent protests.
“The euro is undergoing the worst crisis it has ever been in and obviously the founders of the euro did not hope that this would happen,” economist Janis Emmanouilidis explained to RT.
For
Why Is “I Don’t Know” So Hard to Say? A New Freakonomics Radio Podcast
Posted on December 30th, 2011
This week’s podcast is a new installment of “FREAK-quently Asked Questions,” in which Levitt and I respond to queries you submitted on the blog. (You can download/subscribe at iTunes, get the RSS feed, listen live via the media player above, or read the transcript below; earlier FAQ podcasts can be found here and here.)
You had so many excellent questions! Sadly, we only had time to field a handful. Ty Spalding asked one of the most interesting: “Why do people feel compelled to answer questions that they do not know the answer to?” Levitt replies:
What I’ve found in business is that almost no one will ever admit to not knowing the answer to a question. So even if they absolutely have no idea what the answer is, if it’s within their realm of expertise, faking is just an important part. I really have come to believe teaching MBAs that one of the most important things you learn as an MBA is how to pretend you know the answer to any question even though you have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about. And I’ve found i