The Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (DBCDE) had canvassed options to deal with the potential failure of the first, $4.7 billion National Broadband Network plan as early as August 2008, the government auditor has found. The Federal Government auditor-general, who had investigated the process at the request of former Shadow Communications Minister Nick Minchin, revealed the information in a report released this afternoon (PDF) into the first NBN request for proposals process, which was terminated in April 2009 and replaced with the Federal Government’s $43 billion plan to create its own NBN company. The initial RFP process had attracted a number of bids from the likes of Optus, Axia Netmedia, Acacia and the Tasmanian Government.

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DBCDE planned for NBN RFP failure

Today’s Daily Angle comes from  Wikinvest Wire member  Yves Smith of Naked Capitalism . You can read  the full article on NakedCapitalism.com As readers may know, the financial reforms proposed by the  Obama administration barely deserve the name. The late-in-the-game efforts to rebrand the effort by putting  Paul Volcker in the forefront and patch up one of the gaping holes, that the government is backstopping risky trading businesses ( Goldman Sachs has issued  FDIC guaranteed bonds) illustrates the typical Obama chasm between rhetoric and action

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FDIC Proposes Tough-Minded Securitization Reforms; Industry Howls

With better economic conditions coming soon, there couldn’t be a better time to brush up on your sales skills. The recent downturn has made companies think twice about who they are dealing with and has made them potentially more likely to switch suppliers

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Turbocharge Your Sales

Accountants are ever needed in the industrial sectors but mostly during the time of crisis. At the time of economic break down the best management and settlement of accounts can be done by the small business accounting services experts. …

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Need of Accountants for Financial Accounting Management to …

Darwin-based IT services group CSG has won preferred tenderer status for two whole-of-government contracts with the Northern Territory in the areas of desktop and server services and network management. (Dusk on Finke Road image by tensaibuta , CC2.0 ) The company had previously provided the services to the territorial government as a sub-contractor to other companies, but has now won prime status in their delivery

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CSG scores key NT contracts

SAP has just released its results for the year to 31 December 2009, pointing to a new deal with the National Australia Bank (NAB) as one of its most recent wins. Tim Ebbeck (Credit: SAP) NAB signed a deal with SAP in December to update existing SAP software and roll out the company’s new systems, according to SAP president and managing director for Australia and New Zealand, Tim Ebbeck. NAB was carrying out a complete program of works in its back office, front office and core banking, Ebbeck told ZDNet.com.au .

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SAP to construct NAB backbone

Writing in the Guardian, Fred Pearce uses the demographic situation in East Germany, defined by the mass emigration of its residents–esppecially well-qualified women–to the West, to wonder if East Germany will be the model for Europe in the generations to come.Asia Times’ Christian Segura writes about the Tibetan diaspora in Beijing; Tibet, it seems, is still marked by net emigration, not the

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February 2010, John Schmitt This report reviews unionization rates, the size and composition of the unionized workforce, and the wage and benefit advantage for union workers in each of the fifty states and the District of Columbia, using the most recent data available and focusing on the period 2003-2009. Pooling data from the monthly Current Population Survey (CPS) over that period yields a sample size large enough to look at the experience of even the smallest states.

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The Unions of the States

The accounting information technology is another service that the accounting can offer. An accountant who has an expertise in the use of the IT tools, such as advanced computer systems, can make a great difference in the traditional …

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Thinking Made Easy: Reflection Term Paper on Accounting …

Political Map of Canada Canada has a single-payer health care system. Everyone pays the government based on their total earned income, and then the government decides who will be treated, based on special interest groups “need”.

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Canadian provincial leader rejects single-payer care to get heart surgery in USA

All friends are invited to join us for our kick off fund raising event at the beautiful Pio Loco Restaurant in downtown Redding, CA on February 18th at 5 PM until 8 PM.  Chef Jeff is going all out with a sumptious buffet and the entertainment will be our own rising country western singing sensation, Summer Schappell. Ron will give an overview of his campaign for Shasta County Assessor-Recorder. This will be a time to connect with others in Redding and Shasta County; to enjoy the ambiance of Pio Loco; to have some great food, and to become part of a winning effort to “bring government back to the people” . Tickets are $25 and can be purchased by calling Patty at 530-223-2695

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Event at Pio Loco Restaurant in Redding

Valued at US $9187 million, trading in January was led by stronger participation in currency and gold futures, which recorded volumes of 104614 and 42289 contracts respectively. Euro/Dollar, GBP/Dollar, Indian Rupee/Dollar and …

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Gold futures drive commodities trading in Dubai | 03 February 2010 …

A couple of key points: The ABI is forecasting more personal bankruptcy filings in 2010 than in 2009 (just over 1.4 million) Filings were down 10% from December, but up 15% from January 2009. From the American Bankruptcy Institute: January Consumer Bankruptcy Filings Decrease 10 Percent from December The 102,254 consumer bankruptcies filed in January represented a 10 percent decrease nationwide from the 113,274 consumer filings recorded in December, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI) relying on data from the National Bankruptcy Research Center (NBKRC). NBKRC’s data also showed that the January 2010 consumer filings represented a 15 percent increase over the 88,773 consumer filings recorded in January 2009

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ABI: Personal Bankruptcy Filings Up 15% from January 2009

Ryan Streeter makes two interesting points in his post on successes of making poverty history .  First, he notes that despite what everyone may perceive about poverty eradication, over the past several decades we have achieved tremendous successes in reducing absolute poverty around the world.   Building on this, he concludes that many of the efforts to “rethink”, “rebuild”, and “redesign” development approaches are probably misguided.  Instead, we should pay greater attention to things that have actually worked over the past 40 years and try to replicate them. Speaking of development approaches that work.  Check out remarks by Greg Lebedev on dilemmas of development assistance and why institutional reform, rather than humanitarian assistance, is key to long-term sustainable development and poverty eradication.

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Replicating Successes in Poverty Reduction

When the market takes a turn for the worst, it is local shopkeepers, restaurant owners, hotels and other merchants who feel the squeeze most personally. Accordingly, most cities are eager for any economic stimulus they can get.

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How Local Economies Benefit From Big Sporting Events | MintLife …

February 2010, Mark Weisbrot and Rebecca Ray The Latvian recession, which is now more than two years old, has seen a world-historical drop in GDP of more than 25 percent. The IMF projects another 4 percent drop this year, and predicts that the total loss of output from peak to bottom will reach 30 percent.

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Latvia’s Recession: The Cost of Adjustment With An “Internal Devaluation”

The Romeike Family, formerly of Germany Story here from the UK Telegraph . (H/T ECM) Excerpt: The case of the homeschooling couple from Germany who were granted political asylum in the United States, about which Ed West blogged recently, becomes even more interesting if one reads the remarks of the man who granted the Romeikes asylum, Immigration Judge Lawrence O. Burman, of Memphis, Tennessee.

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Federal judge awards German homeschooling family political asylum

VeteranOwnedBusiness.com is proud to welcome Disabled Veterans Committee on Housing of Winchester , Virginia ( Frederick County VA ) to the Veteran Owned Business Directory Non Profit Section . Disabled Veterans Committee on Housing Details: I am John S. Lewandowski; President/CEO of the Disabled Veterans Committee on Housing, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, also I am 100% disabled veteran with loss of use of lower extremities due to a service connected injury.

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VeteranOwnedBusiness.com Welcomes Disabled Veterans Committee on Housing

FDIC Chairman to Congress: Regulators failed in their responsibilities to protect investors from the 2008 financial crisis. Urging stricter oversight, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp Chairman Sheila Bair told Congress’ Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission: “Not only did market discipline fail to prevent the excesses of the last few years, but the regulatory system also failed in its responsibilities,” she said

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Failures in Financial Regulatory System Allowed Wall Street Firms to Run Wild

Promoted by Steven Foley Erick Erickson has a good take on a Washington Post article by Sally Jenkins . Quote: The groups that run full page ads of women with duct tape on their mouths every time a Republican President nominates a judge want to put duct tape on Pam Tebow’s mouth

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What Is It Worth To Scrap the Tebow Ad?

Commodity prices went trough another week of generalized downward correctionForexrazorForex trading involves substantial risk of loss and is not suitable for all investors.

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Commodity prices went trough another week of generalized downward …

From a draft paper by Richard Stewart of NYU Law School, entitled “THE WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION: MULTIPLE DIMENSIONS OF GLOBAL ADMINISTRATIVE LAW”: The WTO imposes extensive GAL requirements of transparency, participation, reason giving and review on decision making by members’ domestic administrative bodies in order to ensure even-handed treatment of domestic and foreign private economic actors and prevent disguised protectionism.

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Global Administrative Law and GATT Article X

Following a democratic transition, newly elected leaders have limited time and space to make good on campaign platforms.  In January 2009, Iraqi men and women were elected to 14 provincial councils, following political campaigns in which candidates took to the streets, met with voters in face to face settings and actively sought the votes of their fellow citizens.  The newly-elected members of the provincial councils entered a level of government that was weak in relation to a central authority in Baghdad inclined towards maintaining power.  In an October 2009 Report to Congress, the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction described the scope of power for provincial council members as “ambiguous.” Rather than wait for power’s devolution from Baghdad to provinces, many council members undertook study and analysis of Law 21, which outlines the power of provincial councils.  Previously supported in election campaign training by the International Republican Institute (IRI), council members turned again to the Institute for assistance in understanding their new jobs and the scope of their statutory powers.  Through 2009, Iraq’s newest class of elected officials lost little time in asserting their rights in local control over budgets, contracts and development projects. An example of the development of democratic government close to the Iraqi people can be found in Salahaddin, where the council removed the provincial governor for incompetence and lack of integrity.  The Salahaddin Provincial Council action was challenged, in court, and the council’s actions were upheld.   A similar move, involving censure of the governor, is underway in Babil. The Babil Provincial Council has gone on to pass revenue enhancement measures such as tourism fees and introduced new regulations and rules on health care licensing.  The council in Wassit passed legislation to subsidize better health care for low income people.  The Muthanna Provincial Council initiated two major water plant projects to provide clean water to the citizens of their province.  IRI governance training has found itself working in “real-time” with Anbar provincial officials on local economic development of its natural gas fields, recommending provincial council members there interact with and draw from the knowledge of Kurdish natural resource civil servants as a guide

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Democracy in Iraq…at the Local Level

At the corner of The Esplanade and Berkeley Street in the Downtown East this project has some great, cheap and unique office space.  Here is a blurb from their website : Wood, Brick, Light and Space culminate here to extraordinary advantage, creating a space of natural beauty and historical integrity, reflecting a unique business lifestyle.  A space in keeping with the elements:  at once grandly accommodating and sensitive on a human scale

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Featured Building – Berkeley Castle

David Axelrod’s appearance on Meet the Press , this past Sunday, where he said that he hopes health care reform isn’t dying in Congress is prompting Eric Cantor’s office and many of us on the right to ask – Who’s In Charge? Who’s steering the ship? DAVID GREGORY : Mary Landrieu, conservative Democrat from Louisiana, said it’s on life support — health care.

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Axelrod "Hopes" Health Reform Isn’t on Life Support; Who’s In Charge?