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The “right” Latin America will thrive in the New Year, fueled by ts own growth – with an assist from the continued hot growth from China – while the “wrong” Latin America will get left behind.

The second phase of emerging markets expansion is well on its way – a period of self-sustaining growth, driven by consumer growth and infrastructure spending.  And Latin America, following China and other Asian economies, is one of the key global pillars of growth that will save the global economy and the U.S. financial system from total collapse. But not all the countries in Latin America will go on to prosper.  There is a wide gulf in the policies that will continue to separate the winners from the losers.

Let me explain.

In a recent article in our affiliated monthly newsletter
, The Money Map Report, Money Morning Investment Director Keith Fitz-Gerald made three important points:

• The emerging markets (of which Latin America is the second-most-important leg) will play a growing role in the continued long-term growth of the world economy.
• The U.S. economy will continue to grow long-term, but its relative importance in the world economy will continue to decline.
• In the near term, the emerging markets could well play a determining role in keeping the overall global economy – and the U.S. financial system – from dropping into a depression-like funk that we won’t be free of for years. Emerging economies in Asia and parts of Latin America have huge cash reserves, much of which will be invested in infrastructure projects over the next 20 years.

In the next three years, China, alone will invest as much as $725 billion in infrastructure, while Brazil will invest $225 billion for the same purpose.
This is important to remember, given that the dramatic sell-off the emerging markets have experienced has many investors doubting the ability of these countries to “decouple” from the global economy.  The reality of the situation is that most investors and pundits are failing to differentiate between economic decoupling and market decoupling.

The Gloomy Present

While growth in emerging economies has dropped slightly, the prices of securities and currencies in emerging markets has fallen drastically.   Many investors think that the U.S. economic crash will lead to a dramatic drop in U.S. orders of emerging-market products, which will cause those economies to drop off. That, in turn, would squeeze the profits and market valuations of the companies that operate in these economies.

But that’s a mistaken assumption. And here’s why.

In Brazil, for instance, exports account for a mere 13% of gross domestic product (GDP). In China, exports are just 10% of GDP. So some contraction in U.S. and European orders can easily be counterbalanced by fiscal and monetary stimulus in these countries.

On Oct. 27, in the depths of a rabid, indiscriminate sell-off, I published an extremely bullish piece on Brazil. Since that article was published, Brazil went on to rally as much as 47%. As of Friday’s close – even after some subsequent profit-taking – the exchange traded fund (ETF) that represents the Brazilian market (EWZ) is still up 21% (and has risen as much as 42% since my recommendation).

And most emerging markets economies have plenty of fiscal and monetary maneuvering room. Leading the pack is China, which accounted for some 27% of global growth last year, and which has continued to use both fiscal and monetary tools to keep itself on a solid growth path.

It recently slashed interest rates again, down to 6.66% (a lucky number in the Chinese culture, meaning “things (are) going smoothly”).  With record foreign reserves of $1.9 trillion, China also approved a “fast and heavy-handed” $586 billion stimulus, mainly in housing and infrastructure, to be implemented through 2010.  And the Chinese yuan will drop almost 7% vis-a-vis the U.S. dollar to cushion losses in trade.  It has also lowered taxes on investments in capital goods.  And in a key move that’s been almost totally overlooked by the media, China has made huge market-oriented reforms in agriculture.

China has just allowed its 780 million farmers to rent, transfer or utilize as collateral their rights to their lands and eliminated all taxes on agricultural production and to farmers.  This will allow for a massive increase in the scale of production by consolidating companies.  In this way, China will keep its 120 million hectares dedicated to agriculture exclusively, with no possibility of urbanization, while at the same time allowing the millions of small farmers to sell out, and get capital to move to the cities.  This will not only increase the productivity of Chinese farming dramatically by allowing for economies of scale to work and attracting billions in investments, it also will create a huge incentive for these millions of farmers to move to the cities, boosting housing and infrastructure demand.

Brazil’s plans are very similar to those of China. There’s a:

• Strong fiscal stimulus, allowing a drop in the value of the real currency (a decline that’s already been substantial) in order to cushion exports.
• An easing of capital requirements to Brazil’s strong banking system, which will incentivize housing and car loans.
• Export financing.
• And huge local infrastructure projects.

There is another little-understood phenomenon that cushions the blows for emerging economies: Intra-emerging market trade has become increasingly important.  By now everybody understands that iron ore from Brazil and coal and oil from other emerging markets is flowing into China in order to fuel China’s massive infrastructure buildup and growing consumer demand.

The Breakdown on Brazil

Increasingly, a growing proportion of the infrastructure needs of industrial goods being bought by emerging economies are goods produced by other emerging economies.  Trade between Latin America and China has increased by 13 times since 1995, from $8.4 billion to $100 billion.  And China, now the second-most-important commercial partner to the region after the United States, has finally been accepted as a member of the Inter-American Development Bank, committing itself to contribute $350 million to the bank. As an example of this growth in industrial trade, Argentina just bought 279 subway cars from China’s CITIC Group.

However, not all trade with China has been successful, due to China’s notable deficiencies in quality control, especially in health standards.  For example, Latin American imports of medicines manufactured in China had catastrophic results in Panama two years ago, where more than 100 people died and hundreds more became ill from medications containing toxic Chinese glycerine.  Recently, Panama detected toxic chemicals in imported Chinese sweets and crackers and Argentina’s customs recently seized Chinese 20,000 thermos containers for having elevated content of toxic chemicals.

And all of this means that there is a market disconnect between the prices of Brazilian shares and those elsewhere in Latin American equities and the fundamentals of the underlying companies, that we will see played out in the next and subsequent years.  Why?

Just because huge financial losses by banks precipitated a massive de-leveraging cycle, which means they had to sell their holdings, regardless of merit. And that included big sell-offs in preferred investments, including the hugely promising and profitable Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) (ADR: PBR), Vale (ADR: RIO), and many others.

And what is worse, their sales hit the stop losses of major hedge funds, who were also leveraged in such favorite plays as commodities, steel, coal, agro, emerging markets and even defensive stocks such as the U.S.-based Pepsico Inc. (PEP).

When you have the proprietary positions of banks and hedge funds all trying to get out of the same door at the same time because of risk management issues, you get the current disconnect between market fundamentals and pricing.

Another impact that we have to understand is that the ongoing dramatic interest rate drops in all major G7 economies and the more than $3 trillion in G7 fiscal programs will have a marked impact on growth next year, containing what would have been a much nastier economic contraction.  But while G7 countries will barely grow between negative 0.5% and a positive 1% in 2009, with the worst contraction front-loaded and recovering in the second half, emerging economies will grow at a minimum of 4%, and in the case of China maybe as high as 10%.

In my October Brazil analysis, I detailed the massive stress that Brazil came under in 1995 because of another exogenous shock: The Mexican devaluation, the so-called “Tequila effect,” which ricocheted around the world, and which caught Brazil in 1995 in a much weaker position than it is in today. Back then, Brazil had a much higher level of debt, much lower reserves, a fiscal sector that needed huge reform, and a much lower capacity for exports.  Brazil dealt with this massive stress effectively and went on to work at each one of its weaknesses in the next 13 years, getting itself into a position of strength today.

While having the temptation and the perfect excuse for a default right at hand, Brazil proved its seriousness back then by taking the hard, but certain road to progress, keeping its international commitments and gradually affecting strong structural reforms.  Since then, it has become a net creditor to the world; it controlled inflation, and avoided an overheating of its economy with tight fiscal and monetary policies during the recent run-up in commodity prices.

This is paying off strongly today.  The policies, run day to day by a sophisticated technocracy led by top economists and international bankers, many of which held top positions in leading international banks, has allowed Brazil to move forward and to anticipate GDP growth of 4% to 5% for the New Year.
Hence, Brazil is by far my favorite Latin American play for 2009.

Checking Out Chile

Following closely behind, and hindered only by its small size, is the poster child of fiscal and monetary prudence: Chile.

Chile, which came out of its 1970s default by eliminating its foreign debt and successfully restructuring its banking system, has made every effort to maintain very prudent fiscal and monetary policies and to diversify its exports away from copper, which, being the largest exporter of the metal in the world, still accounted for 38% of its GDP.

Today, Chile exports many diversified products, including agricultural products, wine, fertilizers and industrial wares.  And because it’s situated on the Pacific Coast, it is geographically well positioned to trade with the fastest-growing markets in the world – China and the other emerging Asian tigers.

But Chile, in order to minimize the cyclical nature of its economy due to the wide fluctuation in the price of copper, decided years ago to start a “rainy-day” fund, which would accumulate wealth in the good years and be used to soften the blow in the bad ones.  Now, Chile boasts a $28 billion sovereign wealth fund, accumulated almost completely from its copper profits.  That’s almost equal to a staggering 14% of the country’s GDP in cash savings!  This will enable Chile to implement counter-cyclical policies to keep growing at 3.5% to 4% next year – or about the current rate of growth, even with the worldwide meltdown.

Chile already has started to deploy this capital, having passed a $1.15 billion government plan on top of last month’s $850 million to stimulate housing and small-business lending, injecting that capital into a government bank that will make available loans for small businesses.

Avoid Argentina

Chile’s fiscal prudence is in direct contrast to Argentina’s lack of discipline.  Argentina’s Peronist government, which squandered the agricultural commodities bonanza in fiscal spending, is now is trying to use its majority in both houses in Congress to pass the nationalization of the privatized pension funds under the excuse of “protecting them from market volatility.”

These funds, which now have successfully grown to more than $30 billion in size, or 73% of the government’s budget and have returned an average of more than 13% a year since inception will allow the government to cover its fiscal gap and debt maturities next year and to financed public works and consumption projects.  The government, at the same time, is suffering from an important loss of confidence, as evidenced by its need to resort to police controls in order to prevent the illegal purchase of U.S. Dollars.  Argentina might end 2009 with growth of negative 2% and unemployment of 10%.  Stay away.

A “Maybe” for Mexico

Mexico, given its strong links to the United States, is receiving a heavy dose of external shocks on many economic and financial fronts – especially where the United States is concerned: It’s being hit by a drop in exports (the United States is the main component), the drop in oil prices, lower tourism (its largest proportion of travelers is from the United States), falling U.S. investments in Mexico, and reduced remittances from Mexicans working in the United States back to their Mexican relatives.

In addition, many companies suffered strong losses in their derivatives hedges, banks have had to reduce lending due to reduced liquidity and the Mexican peso has lost some 22% of its value against the U.S. dollar.  Mexico’s growth in the New Year may fall to about 1% from 2008’s 2.4% pace, and the country is on its way to approving the first budget with a fiscal deficit in four years.  The government’s target will be negative 1.8% of GDP, in order to stimulate the economy.  Mexico, seeing its oil production declining, is seen moving soon towards opening some oil areas for exploration and development, which some estimate could add another 1% to GDP.

Once the U.S. markets have stabilized, Mexico’s stocks will be an incredible buy once more, since they discount a very bad scenario at these prices.

A Case Against Colombia

Colombia, another country that has merited a lot of attention, given its staunch support of U.S. anti-drug and anti-money-laundering efforts, has seen its free trade agreement with the United States inexplicably delayed.

The country foresees a tightening of credit conditions, so it is moving up its peso-based borrowing to this year.  Next year it will issue only $1 billion in foreign bonds and tap $1.4 billion from multi-lateral lenders.  So the refinancing risk for Colombia is muted, given the small amounts involved, and the country’s economy should expand a minimum of 1% in the New Year, even in the worst economic scenario. However, Colombia could grow as much as 4% under a moderate scenario.

That would represent a big drop from the 8% growth recorded this year.

The story in Colombia has been the curbing of inflation, and how far behind the curve the central bank has been, at least as recently as July, when it boosted rates up to 10% and then kept them there.

These ultra-high interest rates, combined with the global slowdown, have blunted demand for consumer products in Colombia. Since the passage of the trade pact is a situation in flux, I want to wait and see right now.

I will not go into the economies of Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador, which, with massive intervention by their governments and advances against property rights, are experiencing severe economic and political stress, and which do not offer the guarantees needed for foreign investment.

Editor’s Note: Money Morning’s “Outlook 2009” economic forecasting series last looked at the energy sector – specifically coal and nuclear power – in the New Year. Watch for the series to continue. Check out past series stories, which have underscored that uncertainty will continue to be the watchword for at least the first part of the New Year. Little wonder, as the global financial crisis continues to whipsaw the U.S. financial markets in a manner that hasn’t been seen since the Great Depression. It’s almost enough to make you surrender. But what if you knew, ahead of time, what marketplace changes to expect? Then you’d be in the driver’s seat – right? You’d know what to anticipate, could craft a profit strategy to follow, and could then just sit back, watching and waiting – and finally profiting from – the very marketplace events you anticipated.

R. Shah Gilani – a retired hedge fund manager and a nationally known expert on the U.S. credit crisis – has predicted five key financial crisis “aftershocks” that he says will create substantial profit opportunities for investors who know just what these aftershocks are, and how to play them. In the Trigger Event Strategist, trigger events,” as gateways to massive profits. To find out all about these five financial-crisis aftershocks, and about the trigger-event profit strategy they feed into, check out our latest report.]

News and Related Story Links:

• Money Morning Buy, Sell or Hold Feature:
  Buy, Sell or Hold: iShares MSCI Brazil Index.
• Money Morning Global Investing Roundups:
  Brazil ETF Rises as Much as 42%.
• Money Morning News Analysis:
  Massive China Stimulus is Viewed as an Attempt to Help the West.
• Money Morning News Analysis:
  With its Pension Fund Grab, is it ‘Déjà Vu All Over Again’ For Argentina?

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Money Morning
http://www.articlesbase.com/investing-articles/some-latin-american-markets-show-profit-potential-in-the-new-year-while-others-pose-risk-685997.html

Failed Banks and Failed Billions
by Bob Chapman

http://www.theinternationalforecaster.com/

Re-flating a dying bubble, Greece and Euro problems fuel world markets, Lehman Bros collosal fraud, a plan to tax banks, bank failures amount to billions, signs of a vanishing recovery. Bubbles have a hard time coming to an end, especially in residential real estate. Underlying forces such as government intervention to prolong the agony and the abject stupidity of builders extends the bubbles. We are in a vast home inventory expansion and builders are going to build 535,000 new homes. The projected foreclosure rate could give us as much as a 3-year home inventory, up from present levels of about a year, if one includes the lenders shadow inventory. This past week the home building index rose 7.1% and it is up 25.1% year-to-date. The retail index rose 17% y-t-d, yet unemployment stubbornly clings to 22-1/8%. In fact, the retail index is up 87.4% y-o-y. We would say that index is grossly overpriced. As you can see bubbles have a way of not wanting to die quickly. This is caused by mans disparately wanting to cling to the past attempting to take the easy way out rather than adapting to change. Government tries to keep sections of the economy alive rather than letting the cleansing process take its course. The subsidization of the housing market is doomed to failure, because there simply isnt enough money and credit available to keep it going indefinitely. All government is doing is re-flating a dying bubble. These Socialistic/Marxist policies just wont work. Whether government likes it or not interest rates are headed higher, probably by 1% or more by the end of the year as government in its quest for more money to cover its debts crowds most others out of the market. This can be accommodated by the Fed, but not without higher inflation or perhaps hyperinflation, which in turn will drive interest rates even higher. We are seeing the reigniting of speculative mania in other markets as well in the stock market and particularly in the low quality sector of the bond market worldwide. The mis-pricing of investments and finance is resulting in terrible distortions, mostly the result of Fed and government policy.

This mania has been aided and abetted by US dollar strength, especially over the past two months. We saw JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup and others loading up on the long side of the dollar starting last October between USDX 74 and 78. They obviously knew the Greece episode was on the way. Irrespective, and in spite of no positive fundamentals, dollar strength was used to draw funds into dollar denominated assets. Supposedly the dollar has some sort of competitive advantage, which it doesnt, and that a strong dollar will be re-flationary, which it has been. Gold and silver should have been flying to the upside, but our government detests free markets and it again temporarily suppressed prices. This is the result of the machinations of Larry Summers and Tim Geither. Dollar strength has the perceived benefit of the Feds ability to endlessly create money and credit.

It is this perception added to Greece, European and euro problems that have fueled speculation in world markets. Perceptions are one thing, and fundamentals are another more powerful force, which in time will reassert themselves. Problems will first be evident in the bond markets, which have already begun. As soon as the 10-year T-note solidly crosses 4% the market, the dollar and bonds will falter. The current strength is perceived to be the weakness of other currencies and their economies, prospective re-flationary policies and the concept of too big to fail. This is why there is the concept that the current recovery will persist. They also recognize that individual euro zone countries cannot inflate their way out of problems. One currency prohibits that from happening. This means Greece and others cannot monetize their debt and that means any kind of recovery is years away. All 19 near bankrupt countries are in the same boat except the US. Markets believe in the Bernanke put or backstop. They also believe the Fed will reinflate again. They would rather have inflation or hyperinflation, which they can in part control, rather than deflation, which once it begins cannot be contained.
http://www.theinternationalforecaster.com/International_Forecaster_Weekly/Failed_Banks_and_Failed_Billions

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Most Americans are well aware of the far-reaching financial consequences of bankruptcy protection. Bankruptcy can immediately and significantly lower FICO scores, darken Credit Reports for up to a decade and, depending upon the situation, forever prevent you from some sorts of financing or employment. In a sense bankruptcy means simply  that you lose the game. Even as a form of speech – being morally or spiritually ‘bankrupt’ – the notion’s hardly complimentary.

Nevertheless, as spiraling bills force more and more borrowers to sadly ponder what would’ve been once unthinkable, many consumers are forced to consider bankruptcy as a final alternative to seemingly insurmountable debt-loads. And, because bankruptcy’s so well-known as a final resort, a good number don’t bother to investigate the actual truths of bankruptcy (particularly after the restriction-tightening recent legislation) before succumbing to the inevitable.

More than ever before, this is a shame. Bankruptcies are no longer a guarantee of debt liquidation, the negative impacts can well beyond credit score repercussions, and, especially now, other bankruptcy alternatives may serve the average consumer better as they seek debt relief. Even on a Chapter 7 bankruptcy – and even though Chapter 7 notation would appear on your credit report for seven to ten years following – it’s possible that not all debt would be eliminated. In other words, the unlucky filer could yet adopt all the corrosive drawbacks of bankruptcy without the expected benefits. Considering this, it’s more important than ever for all borrowers even beginning to think about bankruptcy to closely analyze all aspects of the new legislation.

First of all, it’s no longer wholly the consumer’s decision on which sort of bankruptcy to file. As most past debtors attempted the Chapter 7 (which did, whatever the negative effects upon credit, liquidate most outstanding bills), this should be the most striking difference for average borrowers. Under current legislation, the courts must subject your income from six-to-nine-months ago to what’s become known as ‘the means test’. This test compares past income (no grace given if, say, the borrower has since changed jobs) with the average income from the state and then subtracts arbitrarily decided living expenses. Even avoiding the obvious regional and career differences (with housing prices in Fresno rather less expensive than those in Southern California, say, or the vehicle needs of a contractor more expansive than secretary), this allows a court trustee or their assistant to, upon their whim, change every bit of your life. Families have been forced to move or pull children out of private schools with little warning. Allowing the government free rein to budget and plan your family’s future carries obvious risks.

In previous years, of course, whomever went bankrupt would have to face the threat of their property and possessions being taken by the court and sold off to pay the creditors – every once in a while the news would cover an auction of celebrity memorabilia essentially being run by the IRS, for example – but ordinary debtors rarely had to worry about the loss of household items since their collected value, after depreciation, simply wasn’t worth enough for the government to bother with. Now, however, the tax laws insist all possessions (hobby equipment, children’s toys, family heirlooms) be listed according to their replacement cost: sentimental value, as you’d expect, not to be considered.

More worrisome, any significant investments (aside from custodial trusts or tax-deferred retirement plans like Individual Retirement Accounts) could be liquidated. Second homes and second vehicles are also fair game. Depending upon your specific state’s exemptions, even your residence or primary vehicle could also be forced towards auction. Essentially, the exemptions protect some degree of equity for the home, but, if the borrower had paid down too much of the mortgage balance, the courts could insist the home be sold with all excess equity given over to creditors. It’s imperative that every homeowner even considering bankruptcy search out his or her state’s specific protections and talk to a bankruptcy attorney about the potential fall-out.

There’s another even more significant reason to ensure you’ve a well-trained attorney with whom you feel comfortable. It’s considerably easier under the 2005 act for both creditors to sue for fraudulent bankruptcy filings and for the government to initiate criminal proceedings. Obviously, there should be safeguards in place to prevent the genuinely mercenary from taking advantage of bankruptcy protection, but gray areas within the law can also unnecessarily vilify even those honest borrowers that underestimated a motorcycle’s worth or forgot about accounts they hadn’t touched for a decade.

Again, obviously, for many consumers – those without investments or significant equity in their homes or vehicles; those willing to forego all accumulated possessions; those that wouldn’t mind the government planning their family’s budget for half a decade; those that can’t imagine needing credit reports or FICO scores again – personal bankruptcies can still be of some use. Even for those desperate souls, though, we still urge the consultation, whatever the cost, with top bankruptcy attorneys. For all others, it almost always makes sense these days to do whatever possible to avoid bankruptcy altogether – especially as other alternatives, such as debt settlement, have become increasingly popular. It was always meant as the final option, but, after the recent legislation, that can be all too true.

John Chase
http://www.articlesbase.com/debt-consolidation-articles/top-reasons-to-avoid-bankruptcy-721628.html

All my student loans were in deferment back in 2000 I now have them consolidated and they are current but for some reason they are showing on my credit report as a government claim. They were never late otherwise they wouldn’t be consolidated right now. What is the best way to prove to the credit companies that my student loans were never late and to get the government claim off?

Сredit repair workеd fine to fix my credit. They disputed and removed lots of bad items from my credit report. I used this service – creditreport.fateback.com

Identity theft is one of those crimes that most people have heard of, but not everyone understands how it occurs. The act of committing this malicious crime may be simple or complex, and can bring great financial pain to its victim. Don’t let that victim be you.

Identity theft occurs when a person uses another person’s identity as well as personal financial information as their own. Purchases are typically made using the identity of the victim, with the intent to leave the victim responsible for the bill. This crime is done without the knowledge of the victim. When the victim finally becomes aware of the crime, the criminal has disappeared into oblivion, leaving behind a victim with ruined credit, a mountain of debt, and a tainted reputation. Not a pretty situation to be in.

In extreme cases, the implications of identity theft can result in the wrongful arrest of the victim. On the face of the evidence, it is easy for the police investigator to assume that the victim made multiple expensive purchases having absolutely no intention of ever paying. Criminals who engage in identity theft are clever and know the credit card system intimately. They know ways of charging far more than a credit limit on a single card. Without actual proof that identity theft has occurred, it can be assumed that the victim is guilty of the crimes committed under his name. Identity theft is a serious crime, and victims can suffer the implications and consequences of the crime for years to come.

Identity theft takes many different forms. Some cases involve a thief repeatedly withdrawing large sums of cash from another person’s bank account, until the account balance is nil. Other cases may involve the thief assuming another person’s name and using their personal information to obtain a loan.

Armed with the victim’s personal data, an identity thief can obtain a driver’s license, open new lines of credit and bank accounts, and even buy a car and get a mortgage. All paperwork, bills and financial statements from these transactions are sent to the thief’s temporary address, so the victim initially does not know that a crime has been committed in his name. Once the plan has been activated, the thief uses the victim’s credit line for all it is worth in the form of cash advances, loans and credit card debt without the intent to pay. All of these crimes occur with the thief hidden in a shroud of anonymity. Who is the criminal? All merchants assume he who he represents himself to be, but he is representing himself to be the victim. The actual identity of the criminal isn’t revealed. When the debts come to light, the victim is left holding the bag of bills and the thief has long since disappeared into complete anonymity. It can take years to recover, both financially and emotionally, from identity theft.

Here are some warning signs that you may have fallen victim to identity theft:

• You are billed for a credit card that you did not open, although wiser criminals will not have the bill sent to you.

• There are unauthorized notice charges on your credit card statement.

• Bills or credit statements fail to arrive when you expect them. This can indicate that the address has been changed without your knowledge. The criminal does not want you to be aware while he is in the process of using your accounts, so he has the statements sent somewhere else, by going through the proper change of address procedures.

• Unauthorized transfers or withdrawals show on your bank statements. This is a huge red flag and should be investigated immediately.

• Collection agencies call about accounts you never opened. Again, this does not usually happen until after the criminal has disappeared and/or moved on to victimize another person.

• You receive calls or notices about merchandise you did not buy.

• Debts appear on your Credit Reports that you did not file. This is significant. Even though the criminal might have your statements mailed to a different location, you know your personal information and can check your credit report at any time. The criminal has no way to stop you from doing this.

AS you might imagine, identity theft is a nightmare come to life for the millions of people who have fallen victim to this horrendous crime. Sadly, despite stricter financial transaction processes, higher public awareness of the crime, and the imposition of state and federal laws, the number of identity theft victims continues to rise each year.

In the United States and Canada, many people have reported unauthorized persons withdrawing funds from their personal bank or financial accounts. More serious cases have seen victims reporting a thief who has totally taken over their identities. In these cases, thieves have run up huge debts and committed crimes, all under the name of the victim.

The United States Congress created a new federal law against identity theft in 1998. In spite of the tough laws now on the books, identity theft is more prevalent than ever. Once you have fallen victim, it is obviously too late to prevent the crime from being committed against you. In this instance, grandma was right: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. And that is an understatement.

Here are some steps to help you avoid being a victim of identity theft.

1. Shred any documents with personal information on them. Thieves are known to dig through household trash to find this information. Shred it to foil their attempts.

2. Be vary careful about giving out your social security number. Guard it like you would guard your life, because in a sense, you are guarding your financial life. Only give it out when absolutely necessary, and only to parties that are entirely trustworthy.

3. Be careful about storing personal financial data on your computer and sending it over the internet. Use passwords that do not make any sense. Most people use their birthdays, names of children, or other easy-to-guess types of passwords. Don’t make it easy for a criminal to get into your account info electronically.

4. Never place your tax return in your mailbox, stamped, with the flag up to let the postman know to pick up mail! Criminals are known to drive around neighborhoods during tax season looking for flags. Your tax return contains vital financial information. Always bring it to the post office to mail it.

5. Check your credit report regularly. Sign up for a plan if necessary. However, make sure that your inquiries will not be counted against your credit score. Too many inquiries in a short period will negatively affect your score, so make certain that your own inquiries to verify the safety of your file will not be counted against you.

Our personal records are stored in many different places in today’s world. Banks, hospitals, employers, government agencies, brokerage accounts, etc. all have our vital financial information within their records. Put into practice these five steps above, and only give your information to companies that you fully trust. By doing so, you’ll greatly decrease the odds that you’ll fall victim to identity theft.

Greg Roy
http://www.articlesbase.com/finance-articles/identity-theft-how-to-protect-yourself-53990.html

A one hundred percent foolproof method of preventing identity theft does not exist and probably never will. But you absolutely need to take some safeguards that if nothing else, will not make you an easy target to becoming a victim of identity theft. ID theft is not pleasant, and if it occurs to you, you will end up spending countless hours of time for months to get it corrected, possibly also including some respectable legal fees, not to mention the damage to your reputation and credit report, so while the safeguards may be inconvenient, they are well worth your time to implement.

Many people would think that some sort of email or computer-based solution is the best place to start, but in reality, a large percentage of identity theft is accomplished with nothing more than a watchful eye and some sticky fingers. Identity theft has become an all too common problem in the last couple of years, and is said by multiple studies to be one of the fastest growing crimes of this decade.

Be fully aware that identity theft is not limited to your Internet or surfing activities. In fact, studies have shown that people who routinely use services like online banking and online bill paying services (from reputable sites) are actually found to be LESS likely targets for this, since people who use such services are more careful with their personal identification information than Joe Average.

Basically what happens is simply that someone gets some of your personal information, enough so that they can open accounts, get credit cards or loans, and open those accounts in your name, obviously without your knowledge of it. Think about it, what information is required to open a department store credit card or apply for a Visa or Mastercard? Name, address, phone number, social security number or drivers license number. With people moving around today, with other information intact, many credit issuers will not have a problem with a new account application showing a different address and different phone number than what the credit bureau reports. This is especially true because it is well known that credit bureau information is not very accurate, and in fact, the majority of consumers have ERRORS in their Credit Reports.

So you only find out that you have become a victim of identity theft because some creditor that you have never heard of is calling you at work to ask when you intend to start making payments on your account. What a rude surprise!

The moral of the story is to be extremely careful with your personal information. This is particularly true of government issued identification numbers such as your driver’s license number and your social security number. How frequently do you get offers in the mail about being pre-approved for a new credit card? If you are like most people, you probably get several of these every month. What do you do with them? Do you simply throw them in the trash, perhaps ripping them in half first? Most people do exactly that, but the information is still very readily available to anyone who has the inclination to go through people’s trash looking for exactly this type of information. You will probably never get away from the junk mail, but for under $50, you can get a paper shredder at virtually any office supply store, and then put those offers through that shredder.

Anything you can do to safeguard your personal information makes it far less likely that you will become a target for identity theft. When you think of the small investment in a shredder and the bit of extra time to ensure that you properly dispose of such information, compared against the MONTHS of personal time required to straighten out a mess if you are a victim, the tradeoff is more than worth it.

Jon Arnold
http://www.articlesbase.com/law-articles/what-you-can-do-to-prevent-identity-theft-106078.html

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Story#1: Food Bubble: How Wall Street Starves Millions & Gets Away With It

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Background: Senate Probe Finds Inflated Prices in Wheat Market

http://ur1.ca/0tci2

Story#2: Oakland Marijuana Law Passes; ‘Pot Factories’ Coming to Bay Area

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Flashback: First US Marijuana Cafe Opens in Portland, Oregon

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Story#3: Competing Currency Being Accepted in Michigan

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Background: Wikipedia on Alternative Currencies

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As I was switching channels today, I happened to see a report being presented on a news channel, “ASIA 2025“. Curious to know what it was, I got myself hitting the internet, biggest source of knowledge today, (though not everything is authenticated, but at least we get an idea). After a brief search of ASIA 2025, I got an eye catching statement in the search engine – “American influence will fade by 2025: NIC report“. I couldn’t resist myself and started with the article.

NIC – National Intelligence Council, is an independent US Government body and reports to the Director of National Intelligence. Not surprising to say that a body from US predicting that US is not to be a major player in economy, and military power of US will decline. A reference quote from the report “….has forecasted that the political, economic and military influence of America will substantially decline over the next two decades”. So what waits Mr. Barack Obama in office, struggle to keep afloat the US economy, its military power against other countries as a priority. Also mentioned in the report is that, this report labeled “Global Trends 2025″ will be tabled in white house by the time Mr. Obama will be in office on Jan 20. This shows that the US has felt a sense of threat and are worried internally about their economy. No doubt that they are already struggling with current economic crisis, just imagine what this report might be for Mr. Obama.  After reading this article, the first thing that comes to my mind is, how far is Mr. Obama’s “YES WE CAN” be reachable? Poor Mr. Obama, his predecessor has already done the damage by investing huge amount in wars and left nothing for his own country except the credit crunch.

Is Mr. Obama is a worried man internally, yes definitely, for Mr. Obama, the President’s seat will be a hot seat which has numerous issues attached to it. To add to the worries, he has Israel to deal with and the crisis in the middle east, not many will be silent form the middle east once he assumes the office and on the other hand the PAK crisis of terrorist, well Mr. President, a very hectic schedule awaiting for you ahead.

Also according to the report, it is stated that India and China will at the top of the super powers list by 2025. Well, has this led the worry of US? I would say YES, to some extent because the way we are seeing the US pressurizing PAK for its role in the Mumbai terror attack, such high amount of pressure was not seen before, wonder why? Once a faithful ally of PAK, US is now shifting its focus to India. One such instance can be seen when US lobbied hard for the nuclear deal in India’s favor. Did US get a feeling that India will be its prominent ally in future? A clear case of getting itself prepared for the future.

As a person, I feel that Mr. Obama is much intelligent than his predecessor, at least that is what I came to know from his election campaigns. So will he take a quick decision on Iraq war and withdraw troops or continue with his troops in the desert and drown more into credit crunch, or will he take a U-turn against Israel and condemn its attacks on Gaza and make middle east feel that he is their man? Well, to me Mr. Obama is a mystery man until he assumes office and gets his work going.

Regards,

Sabahuddin Ahmed

Sabahuddin Ahmed
http://www.articlesbase.com/politics-articles/obama-asia-2025-and-challenges-719080.html

l information to carry out a crime under a false identity.

In 2003, the Federal Trade Commission said that reports of identity theft were up 33% from the year before, that they were aware of over 200,000 cases of identity theft in 2003. States with the most reported cases of identity theft were Arizona, Nevada, California, Texas, and Florida. And for almost three quarters of the fraud cases reported, the use of victims’ personal information was used for credit card, phone or utility, or bank fraud. They also found that, on average, the misuse of victims’ personal information lasted from three to six months and resulted in a total loss of about $5 billion to victims, plus over 300 million hours of personal time resolving the problems once discovered.

The 2003 FTC Survey reported over $50 billion in losses to business as a result of identity theft. They also reported that, in that year, each victim spent from $500 to $1200 and from 30 to 60 personal hours to have their credit problems resolved. Unfortunately, there is little hope that this trend will decrease in the near future. Identity theft seems to be getting easier, not harder, and the criminals are learning how to hide their crimes from victims longer and to hide their person from law enforcement altogether.

Unfortunately, there is no single database in the U.S. covering identity theft cases, and the Committee suspects that the number of crimes are vastly underreported. Classifying these crimes as identity theft varies from state to state and from police department to police department. The 2003 study revealed that 60% of victims of identity theft had not reported the crime to their police department! Only one in five had even reported the problem to their credit bureau.

Identity theft crimes are investigated at the federal level by federal agencies like the Secret Service and the FBI. The Department of Justice usually prosecutes the cases through a local U.S. Attorneys’ office. In 2000, U.S. Attorneys reported that they had filed over 2000 cases of identity theft across the country (compare this to the 9 million victims per year). That year, the Secret Service made over 3000 arrests, and average actual loses to victims in cases that were closed equaled over $46,000 each. The FBI reported 1425 convictions for identity theft, over a thousand of those for bank fraud. The Postal Inspection Service made a little over 1700 arrests in 2000. Even the IRS reported actual and suspected cases of identity theft in questionable tax returns in 2000, estimating that they had received around 150 thousand fraudulent returns and fraudulent claims for more than $750 million in refunds. Today, the federal government recognizes that identity theft is the fastest-growing financial crime in America.

One reason for the apparently low proportion of prosecutions and convictions for identity theft has been the government’s inability to define the specific crimes. In 1998, Congress passed the first law addressing identity theft, the Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act, making identity theft a named federal crime and making it a little easier to prosecute. The Act made the Federal Trade Commission responsible for receipt of complaints and public education about identity theft.

The Identity Theft Penalty Enhancement Act of 2004 established penalties for aggravated identity theft, including those instances where identity theft was used to commit more serious crimes. The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 amended the Fair Credit Reporting Act to address identity theft and related consumer issues, making it possible for victims to work with creditors and credit bureaus to remove negative information due to identity theft in their credit report. The Internet False Identification Act of 2000 amended the older False Identification Crime Control Act of 1982 to encompass computer-aided false identity crimes. Violators face fines and/or imprisonment for producing or transferring false identification documents.

Experts encourage people to be proactive in taking steps to prevent and discover identity theft. Clearly, keeping it from happening in the first place is far less stressful than trying to resolve issues after identity theft crimes are committed. Here are a few of the things you can do to protect your personal financial information from identity theft criminals:

- Secure your personal information at all times. Don’t leave lists of account numbers unlocked, and don’t share your user IDs or passwords with ANYone. Maintain as much control over your personal financial information as you can.

- Don’t throw mail away if in contains any personal information, including your full name and address. Shred these documents before putting them in the garbage.

- Educate yourself about the techniques and tactics used in identity theft and protect yourself accordingly.

- Don’t share personal account information with anyone, including co-workers, friends, and roommates. Unless they are also responsible for paying your bills, they have no reason to have this information. And don’t give them your passwords without a very good reason. If you do share your passwords, change them as soon as possible.

- Shred unwanted and pre-approved credit applications, and have your name removed from those mailing lists.

- Be careful when you make purchases online to use only secure servers and to carefully guard your information. Do not keep a written list of passwords, and use passwords that are difficult to figure out (rather than something simple like your phone number).

Abhishek Agarwal
http://www.articlesbase.com/personal-injury-articles/identity-theft-laws-how-the-legal-system-can-protect-you-754121.html

Credit: WATE

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