When I was growing up, Christmas was my favorite holiday… Till the season to be jolly.

Now Christmas is a total nightmare!What ever happened to Christmas is about Christ?

Americans spend 450 billion dollars during Christmas each year. Yet many realize its just as important to give back as it is to get.

There is nothing wrong with people going out and spending money on Christmas gifts for their families and friends. I buy things for my family that they need…school clothes, toys and shoes. We can do this and give to the poor as well. God is not in heaven wringing his hands hoping that there will be enough money coming in to help the poor. It is not a sin to enjoy your own family.

My only concern is that christmas has just become just that shopping and party and that is it.

We need to also use this days to reflect on our lives and and focus on “What is really Important”?

God has given us the opportunity to enjoy these  days with our loved ones and to also take out a minute or two to look around us and see what is really Important, Is it the Conspiracy of the shopping industries to make us spend more while they get richer or is it the loving of one another and helping the need.

Help the needy sites:

www.stjude.org

www.worldvision.org

www.unicefusa.org

Is this for real or a Hoax??

“In the past weeks i have been more in tune with the news of catastrophic events that’s been happening around the world, and even more now with this movie called 2012. “ 

So the million dollar question is: Are we prepared for such horrific event? or we are just going to sit and wait to see if this will really happen?.

Here is a brief History of 2012:

The 2012 phenomenon comprises a range of beliefs and proposals positing that cataclysmic or trans formative events will occur in the year 2012. The forecast is based primarily on what is said to be the end-date of the Mayan Long Count calendar, which is presented as lasting 5,125 years and as terminating on December 21, 2012.

Massive earthquakes will demolish all buildings on the planet, and instigate colossal tsunamis and intense volcanic activity. In fact, the Earth’s crust will shift, sweeping continents thousands of miles away from their present positions.

In 2012 the next polar reversal will take place on earth. This means that the North Pole will be changed into the South Pole. Scientifically this can only be explained by the fact that the earth will start rotating in the opposite direction, together with a huge disaster of unknown proportions.

How to Survive 2012:

I made some research and have read that in order to have a pretty good chance of survival from this cataclysm  we would need to do the following:

• build bunkers in some high mountain top

Possible places:

1. Madagascar

   High mountains of Spain (danger of nuclear fall-out)

   High mountains of Turkey

   Atlas mountains Morocco

Highlands of Ethiopia

• Enough survival material
• Food for at least a year (for each member of the family)
• Essential equipment to start a mini-civilization

“If you have any concern, comments or believe you may have the answer to this event write to me. ”

Don’t leave your house. Work with your bank. If you have to, fight the bank. Figure out a way to make a deal.

The banks don’t profit from foreclosure. They would rather have you physically in your house paying them some money.

So, if you’re in default, call your banker. Tell your banker that you’re a good person who works hard, but you got caught up. Explain that you can pay interest but you can’t pay as much as they’re charging. Chances are that they’ll work with you to figure out a way to cut your mortgage down.

Fight with your bank. Love your bank. Do whatever you have to do, but don’t leave your house.

It’ll take a long time before they can gain possession. And before that can happen, you’ll probably work out a deal to stay there.

Dont be scared to be aggressive when calling a rep of your bank, remember they are trained to not want to negotiate and say “NO” to any offer you make.

Just keep trying to negotiate a deal with them until they realize that you will not be scared of their threats to foreclose your home.

Sales jumped 9.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.57 million last month, from a downwardly revised pace of 5.1 million in August, the National Association of Realtor’s said Friday.

Nationwide home resales in September clocked the largest monthly increase in 26 years as buyers scrambled to complete their purchases before a tax credit for first-time owners expires.

That pace was the strongest in two years and beat Wall Street forecasts. Sales had been expected to rise to an annual rate of 5.35 million, according to economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters.

Nationwide sales are up nearly 24 percent from their bottom in January, but are still down 23 percent from four years ago.

Prices, however, continued to be dragged down by foreclosures and short sales, where the mortgage exceeds the sales price. The median price last month was $174,900, down almost 9 percent from $191,200 a year earlier, and slightly lower than August’s median of $177,300.

Sales rose around the country, especially in the West, where they grew 13 percent from a month earlier. Foreclosure sales are booming in cities like Los Angeles, San Diego and Las Vegas.

The inventory of unsold homes on the market fell about 7 percent to 3.63 million. That’s less than an eight-month supply at the current sales pace, and the lowest level since March 2007.

First-time home buyers and investors are snapping up those homes and taking advantage of low mortgage rates. These buyers can also take advantage of a tax credit of 10 percent of the sales price, up to $8,000, if the sale is completed by the end of November.

The tax credit is so important to some buyers that they are adding a clause to their contracts, allowing them to back out if the sale doesn’t close by Nov. 30. However, economists note that bargain-priced foreclosures and low mortgage rates are making a big contribution to the sales boom.

Prices could fall further because rising unemployment leads to more foreclosures. The jobless rate, currently at 9.8 percent, is expected to rise as high as 10.5 percent next year, causing more people to fall behind on their mortgages.

Realtors and home builders are loudly in favor, arguing that the tax credit is crucial to get the housing market back on its feet.

NEIL CAVUTO, HOST: All right, so, will all of this government spending come back to bite us in the butt and then get out of this range, maybe in another downward range?

Well, Donald Trump is no fan of big-government spending or taxes. He joins me now by phone.

Now, Donald, you are getting mildly more optimistic, but not dramatically, so. In fact, you said that there is still plenty of trouble to come. When did you mean by that?

DONALD TRUMP, CHAIRMAN & CEO, TRUMP HOTELS & CASINO RESORTS: Well, there is trouble, but I feel much better than certainly I did a year ago. A year ago, we were looking at the Great Depression. And, right now, Neil, it looks like things are certainly getting better.

The bigger problem is, if you have a deal, if you want to build something, no matter what you want to do, if you go to a bank, they won`t loan money. They won`t loan money to anybody, no matter who it is.

And, you know, without the loaning of money…

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: Is that still — is that still the case?

TRUMP: Oh, it`s absolutely the case.

CAVUTO: Really?

TRUMP: In fact, I would even say probably more so now than it would have been two or three months ago. And two or three months ago, it was stifled. But the banks are not loaning money.

Now, perhaps they`re building up their balance sheet. I don`t know what they`re doing. But, if you go to a bank, anybody going to a bank can not get money for any project, to purchase anything. No matter what you do, there is no money out there.

CAVUTO: Can you?

TRUMP: I don`t need the money. That is the nice part.

CAVUTO: All right. All right.

TRUMP: I`m using own money…

CAVUTO: OK. But…

TRUMP: … fortunately, because, if I wasn`t, I wouldn`t be doing anything.

CAVUTO: The reason why I mention — I understand, but the reason what I mention it is that everyone has been waiting for next sort of financial shoe to drop. And they say it is in commercial real estate, and — and that that is just beginning.

What do you say?

TRUMP: Well, I`m a little bit lucky, in that I have buildings that are fully lease, and I have leases that were signed in many cases two years ago. So, I have good rates them. And, if you don`t, I mean, you`re in serious trouble.

If you have empty space, it is not doing very well right now. Ideally, I could — I could look at a building and see when a lease is signed and I will tell you if they made a good deal or a bad deal.

The other problem is, if you have buildings with debt coming due on the building, even if you have a good, successful job, and with good leases, the banks probably won`t do much to renew you, although, generally speaking, they don`t want to take over the building.

So, if you have debt coming due over the next year or two years, you’ve got yourself a problem.

CAVUTO: All right. But we have got indications from a number of top Wall Street guys today, one saying, you know, interest rates are going to start jumping, appreciably — not good, I would imagine, for guys who rent or buy from you, let alone you. Are you worried?

TRUMP: It is not good for anybody. And rates, I don`t know if they`re going up. It`s sort of interesting. The rates are very low, but you can`t get money. Normally, when you can`t get money, the rates would be through the roof.

CAVUTO: Right.

TRUMP: But, you know, I see these two percent and one percent rates. I even have them. I have some rates that are so low, I can`t believe it. But if you go out and get money, you would think they would say, OK, give me four percent, give me five percent.

They don`t have any money. They say they don`t have it. And it is a very troubling situation, and especially when you look at unemployment. Beyond deals, when you look at unemployment, how is employment going to be taken care of if the banks aren`t loaning money for jobs?

CAVUTO: All right. But the — what we are seeing the government tell the banks is, we`re going to keep the spigot rolling. In other words, we are going to keep being a backstop for you and we`re going to keep, you know, stimulating the economy. We are going to plan health care now.

Do you think the government is doing too much? Or do you think that Wall Street is either properly ignoring it or whistling past the graveyard?

TRUMP: Well, I think, a year ago, the government did the right thing, or, really, I believe we would have been in a depression. I saw things that I had never seen in my life before. So, I think they really did…

CAVUTO: What was the right thing they did? The financial rescue?

TRUMP: The right thing is, they stuffed — they stuffed the banks with money.

CAVUTO: I see.

TRUMP: They gave them money, or you would have had a run on every bank. And the strongest bank can not stand — withstand a run.

So, they did the right thing in that way. Stimulus is questionable. What’s going to happen when the stimulus wears off? Are they going to do it again? Who is going to be paying for this? Is it going to be my grandchildren? I mean, the debt of this country is so enormous that you say, you know, where is all this money coming from?

The problem is, with all of the money that has been given to the banks, some of it paid back, the banks are not loaning the money. And that wasn`t the deal.

CAVUTO: All right. But the government still spends money recklessly. I mean, you could handle this problem for all of us if you simply cut a check, Donald, but that`s, I guess, not…

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Well, that would be a nice thing to do. And I will tell you what. If I could do it, I would do it. I would be very happy to do it, if it would solve the problem.

CAVUTO: But, you know, the rich — rich folks like yourself are being asked to pony up more, maybe a lot more. What do you make of that, that it`s going to go well beyond the 40 percent top Fed rate, that we might go to 50 percent, maybe even 60 percent?

TRUMP: Well, once you take away the incentives from people like myself and other people, all of sudden, you don`t have jobs, and we go elsewhere, I guess. I`m not speaking for me. I`m speaking for a lot of other people. You go elsewhere. You go to other countries. You do other things outside of this country.

And this country already has enough of that problem. There are enough people in this country that are going elsewhere. So…

CAVUTO: What would make you go? Would you ever entertain that?

TRUMP: I don`t know. I like this country.

CAVUTO: At what level does Donald Trump say, enough?

TRUMP: I`m getting too old say I want to go and travel for 22 hours.

But I will tell you this. There are a lot of people that will be leaving this country and investing elsewhere if they start raising rates.

CAVUTO: All right. Donald Trump, always a pleasure, my friend. Thank you very much.

TRUMP: Thank you, Neil.

CAVUTO: Donald Trump. All right.

END

Donald Trump Says:

“One problem is that the banks won’t lend any money. Fortunately I’m using my own money. But the banks need to lend to fix unemployment. In that sense, the situation is worse now than a few months ago.

The banks are probably building up their balance sheets, but it isn’t doing the economy or the people any good.

Regarding the stimulus, how effective it has been or will be is questionable”.

Will our grandchildren be paying for it?

American DreamCard™ Platinum MasterCard®

Police here in the  United States have found a disturbing trend of Indian-American homes being targeted by burglars for gold, which guarantees the robbers of assured money rather than traditional electronic items.

Since high quality gold jewelry — at least of 22 carats in general and 24 carats in particular — is mostly found in homes of Indians in particular and South Asians in general due to cultural values, police say the robbers have increasingly started identifying and targeting such homes, a media report said.

The Washington Post said several such cases in neighborhoods in and around Washington  which has sizable Indian population reporting incidents of burglars breaking into Indian homes and running away with anything gold.

“The burglars are discerning. They have taken 22-karat pieces but left behind sterling silver and well-crafted costume jewelery. They have sifted through floor-length gowns lovingly stored in closets and plucked every custom-made sari threaded with gold and worth thousands, disdaining saris worth only hundreds,” the report said.

“Officers in Fairfax and Loudon counties, and the homeowners themselves, have yet to figure out how the burglars so successfully identify houses with large gold caches. Before they became victims, many of the families were strangers, and they and police have eliminated many of the obvious links: churches, temples, schools or even grocery stores where they could have been tracked,” it said.

This past Thursday at least three such cases were reported in a South Riding neighborhood of Loudoun. Burglars broke down six Indian homes in Fair in Fairfax and another 16 burglaries between January and August have been reported in Reston, Centreville and Fair Oaks, the daily said.

Noting that this is a nationwide trend, not restricted to Greater Washington Metropolitan Area, it said unsolved crimes mirror a pattern of 93 burglaries in Houston, 37 in central Illinois and a handful outside St. Paul, Minnesota.

“There is targeting due to gold prices. That’s how we are talking about it, rather than ethnicity,” Fairfax police spokeswoman Mary Ann Jennings was quoted as saying.

“Fairfax residents have grown increasingly angry and fearful about the crimes, complaining that police were slow to recognize the trend,” The Washington Post said.

Raman Kumar, whose house was broken through recently, told the paper that thieves took away with them a gold statue of Lakshmi; while left other electronic items including laptop. “But here is the thing: If you know our customs, you know we carry a lot of gold,” he was quoted as saying.

The daily also said that thieves operate with a notable precision, not only in choosing houses but also on sorting the take.

“Vindhya Kommineni lost her most expensive saris made for her wedding

, her wedding rings and a sterling dinner set that included gold inlay as part of an October 6 burglary that was one of two that day on a block in Fair Oaks. Not all of her gowns were taken, nor were all of her silver utensils,” the daily said.

WOW!  A total outrage, this is really disturbing to hear that such things are going on in this country.

I believe the economy is really taking a toll on thieves that by desperation are having to steal innocents family most precious gem…Gold.

Rising losses from consumer and commercial loans dragged Bank of America Corp. (BAC) to a third quarter loss of $1 billion despite impressive trading and investment banking revenues, which were helped in part by the Charlotte bank’s purchase last year of Merrill Lynch & Co.

The Charlotte bank took permanent losses on $9.6 billion from an array of bad debt, including mortgages, home equity loans, credit cards and loans tied to commercial real estate. The bank’s revenues fell for the third straight quarter, in part because Bank of America’s prior results included billions in asset sales, including a sale of shares in China Construction Bank (CICHY).

The results mark Bank of America’s first quarterly loss of the year, and give investors their first detailed look at Bank of America since its embattled Chief Executive Ken Lewis announced in September he will retire at year-end without a plan for who will succeeed him. The bank is working to keep pace with strong rival JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) – which on Wednesday posted third-quarter profits of $3.6 billion – and to demonstrate it’s in better condition than beleaguered rival Citigroup Inc. (C), which on Thursday posted very narrow third quarter profits.

Bank of America’s report holds signs of hope for the banking industry, which is struggling to hold down losses as rising unemployment and a U.S. economic recession have followed a nationwide slide in housing prices.

The bank’s credit card business took permanent losses of $6.5 billion from bad debt – a hefty amount, but about equal with last quarter. The bank also withdrew cash from its account for future loan losses tied to credit cards, instead of adding to the reserve, which suggests the bank expects troubles with its credit card accounts to begin slowing in the near future.

In fact, Lewis told investors during a conference call that the bank’s total loan-related losses may be close to peaking.

Shares were down 3.7% to $17.39 in mid-morning composite trading. After hitting an historic low in March, the stock was up 29% for the year through Thursday.

Bank of America is considered particularly vulnerable to high U.S. unemployment, which climbed to 9.8% last month. The bank said Friday it expects unemployment to peak at 10%.

Continued weakness in BofA’s traditional retail and consumer lending businesses has been offset by newfound strength in investment banking, thanks largely to the controversial but beneficial takeover of Merrill Lynch. Merrill’s various businesses have been spread througout Bank of America, making it difficult to precisely gauge Merrill’s impact on stand-alone Bank of America. But Merrill’s core strengths in trading and investment banking accounted for part of Bank of America’s strong revenues in those ares.

The bank’s trading profits, for example, rose 57% over the second quarter to $3.4 billion.

Continued strength in such businesses will be crucial to Bank of America’s ability to continue absorbing losses from its traditional banking lines, which are struggling under loan losses. Even if the U.S. economy recovers quickly, banks will continue booking losses for loans in coming quarters, since bank typically post losses from loans months or years after borrowers stop making payments.

In fact, the bank’s levels of nonperforming loans – or loans that may soon become uncollectable – rose again during the quarter. Bank of America now has $21 billion in heavily delinquent consumer loans and $12.9 billion in nonperforming commercial loans.

S&P/Case-Shiller index slides 18.1 percent from year before

NEW YORK – There is a clear trend home prices declines are moderating — another sign the beleaguered housing market is stabilizing, according to data released Tuesday.

While the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller index of 20 major cities tumbled by 18.1 percent in April from the year before, it marked the third straight month the decline was not a record. And yearly losses in 13 metros improved compared to March.

“The stock market bottomed in March and measures of consumer confidence have turned upward. This report shows that these better spirits are also appearing in the housing market,” said David M. Blitzer, chairman of the S&P index committee.

But rising foreclosures fueled by layoffs could derail a meaningful turnaround. The number of homeowners at least two months behind or in foreclosure jumped in the first quarter from the previous quarter, a Treasury Department report said Tuesday.

Defaults from borrowers with good credit contributed to much of the increase in seriously delinquent loans, echoing data last month from the Mortgage Bankers Association. As the recession claims more jobs, borrowers in good standing are more likely to miss their mortgage payments.

Efforts to modify home loans have been slow and easily outpaced by the number of new delinquencies. In the first quarter, loan companies modified 185,156 mortgages, up 55 percent from the previous quarter. But the number of foreclosures in process increased to 844,389, up 22 percent.

And nearly one in four borrows who received a mortgage payment reduction fell behind again within six months, the report found.

“So far (the modification program) isn’t showing large numbers, which tells me that it’s not working and that’s a problem,” said Patrick Newport, an economist with IHS Global Insight.

Nevertheless, stabilizing home prices will help stem the foreclosure crisis.

Eight of the 20 metros posted price gains from March, with Dallas recording the largest increase at 1.7 percent, the index showed. And every city except Charlotte showed some kind of improvement month-over-month.

The 20-city index is off almost 33 percent from its peak in the second quarter of 2006, which means home values are now around 2003-levels.

“Prices are still dropping. They’re just no longer in freefall,” Newport said.

Hardest hit remain Phoenix and Las Vegas, where home prices have lost more than half their value since their peaks.

The Case-Shiller index tracks repeat sales on a specific group of homes in each city. Sales between related parties, such as family members, are excluded.

When many women think of credit, their first thought is the array of plastic cards in their wallets — one from nearly every store in the mall. Maybe you’re at the other extreme — so wary of credit that you’ve paid off your mortgage and your car loan and cut up all your credit cards.

Too much credit or not enough — both can hurt your credit score and cost you thousands of dollars or even a job offer. And if you’re one of those women who lets your husband handle all the bills, investment ignorance will not lead to financial bliss.

Whether you’re fresh out of high school or college, just married, long married, just divorced or widowed — you need your own credit score. Used correctly, credit can be your BFF (best friend forever) as, married or not, you build a strong credit history that will help you reach your goals. Here’s how to begin building.

1. Start small

Open new credit cards and credit lines gradually. “If you open too many credit cards in too short a period of time, it looks like you’re desperately seeking money,” says Manisha Thakor, co-author of “On My Own Two Feet.” “A young woman just starting her career goes shopping for a career wardrobe — it could hurt her credit score when she goes to get her first apartment.”

2. Limit yourself

Two or three credit cards are enough. Although many retailers offer a discount on the first purchase when you get a store card, that discount can cost you in higher interest rates and higher penalties than for a traditional card, Thakor says.That additional card also could be the tipping point that pushes your credit score down a notch. “Someone goes out and gets a Kohl’s credit card, saving 10 percent,” says Todd Huettner, president of Huettner Capital in Denver. “You think that’s good until you realize your credit score just went from 720 to 719 or from 700 to 699 and that cost you one-half point on a loan of $100,000. You saved 10 percent on a $50 purchase, but you just lost $500 on your house.”

Plus, if you have too many bills to juggle, you increase the likelihood you’ll pay one of them late, dinging your score again. “I know one woman who had 20-some credit accounts,” Huettner says. “That’s 300 payments in a year. If you have a 99 percent accuracy rate, you’re still going to have three late payments a year.”

3. Get your own

Share and share alike doesn’t work for credit — get some bills and credit cards in your own name to establish a separate credit history from your husband. “Many married couples tend to share credit cards or loans in a joint account, often under the husband’s name. All women need to have their own credit in their own names to establish their own credit history in case of an unfortunate event such as divorce or death of a spouse,” says Liza Landsman, executive vice president at Citi Cards.

4. Knowledge is freedom

“When my ex left, I thought I knew everything about my own financial position,” says Joan Perry, author of “A Girl Needs Cash.” “It surprised me how much digging I had to do to find out my own financial situation.” Make sure, Perry says, that you know the interest rates on your mortgage, credit cards and loans, and when those rates will adjust.

5. Separate finances slowly

If you and your husband divorce, closing too many accounts at once can hurt your credit score. “In a divorce, people’s first instinct is to go and shut down accounts so the other spouse can’t charge stuff,” Huettner says. “That’s the worst thing you can do from a credit standpoint is close a bunch of accounts.”Instead, close accounts gradually over time. “I had one divorcing couple who closed one account every six months,” Huettner says. “It took almost 24 months to close their last card because they wanted to keep their credit score high.”

6. Start an emergency cash stash

Then when your car, your refrigerator or the washer breaks down, you can pay for repairs or a replacement without whipping out your credit card and paying up to 20 percent interest. “When I was young, everyone said ‘Start your 401(k),’” says The Debt Diva Clarky Davis. “I’ve been contributing to my 401(k) since I was 24. But I didn’t have an emergency savings fund. Then, I had some car accidents, at $1,000 a pop. I didn’t have the cash on hand to get things fixed. So I put the repairs on my credit card at 18 percent. I should have had an emergency fund for unexpected expenses.”

7. Pay bills on time

On-time bill payments account for almost one-third of your credit score, Thakor says. “You may not think that’s a big action, but paying your bills on time is incredibly powerful.”

8. Don’t flirt with your credit limits

“Keep your balance relative to your credit limit as low as possible — ideally less than 50 percent of the credit limit,” Thakor says.

9. Keep creditors informed

If you’re moving, let them know. “Even if you don’t get your bill, you still owe the payment,” Landsman says. “If your due date is coming up and you haven’t received a statement, call the customer service number located on your credit card or on your previous statement.”

10. Think ahead

Get a free copy of your credit report. Don’t wait to check your credit score or credit report until you’re ready to apply for a loan. Fixing errors that hurt your score could take time.