Government Articles
13. Spanish Monarchy On Its Knees
In the early days a man of the people, King Juan Carlos helped steer Spain from a dictatorship to a modern democracy after he came to the throne some 32 years ago, and his achievements include defending the fledgling democracy in 1981 from an attempted coup. Once popular and regarded as a man of the people, recent times have been more troubling for the king as political groups on both the left and right have called for an end to the Spanish monarchy. 1981 it could be argued was the height of the King's popularity when some army officers stormed the Spanish Parliament. Spain had been ruled by the dictator Franco until his death in 1975, and the King appeared on television to order the army back to barracks, in the process saving the young democracy from returning to dictatorship. While the royal family spend their summer holidays on the island of Majorca at the Marivent Royal Palace and the rest of the year near Madrid his popularity carried through to all regions of Spain. Recent comments from the King though have made many Spaniards uneasy about how close he is coming to interfering with politics, and this has not helped his popularity - although the people of Majorca might disagree as the royal family's holidays give the island an upmarket image elsewhere in Europe, and the hotels and Majorca villa holiday market have thrived in recent years. He made a surprise visit to Spanish troops in Afghanistan just before Christmas, but controversially visited two Spanish enclaves in Morocco which have been in dispute over sovereignty since the 15th century. But last year saw protestors burning photographs of the King in the Spanish city of Girona, a sign of his declining popularity, but Spain and the wider world sat up and took notice when he famously told the President of Venezuela to shut up at a summit in Chile. While most saluted his stand, some saw it as another sign of his interference in politics, going far beyond what would be acceptable in other European countries from their respective royal families. Cheap Majorca Flights The King wants to be king of all Spain, and not have different regions strongly in favour of the monarchy and others against. Spain's economy has done well under King Juan Carlos, and his intervention to prevent a coup in 1981 has benefitted in particular the tourism market, with Spain and her islands now the destination of choice for more Europeans than any other country when taking a holiday. And it's not just the holidays to Majorca market where the royal family spend their summers that have done well over the last twenty five years. The Costa del Sol and Costa Blanca are well known as holiday destinations, and before King Juan Carlos replaced fascist leader General Franco the holidays market was limited as many Europeans would not holiday in Spain, knowing their tourist money would support an unacceptable regime, in the same way many people boycotted South Africa while it had apartheid. Cheap flights to Majorca from Britain for example have seen the island's economy transformed. And Spanish airlines operating both from the mainland capital Madrid and from Barcelona have also taken advantage of the travel market today, with millions of Spaniards employed in the airlines, hotels and holidays industries. While Spain used to in the early days of her tourism be known as a cheap holidays destination, the country has moved into the upmarket leisure scene too, and new hotels in Majorca are being built, one of which will be the best hotel in Spain. Overall, Spain's economy has done well since Juan Carlos became king, the country has joined and is a fully active member of the EU, and political parties of different persuasions have held democratically elected power with the PSOE, Spain's Socialist Party, recently winning the general election and entering their second term in office, with all these things highly unlikely if Franco's successor had been another fascist. Hopefully it will be some time before the question of a new monarch is asked - Spain's holiday market hopes and prays!
14. The Spurious Hero
The term hero seems to be as varied and personal as one's choice of deodorant.
15. How to Find Cheap Reverse Cell Phone Number Lookup Services
Cheap reverse cell phone number lookup sites are much sought after by lots of people these days. Significant numbers of searches are made each day to trace the unknown callers.
16. Texas Public Records - How to Do A Public Records Check In Texas
You may need to conduct an investigation on a person living in Texas. The most effective way is to search Texas public records. Such records will reveal a lot of personal details like civil, financial, criminal and other private data that can help you in your people lookup.
17. 3 New Methods to Conduct A Reverse Cell Phone Number Lookup
Reverse cell phone number lookup allows identifying a person by a cell phone number, and can provide additional information about the person as well. You may think that cell phone numbers are in a private data category and there is no way to find out who a number belongs to, yet there are ways to do so - and no, you don't need a private investigator!
18. Student Loans Consolidation Service Free Interesting Fact
If your major interest is information related to Great Lakes Student Loans or any other such as FASFA Form, Consolidating School Loans, My Federal Student Loan, SunTrust Student Loan Consolidation, Repay Federal Student Loans or Direct Student Loans Payment, this article can prove useful.
19. Reverse Cell Phone Number Lookup - How It Benefits Your Life
Many are not yet aware that there is such a thing as a reverse cell phone number lookup. Yes, this time around you can't only trace home phone numbers but very elusive cell phone numbers as well. The information you can get with reverse cell phone number directories can include any details of the number such as the name of the user, address, and the carrier.
20. How Internal Corruption Prevents the Economic Development of Indigenous Peoples
So in the end it is largely an indigenous thing; a version of the theme "we have met the enemy and they are us".
21. Treasury Reorganization: Recession Response or Red Herring?
This article discusses the current reorganization that is occurring in the Treasury department.
22. Investment Politics: Jobs, The Economy, and Social Security
Who wants to be a president; the President of the United States? Social Security reform is the winning ticket. Research supports the thesis that Social Security reform would provide all the lubrication necessary to get our economic ball bearings rolling in the right direction. Economies do not grow, or increase employment, when job providers are taxed and regulated unmercifully, throttling their energy, creativity, and profitability. Consumer spending pushes the economy; we need to do more than hand out a few hundred bucks. The objective of the exercise, Barack, is to permanently place more disposable income in consumers' wallets while providing incentives for employers to hire more workers. There are three areas where the impact of reforms would be beneficial to all, irrespective of political sentiment. Social Security reform would benefit the most people, most quickly. Next on the list, Hillary, would be elimination of income taxes (federal, state, and local) on: (a) all forms of retirement income, and then, (b) all forms of investment income. Third, and particularly important for job creation, John, would be the elimination of all income taxes and nuisance fees on businesses. Who wants to be President? Social Security will be the easiest to implement quickly while producing unprecedented increases in disposable income, business cost reductions, and job growth. Here's a rough outline of a brainstorming plan. Throw out the politics and focus on the program--- phase one deadline, January 1,2010. Change Social Security funding to a mandatory, private program, for all employed persons, and add a voluntary program for those who are not employed. All employees would contribute to deferred fixed annuities, purchased from new divisions of qualified financial institutions. Existing Social Security credits would be the initial deposit to the contracts for all participants under age 60. Employer matching contributions would be eliminated and participant contributions would be cut to a mandatory 3% of total compensation (including deferred comp, stock options, etc.). Both changes would be phased into the system by participant age group over a five-year period, youngest first. The five age groups would be 13-year periods starting at zero to thirteen (obviously for voluntary accounts) and ending with ages fifty-two through sixty-five. Phase one would involve qualifying providers, assignment of workers, issuance of contracts, elimination of employer matching contributions, and elimination of income taxes on social security payments. Employers would be required to appoint at least one person to coordinate the transition. Contributions to the annuity contracts would begin upon issue; the Social Security Administration (SSA) would have five years to move credits to participants, starting with the youngest group, and would be responsible for shortfalls to retirees for five years. Under the new system, there would be no penalties for early retirement, but tax free annuity payments would begin at age sixty-five whether or not the person continued to work. Participants could voluntarily establish retirement accounts for non-working spouses and children, and could elect to deduct an additional 1% of salary for each account. A new Federal Administration for Social Security (ASS) will select, qualify, and monitor provider companies and their investment portfolios to assure that only high quality, income-generating securities are used to fund benefits. Companies showing a surplus would be able to invest up to 25% of the surplus in stocks that qualify for the Investment Grade Value Stock Index (IGVSI). Only fixed life annuities would be available, but there would be 50% of cash value, family-only, death benefits up until the time of retirement. After age 65, the death benefit would be reduced 10% per year for four years. There would be no loans, withdrawal privileges, etc. The ASS would be represented on provider company boards, would monitor annual audits of firm financial statements, and would supervise the selection of all non-company directors (60% of the board). Each provider company would be encouraged to use non-market value portfolio assessment techniques, such as The Working Capital Model, to monitor income portfolios. Retiree associations would also be represented on company boards of directors, and board member compensation would be capped at a reasonable number, plus 45% of ASS related expenses. Annuity providers would be assigned a fair share of the huge Social Security Retirement Income Account (SSRIA) participant pool; every dollar contributed would be invested. All providers would use the same mortality tables and base interest rate guarantees in their calculations and would be precluded from any form of advertising. Companies would be required to focus 100% of their efforts on the SSRIA. Annuity providers would be allowed a .5% investment management fee so long as the Annuity Investment Portfolio generated no less than the 3.5% income level needed to fund a guaranteed 3% contractual cash value growth rate. 50% of any excess realized income would be added to retirement accounts in the form of dividends. The remaining 50% would be apportioned between three separately managed accounts for: retirement benefit support contingencies (20%), universal health care and disability benefits for annuitants (50%), and post retirement death benefits (10%). Half of the remaining 20% would become "surplus". The balance would accrue equally to the employees of the insurance company--- the mailroom staff receiving the same dollar amount as the CEO. These changes would produce: a whole new sub-industry of jobs, increase disposable income, reduce the Federal budget deficit, provide universal retirement benefit eligibility, stabilize the market for plain vanilla corporate and government debt securities, reduce corporate expenses and product price levels, and subsidize health care for senior citizens. Annuity providers would have significant incentives to minimize costs, but their investment portfolios would be closely supervised to prevent excessive risk. Politicians at all levels just love for us to hate big business, and have no compunctions about taxing and regulating employers in every manner imaginable. The impact is higher prices, lower job creation rates, and the need to move many operations to lower cost environments. Many small businesses simply refuse to hire additional employees. Regulatory procedures and company defense measures add billions to the costs of goods and services. Social Security benefits are grossly inadequate yet we continue to tax all forms of retirement benefits. Politicians ignore the simple solutions to these problems and no one seems to care about Social Security reform. It's just too big an issue to be so shockingly ignored, but the last politician with any courage--- well, I can't remember who that was either.
23. Find Address by Phone Number - A Great Way to Heighten Security
If you find address by phone number, it's as if you are giving yourself the desired protection from being victimized by prank calls. These calls may be disturbing, delirious, to the downright dangerous and threatening. In order to protect yourself and your loved ones from possible threats, it is essential to look up the phone number and find out where the call came from. It has now become an option for people to be able to look up addresses based on the phone number. So whenever you feel threatened by a certain phone number, look it up and find its address.
24. Find Address by Phone Number -Security in Your Hands
When dealing with unfriendly calls, you may be able to find address by phone number. This is a way to deal with those prank callers you may find disturbing or irritating. You are bound to protect yourself from these pranksters and what better way to do it than trace the origin of the call to the very address the call was made. It has now become a possibility to do this by being able to trace calls with the use of reverse phone directories.
Page 2 of 4
[1] [2] [3] [4]