How To Get Rich

Have you asked yourself how you could make more money than you do now? Have you ever had dreams of being wealthy? Well, learn how to get rich from those who have already done it.

Starting as a college dropout with no family money, Felix Dennis made himself the sixty-fifth richest individual in the U.K. And had a blast in the process.

How to Get Rich, his #1 British bestseller, is different from any other book on the subject because Dennis isn’t selling snake oil, investment tips, or motivational claptrap. Having already made his fortune, he merely wants to help readers embrace entrepreneurship—and learn from his successes and failures.

Dennis reveals, for example, why a regular paycheck is like crack cocaine; why being young, penniless, and inexperienced is a fine combination; why great ideas are vastly overrated; and why “ownership isn’t the important thing, it’s the only thing.”

Part naked memoir, part manual, this book is invaluable for anyone willing to stare down failure and take a chance on not just getting rich, but very rich indeed!

More about How To Get Rich

Mervyn's To File Bankruptcy

Looks like the financial crisis facing America continues to claim the life of corporations.

Mervyn's is now closing the remainder of its stores and filing bankruptcy.

The country's growing economic malaise offered another local hit Friday, with the announcement that Mervyns will be closing all of its retail outlets -- including the Bayshore Mall's south anchor.

The Hayward-based company announced Friday that it is declaring Chapter 11 bankruptcy and will be closing its remaining 149 stores in California, including the Eureka location. Neither the Eureka store manager nor the corporate office were willing to answer further questions about the number of employees that will be put out of work, nor the store's history.

However, Eureka Main Street Executive Director Charlotte McDonald confirmed that Mervyns along with Sears and JC Penney were anchor stores when the Bayshore Mall opened in 1987.

The announcement from Mervyns corporate office in Hayward noted that going-out-of-business sales would be held during the holiday season, but no specific dates were offered for the stores' closure.

”We are disappointed with this outcome but the company's declining liquidity position and the extremely challenging retail environment, together with the fact that we have exhausted all other possibilities, requires we take this action,” Mervyns CEO John Goodman said in the company's announcement.

The news follows the company's attempt to fight its way back from a retail slump earlier this year. In July, efforts were undertaken to restructure its debt, according to reports at the time.

Companies are facing ever growing challenges during the economic turmoil facing the nation, and/or world right now.

One has to wonder, out of 149 stores, how many jobs is that, that are now gone?

Investigators Said to Take Closer Look at Lehman

The latest regarding the financial crisis facing America.

According to the NY Times:

Federal prosecutors from three regions have stepped up their investigations into the collapse of the investment bank Lehman Brothers, issuing at least at least a dozen subpoenas including one to the chief executive, Richard S. Fuld Jr., people close to the matter said Friday.

Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn, Manhattan and New Jersey are all examining events leading to Lehman’s collapse and subsequent bankruptcy filing, these people said.

One focus for prosecutors, according to one person close to the matter, is whether Mr. Fuld or other Lehman executives made misleading statements about the bank’s condition to investors who took part in a $6 billion capital raising announced by the bank on June 9.

The New Jersey Division of Investment, which took part in the capital-raising, has received a subpoena, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. William Clark, director of the investment division, did not immediately return a call for comment.

Representatives of all three prosecutor’s offices declined to comment.

Take note if you are following these events online.

The existence of the federal investigations and subpoenas was disclosed at a federal bankruptcy hearing on Thursday by Harvey R. Miller, a lawyer at Weil, Gotshal & Manges who represents Lehman Brothers.

The bank raised the $6 billion in June at the same time that it announced a $2.8 billion loss that stunned Wall Street. The loss, after repeated assurances by bank executives that Lehman’s finances were sound, set off a plunge in the bank’s share price.

In the days that followed, Mr. Fuld reassigned the president, Joseph M. Gregory, and chief financial officer, Erin Callan, as he tried to restore confidence in the bank.

The investment bank sought bankruptcy protection in mid-September after a frantic last-minute effort failed to find a buyer or get a government bailout.

Some people are buying, some are selling. How does this effect you as an investor?

Yahoo Shares Jump

Those of you watching those big search engine stock market deals, take a look at this latest development regarding Yahoo.

Microsoft Corp. chief Steve Ballmer signaled his openness to a deal with Yahoo Inc., sending Yahoo shares up as much as 15% on investor hopes that Microsoft's failed acquisition for the Internet search company might rematerialize.

After the comments touched off a surge in Yahoo shares, Microsoft tried to downplay its chief executive's remarks. "Our position hasn't changed," a Microsoft spokesman said in a statement. "Microsoft has no interest in acquiring Yahoo. There are no discussions between the companies."

Mr. Ballmer, speaking at a technology conference in Orlando on Thursday, said a deal with Yahoo "would make sense economically." It wasn't clear whether Mr. Ballmer was referring to a hypothetical acquisition of Yahoo by Microsoft or a more narrow agreement to acquire the company's search business.

Mr. Ballmer also cautioned in his speech that Microsoft, of Redmond, Wash., wasn't in any discussions with Yahoo about a deal and that Yahoo wished to remain independent.

A Yahoo spokesman declined to comment.

Yahoo shares gave up some of their early gains but were changing hands up 11%, or $1.31, at $13.06 in late afternoon trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

Microsoft earlier this year abandoned an unsolicited bid of $33-a-share to acquire its Internet rival. Yahoo's board rejected the offer, worth nearly $50 billion, as inadequate. Since then Yahoo shares have fallen to almost a third of Microsoft's offer price.

Google & Yahoo In Talks with DOJ

Google and Yahoo are still working out their deal.

According to BizJournals...

Yahoo Inc. and Google Inc. are talking with the U.S. Department of Justice in hopes of protecting their proposed advertising agreement, according to a report Tuesday.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Sunnyvale-based Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO) and Mountain View-based Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) are still in early stages of negotiations with the DOJ.

Antitrust concerns have been raised about the proposed deal by advertising groups who say Google would gain too much of the online advertising space.

The Journal reported that both companies have talked about some concessions to allay concerns, including a cap on the volume of Google ads used by Yahoo.

In October the companies delayed their proposed deal in the face of heavy opposition from advertising groups in the U.S. and beyond.

At the time Yahoo said in a statement that the two companies "have had discussions with regulators and look forward to responding to their questions about this agreement."

Google added, "As we are still in conversation with the Department of Justice we have agreed to a brief delay in implementing the agreement while those discussions continue."

I like watching these big internet corporations do their thing in the modern business world.

Intel Shares Hit 5 Year Low

Reading BusinessWeek today, I came across this...

Shares of Intel Corp., the world's largest computer chip maker, fell along with the broader market Monday to hit their lowest price in five years.

The stock, which is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, fell 59 cents, or 3.4 percent, to $16.72 in early afternoon trading. Earlier, the stock hit $16.61, its lowest level since 2003.

Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel's shares are down about 37 percent since the start of the year, a bigger drop than the Dow Jones industrials, which are down about 25.5 percent year-to-date.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank more than 500 points to below 10,000 for the first time in four years amid credit fears.

While Intel is generally considered a relatively safe bet amid the economic turmoil -- it is by far the world's largest computer chip maker -- it is not immune to a downturn and it stock price has declined amid fears that declining PC demand will mean lower demand for its semiconductors.

Biofuel & Alternative Fuel in America

As America commits more and more resources to produce biofuel, scientists are calling for policies to guide the industry to standards.

As the United States and other nations commit to the path of biofuels production, a group of scientists is calling for sustainable practices in an industry that will, as MBL scientist Jerry Mellilo says, "reshape the Earth's landscape in a significant way."

In a paper published in the Oct. 3 issue of Science magazine, Melillo and 22 co-authors call for science-based policy in the emerging global biofuels industry, which by 2050 could command as much land as is currently farmed for food.

"The identification of unintended consequences early in the development of alternative fuel strategies will help to avoid costly mistakes and regrets about the effects on the environment," the authors write. Melillo is co-director of the Marine Biological Laboratory's (MBL) Ecosystems Center, and the other authors are environmental scientists, agronomists, and economists from numerous organizations in the United States and Brazil.

Alternative fuels are going to be a big part of America's future.

The biofuels industry in the United States has significant momentum, but no environmental performance standards are currently in place. In May, the 2008 Farm Bill was passed, which provides subsidies for growers of biofuels crops and for refiners who convert those crops to ethanol. Also, the U.S. Legislature approved a mandate in 2007 for the production of 16 billion gallons of cellulosic ethanol per year by 2022.

"We have a lot of information that can help policy makers think through the long-term consequences of this kind of mandate," Melillo says. "We can help society avoid or at least reduce some of the negative consequences of the expansion of biofuels programs in the United States and around the world. Science can help all of us use renewable resources, such as biofuels, in a sustainable way."

Everyone should educate themselves on biofuel and its production. America can also reduce its emissions by using hybrid automobiles.