Episode of Top Gear gets BBC prosecuted by Tesla Motors

The popular TV show “Top Gear” may be causing the BBC some headaches in the courtroom. Tesla Motors is suing the BBC for alleged libel committed by “Top Gear” and the hosts. The electric vehicle manufacturer alleges that the show made detrimental and false claims during an episode which was intended to put the Tesla Roadster through its paces. The British Broadcasting Corporation is vigorously denying the allegations.

Response from Tesla Motors to Jeremy Clarkson’s stunt

The Tesla Roadster was tested depending on its range claims in a “Top Gear” episode on BBC2 in December 2008. The Guardian states that the show made Tesla Motors really angry. Now the company is suing the British Broadcasting Corporation for its false claims.

The Roadsters are supposed to get over 200 miles on an electric charge although the Tesla Roadster only ran for 55 miles according to “Top Gear” host Jeremy Clarkson. The show also claims the Roadster’s brakes ceased to function, and depicts the “Top Gear” crew pushing the car from the private “Top Gear” test track after it allegedly ceases to run. This made Tesla angry. The business lost business.

vehicle marker asserts false claims were made

According to Tesla, the “Top Gear” show was lying. The Roadster never really ran out of charge in it. USA Today reports that Tesla claims to have monitored the 2 vehicles loaned for testing to the show while neither went below 25 percent of the charged power. A fuse in the braking system, not the brakes, failed, in accordance with Tesla. The brakes would have continued to work just fine.

The Tesla Roadster is "an electric vehicle you would actually want to buy," That has "a motor the size of a watermelon, with one moving part," in accordance with host Jeremy Clarkson on the show. He also said it was good that the car was able to, in less than four seconds, get from 0 to 60 miles per hour.

Tesla really just wants the episode to stop airing although it doesn’t want much in monetary damages. Forbes states that Tesla has been angry for a while over the show however didn’t start legal proceedings until the concern of the claims in the show stopped being addressed by BBC.

Comments tend to trigger trouble

”Top Gear” has been in a lot of controversy in the past. The show is known for troubles while the hosts, Richard Hammond, James May and Jeremy Clarkson, have been known for the rude and offensive comments they make. This show is just like every other automotive television program. It wants the vehicles with horsepower that guzzle lots of gas. There are over 300 million individuals in the world that watch "Top Gear." About 6 million of them are from Britain, states Bloomberg.

Articles cited

The Guardian

guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/mar/30/tesla-sue-top-gear

USA Today

content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2011/03/tesla-top-gear-jeremy-clarkson-elon-musk-lawsuit/1

Forbes

blogs.forbes.com/hannahelliott/2011/03/30/tesla-sues-top-gear-for-libel/

Bloomberg

bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-30/carmaker-tesla-sues-bbc-s-top-gear-over-electric-roadster-test.html

Fed denies Bank of America dividend increase

The Federal Reserve is forbidding Bank of America from increasing shareholder dividends, which are currently once cent per share. After a round of stress tests, the Fed told the biggest banks they were fit enough to increase payouts to shareholders. But Bank of America was the exception. Some financial experts are concerned the Fed’s blessing for banks to release capital to shareholders will put the banks in an untenable position in the event of an economic relapse into recession. Article resource – Why allowing banks to boost shareholder dividends is a bad idea by MoneyBlogNewz.

No Fed approval for Bank of America

The Federal Reserve heard from Bank of America that it wanted to, in the second half of 2011, to boost shareholder dividends in January. The bank was anticipated to raise its quarterly dividend by up to 8 cents, about 20 percent of its envisioned earnings this year. Because of the decision Bank of America made to lose $2.24 billion past year getting Countrywide in 2008 during the housing sector drop, the Fed told the bank not to do it. There has also been pressure from investors to get Bank of America to buy back bad mortgage securities. These were sold before the meltdown started. The Fed gave permission to other banks though. This involved U.S. Bancorp, Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase. Now Bank of America has a plan to give a new proposal to the Fed. This will occur before June is over.

Why would banks increase dividends for shareholders?

The economy will not be able to grow without increasing dividends helping banks raise more equity in the future, Wall Street banks argue. banks are able to lose equity but get more investors by paying shareholder dividends. Leverage is all bankers want. banks fund over 95 percent of investments in debt taking other people's money although companies like Google use equity to get funded. Equity is something banks don't need because leverage makes executives and shareholders lots of money. This is assuming there is health in the financial sector. banks also stay away from equity because the more equity they hold, the more liable they’re for the risks they take. They will default at their own expense with their risk. The working class individuals are not needed to help.

Possibility of another bailout

There were several highly leveraged banks noticed during the financial crisis. The Fed was worried about this. Many feel like shareholder dividend increases shouldn't be allowed unless the economy is strong first. The New York Times Simon Johnson compared the leveraged bank to getting a mortgage for 98 percent of the purchase price with a tiny down payment. Sometimes the home price will go up. That means it was worth the risk. Creditors end up missing out while the borrower loses if they drop. There’s a difference between the two though. The banks have learned they’re too large to fail when working for the people. When a highly leveraged bank fails, a government bailout rescues its executives, shareholders and creditors, and U.S. taxpayers get the shaft.

Citations

New York Times

economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/24/dividends-lost/?emc=eta1

Business Insider

businessinsider.com/how-bank-dividends-help-wall-street–and-hurt-almost-everyone-else-2011-3

CNN Money

money.cnn.com/2011/03/23/news/companies/bank_of_america_dividend/index.htm

No one should be troubled by national vacancy rate

The national vacancy rate has reached 13 percent, or the percentage of houses in the nation that are sitting empty. Since that figure doesn’t reflect how many of those houses are the; second, third or fifty-seventh home owned by the wealthy, that figure is incredibly misleading. The housing market is certainly down, however not entirely out.

Hot stops for vacations having trouble selling vacation homes

The economic statistics and indicators on real estate are viewed by individuals each day. These make it seem like the housing market is doomed. For instance, CNN recently published an article that said up to 13 percent of homes sit empty in The United States. The statistic is misleading really. CNN also states that vacation places like Maine, Florida and Arizona are where the majority of the vacancies are. There was an increase in the last four years in vacancies from 12.1 percent to 13 percent. That is less than a 1 percent increase.

Increase in pending sales

Bloomberg states that there was a rise in February of 2.1 percent in the number of homes officially in the process of selling, or Pending sales. The dip in home sales over the past few months was attributed partially to frigid winter conditions, as not a soul wants to go house hunting in the middle of a blizzard. The housing market isn’t doing as well nevertheless considering pending sales for February 2011 were 8.2 percent lower than they were in February 2010. Reuters reports that National Realtor's Association's chief economist Lawrence Yun believes that in 2011, older homes will sell faster than new homes meaning a rise in existing homes sales. The costs of new homes are much higher than the costs of old homes. This is how the market is right now.

Reality of realty

Individuals keep talking about a second crash in the housing market. This is part of the news going around. Banks do not want to lend as often right now while housing aren’t worth very much and sales are slow. While loan companies continue to worry about lending in this economy, there are also fewer individuals willing to purchase houses keeping prices low. In the next few years, a lot of people with a home will see the value rise while people who purchase now can be getting a deal.

Articles cited

CNN

money.cnn.com/2011/03/28/real_estate/us_housing_vacancy_rates/index.htm?hpt=T2

Bloomberg

bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-28/pending-sales-of-u-s-existing-homes-unexpectedly-climbed-2-1-in-february.html

Reuters

reuters.com/article/2011/03/28/us-usa-economy-housing-idUSTRE72F3XG20110328

The enterprise viewpoint of settlement system fees

In the next few months, congressional legislation is set to reduce debit and credit card interchange fees to 12 cents per transaction. A few legislators have submitted new legislation that would remove this new requirement. The legislation cites these fee limits as a reason companies could be “less competitive”. For small business owners, this legislation would not improve competitiveness. Instead, these fee limits are what could keep smaller businesses competitive. Post resource – A small business perspective on payment systems by MoneyBlogNewz.

Charge card fees just to have it

Card interchange fees are, in short, fees paid for the privilege of allowing consumers to use a credit or debit card. These are called “swipe fees,” as well. They cost between 12 and 75 cents every time someone utilizes the card. This “interchange fee” is in addition to a certain percentage of the transaction amount that is charged for use of the card. All of the percentage fees and interchange fees are taken to pay for the process. The card processor, the banks and the card machine all are paid for this way. Last year, the fees added up to $50 billion. There are very high interchange fees in the United States though. They are twice as high as Europe's are. To be able to help U.S. businesses become less competitive, congress members are trying to push some legislation. This would make interchange fees go down.

Less people willing to pay an interchange fee

For a small business, the decision of whether to accept cards is tough. Accepting credit cards means paying a fee and a percentage on every charge card transaction, plus most charge card processors charge a monthly fee, so the costs are high. It is worse than that for smaller businesses that do not have a lot of additional money. Even with accessible alternatives that reduce cost, any small business could have to eventually pass on the cost to consumers through minimum purchases, higher prices or additional charges on card payments. There are benefits; accepting cards means customers are more likely to make bigger purchases, and more customers are willing and able to pay for your product or service.

I have a small business

My husband and I own a small business that offers a variety of products and services. Whether we should accept credit cards were never really a question — it was a necessity. It did not make sense to pay the $20 to $100 monthly credit card terminal fee when we didn't have a physical location and don't make too much money with it. We chose start-up Square to run our credit cards, which charges a flat percentage of every transaction and processes credit cards through smartphones. Our small business only has to pay about $8 in credit card fees since we only make about $300 a month. The profit goes down quite a bit after adding on $30 in small business taxes and $26 in sales tax. The suppliers have to be paid as well. The reduction in charge card interchange fees would allow us to cut back the amount we charge customers or be able to actually hire employees. Companies can go from "surviving" to "competitive" with a decrease in the small percentage points of! interchange fees.

Articles cited

Market Watch

marketwatch.com/story/visa-mastercard-rise-on-swipe-fee-regulation-pact-2010-06-21

Frivolous tax arguments are amusing, but the IRS penalty isn't

Each year the IRS hears new and different frivolous tax arguments. The most popular unsubstantiated claims made by working class individuals each year are compiled into a compendium by the IRS. Most working class individuals would laugh at some of the frivolous tax arguments people come up with, however the IRS is not amused. Source for this article – Frivolous tax arguments are amusing, but the IRS penalty is not by MoneyBlogNewz.

Cheating on taxes a poor choice

The Truth about Frivolous Tax Arguments is an annual report the IRS has just released for 2011. The document was 87 pages long. It described several tax evasion scenarios that have been popular. The individuals would often get penalties depending on the arguments which were integrated in the document. It also had the official legal policies used by the government to argue these cases. Most of the arguments are spread on the Internet by a growing number of scam artists posing as brave crusaders against an unjust government and contain refusal to pay federal income taxes for moral, religious, semantic or philosophical reasons.

Paying for an argument

An argument some have is that they aren't a "person." This is in accordance with the IRS definition. Others have argued that the federal income tax is unconstitutional or that paying taxes is voluntary. Military income is exempt for some taxpayers while foreign income is still taxable. It has been estimated that annually at least 10,000 individuals attempt to evade taxes with a frivolous argument, and the number is growing. There is a $5,000 IRS penalty to everyone that files a frivolous tax return argument. Taxpayers who go to court with their frivolous arguments can receive an IRS penalty up to $25,000. The Department of Justice has had over 455 businesses and individuals that it filed injunctions against since just 2000.

Never seeing courts rule in favor of tax arguers

There have been claims that paying taxes violates the fifth amendment, that it’s against ones religion or that it is against the 13th amendment, the IRS explained. The Supreme Court often rules that saying “paying taxes is against my religion” simply won’t fly. The Fifth Amendment states an individual shall not be "deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” However the law gives the government authority to collect taxes from U.S. citizens. Courts don't think the idea that paying taxes is servitude is really a valid argument when using the 13th Amendment.

Articles cited

Main Street

mainstreet.com/article/moneyinvesting/taxes/tax-excuses-irs-won-t-buy?page=2

Portfolio.com

portfolio.com/views/blogs/resources/2011/03/21/irs-warns-taxpayers-about-excuses-for-not-paying-that-won

Christian Science Monitor

csmonitor.com/Business/2010/0415/Tax-Day-101-42-excuses-you-can-t-use-to-avoid-filing-IRS-forms

Internet news paywalls and how to stay away from them

If you do not have much money however want to continue to satisfy your online news addiction, the move toward paywalls is disconcerting. Without information, you can end up choking in the digital dust. However don’t worry. A little misdirection and a handful of mobile apps can bring you the news for free or a very low price. Article resource – Money-saving ways to avoid online news subscription paywalls by MoneyBlogNewz.

Every person will love Google News

The best part of Google News is access. Lots of news sites are brought to one place. It is easier to get news. It is available each day. there are local news and top news categories. Anybody loves the clear and simple format it has.

Newspapers app: An iOS portal to publications across the US

Newspapers are an app at the Apple App Store that you pay $1.99 for to be able to get links to all internet newspaper sites. Read articles on your iPod, iPhone or iPad in Safari. You can download stories and read them later. Instapaper is an example of an app to do this with.

Cheap RSS Reeder for everyone

Reeder will take RSS feeds and make them neat for you. It has a newspaper-style interface, and the iOS app cuts the ads and reformats the page for optimal reading pleasure. Download the app for pretty cheap. You only have to pay $2.99.

There's Zite too

The free iPad app Zite acts as a kind of "personalized magazine," says Business Insider. It recommends news you might like, via connections to your Twitter and Google Reader accounts. there are also lots of articles in the app. You are able to pick them and read them instead.

CNN and Associated Press apps are free

For world, national and even local news on an iOS or Android system, it works really well to have Associated Press and CNN apps. The AP app allows users to pick a favored broadcaster. Then, the stories will be followed of that person. Users are able to submit photos of news in an iReport feature in the CNN app.

NYT and the Daily for free

The NYT Twitter feed could be put into a list by Twitter users. Clicking the links via Twitter or blog postings do not count toward the 20 articles per month limit the Times has imposed, so this amounts to free access. The Daily: Indexed, is a blog that the same thing happens with The Daily.

MediaMemo's Peter Kafka explained that there can be a limit of five referrals per day that are free from Google for NYT. This exact same limit might not apply to Bing or other search engines.

The Times just blocked Google. Why is that? Because users could simply Google an article headline and get into the article without going through the front door, so to speak.

Citations

AP

ap.org/mobile/

Business Insider

businessinsider.com/how-to-get-around-paywalls-2011-3

CNN

cnn.com/mobile/iphone/

The Daily Index

thedailyindexed.tumblr.com/

What to expect with the NYT paywall

youtube.com/watch?v=jOkvPOY3VKU

Increasing energy costs leading to airline fare hikes

In the sixth such move since the first of the year, most airlines have elevated their ticket prices. Fare increases are generally an industry-wide move, with a few holdouts. This increase is significant as the usual holdout, Southwest, has followed suit. The increase is being blamed on rising oil costs.

Flying costs are merely increasing

There was a $60 boost this year in the average airline ticket prices, in accordance with airline industry reports. A ticket that would have cost $200 on January 1, 2011, now costs $260. Not all of the airlines did this price adjustment though. The rise wasn't something they needed to do. The prices go down typically unless all airlines raise them. Even though normally Southwest Airlines doesn't raise its costs, it did this time. The most recent $10 increase occurred at Southwest too.

Gas expenses for low-cost airlines

In the U.S., you will find several low-cost airline service providers including Southwest Airlines. Traditionally, Southwest Airlines has avoided many of the fees and rate hikes that larger airlines have undertaken, in an effort to keep customers. JetBlue and AirTran are also low-cost service providers that attempt to keep their prices low. These lower profit margins, however, open the carriers up to more price volatility. When a barrel of oil price raises $10; so will the cost of tickets. This is how the change typically works. Three times the income Southwest made in 2010 can be spent in 2011 with about $1.3 billion on fuel, which the Southwest CEO explained.

Traveling getting more costly

As airlines are raising their fares, travel in the United States in general is getting more costly. Sometimes, an individual has to travel a long distance. There are not many possibilities for that individual though. Certainly airlines are always an option. Driving is also a choice, though the increasing price of gasoline can often put the cost of a long-distance trip relatively close to that of an airfare ticket. The increasing oil prices are leaving even bus trips more costly. In some places, it is an option to do rail travel. Nevertheless, a ticket that was $50 in 2008 is now going to cost about $150. There is more theory put into high-speed rails than other things.

Articles cited

WSBTV

wsbtv.com/news/27110644/detail.html

USA Today

travel.usatoday.com/flights/post/2011/03/another-day-another-fare-hike/146578/1

News OK

newsok.com/fuel-costs-force-southwest-to-add-10-to-ticket-cost/article/3546778