50 Rapid Fire Tips For Power Blogging

50 Rapid Fire Tips For Power Blogging

from David Risley dot com by David

via Items shared by Michael Fruchter

I have been blogging for a living for many years now. I’ve learned a lot and, today, I wanted to throw out a bunch of quick tips in rapid succession. The goals here are (1) get lots of traffic to your blog and (2) earn money with it.

OK, here we go (in no particular order):

1. Use Wordpress. No other platform is as flexible with all the plug-ins, in my opinion.
2. Post often. I usually default to one post per day, when I’m asked. I try to do at least one per day on this blog, except for weekends.
3. Use catchy blog post titles. Put yourself in the shoes of a person who is casually surfing the Internet, seeing your post along with hundreds of others. Will your blog headline stand out?Copyblogger is an awesome source for information on writing.
4. Ask open ended questions. One of the best ways to invite commentary on your posts is to ask for it. Ask your readers questions and tell them to answer in the form of a comment.
5. Comment on other blogs – often. I actually maintain a separate folder in Google Reader for relevant blogs I want to follow more closely than others. And, on those blogs, I comment regularly whenever I have something to say.
6. Use Twitter. You’ve GOT to be out there, being social. Friendfeed, too.
7. Use Twitterfeed to pipe your latest posts into Twitter. But, don’t ONLY use Twitterfeed. You’ve got to be a real person on Twitter, first and foremost. Twitter should not replace RSS.
8. Make your RSS feed obvious, above the fold, and preferably use the orange RSS icon.
9. Provide an RSS-to-Email option so people can subscribe to your latest posts without being forced to use an RSS reader. Many people still don’t use RSS. Feedburner provides a free RSS-to-Email service.
10. Use images in your posts. Images communicate on aesthetic wavelengths words cannot.
11. Use header tags to separate sections in your blog posts, where applicable. H1, H2, and H3 tags. And use good search engine keywords wherever possible in those headers.
12. Structure your blog posts for easy scanning. Use header tags, lists, etc. Avoid long sentences and long paragraphs.
13. Avoid Myspace-style blog designs. What I mean by this is super BUSY designs with too much on screen, animated graphics, etc. These things make your blog truly suck and makes your content too hard to pay attention to.
14. If possible, use a custom Wordpress theme. It is getting to the point where people can recognize cookie-cutter themes. It is OK to use one, but at least modify it so that you have a unique header design.
15. Start your blog’s mailing list as early as possible. The sooner you start, the longer you have to grow your list and, trust me, that list can be used to make money later. JeremyShoemoney made this mistake. John Reese used to hound him about building a list. When he finally got around to it, he realized how important it was.
16. Research and choose your mailing list option correctly the first time. I recommendAweber. What you choose is up to you, however moving a mailing list later can be a huge pain. I know from experience.
17. When choosing a topic to focus your blog on, two things should be considered: (1) Your interest in the topic, (2) How MARKETABLE your topic is.
18. Learn to SELL. The way to a full-time income by blogging is to learn how to MARKET and sell things using your blog. Yaro Starak does a good job of selling via his blog, for example.
19. Don’t discount Facebook. It is a powerful networking tool and you should take the time to build your network, just as you might on Twitter.
20. Create a Facebook page. On Facebook, create a page for your blog or yourself and invite your readers and Facebook friends to become fans. This page can be your blog’s outpost on Facebook. Be sure to import your blog posts as notes.
21. Don’t Be a Me-Too Blogger. You don’t want to become a copy-cat news blog, where you type news-style posts about what is happening in a saturated market. In technology, this is common. Offer something unique that cannot be found everywhere else in your market.
22. Learn to think about your blog as a business. The blog is a promotional and delivery mechanism to your ultimate product or service.
23. When writing your About Page, pay attention to what you write. Don’t just rattle off some dumb, cookie cutter facts. Your About Page should tell a story of who you are and why your blog is worth reading.
24. Do lots of videos. Use TubeMogul to publish them in as many places as you can. And make sure your blog URL is not only in the video, but in the text description that accompanies the video.
25. When making videos, be REAL and be personable. Your videos are an important component to your blog’s brand. Don’t waste the opportunity.
26. Link to other, related blog posts regularly in your own posts. Not only your OWN posts, but the posts of others.
27. Remember, blogging is a SOCIAL business. Be accessible to your readers and proactively get out there and talk with other people in your niche.
28. If you can afford it, travel to blogging conferences. Not only can you learn a lot, but socializing with successful people often breeds so much motivation and success in yourself that is simply beyond words.
29. Write an e-book, create some videos – whatever – but the idea is to create something which is of value to your readers on your subject, and have it available to SELL to them on your blog.
30. Get involved as an affiliate and start linking to products relevant to your posts using your affiliate links. You are providing relevant links to your readers (valuable) while potentially making some money.
31. Don’t Post Low Feedburner Counts. Do not show your RSS subscriber count unless you have a high enough number (at least a few hundred). A low number acts as social proof that your blog has no readers, and that’s not good.
32. Install Popularity Contest or some similar plug-in which ranks your posts based on popularity. Whether you display this information in public on your blog or not, knowing which of your posts are most popular tells you that that particular subject material works and you should probably do more of it.
33. Put relevant keywords into your blog’s title. Use All-In-One SEO to have more control over the titles across your blog.
34. Use a Photo Gallery. People dig photos, so a photo gallery can be a great component to your blog. If you use Flickr, check out the Flickr Photo Album plug-in for Wordpress.
35. Create an RSS widget for your blog on WidgetBox and make it available for your readers to embed on their own blogs if they so choose.
36. Spend some time creating some killer posts for your blog, the link to them somewhere so that new arrivals can quickly see your best work. It is your best stuff which is going to sell them into becoming a subscriber.
37. Make Sharing Easy. Put options on your blog for your readers to share your posts across social media. ShareThis is a great option for this.
38. Share and share alike. If you submit your own posts to sites like Digg or StumbleUpon, be sure to also submit other posts. I might even recommend a 10 to 1 ratio of other people’s posts to your own posts. You do not want to develop a reputation on these sites as somebody who only submits their own content.
39. When you write a post for your blog, aim to be helpful. You want your visitors to come away with a solution to the problem they arrived with. Chris Brogan does so well because his posts are truly helpful.
40. Read other blogs often. When starving for ideas to write about, go to your RSS reader and read related blogs. Often, your own post can be a response to a post on another blog. In fact, this is usually a good idea.
41. Train your readers to do what you want, if needed. If you’re in a market where the people will not know how to use social media, RSS and some of these other things that help promote your blog, TRAIN THEM. Write posts or do videos which show your visitors how to Digg a post, use StumbleUpon, how to use RSS, etc. Perhaps you can educate them and they’ll become part of your promotion army for your own blog. 
42. When starting a blog, decide on it’s mission. Your posts should, for the most part, center around a specific theme if you want your blog to really take off. If you run a personal diary kind of blog, where you write about anything that comes to mind, your blog traffic will always be limited because your blog will never attract any particular segment of people. Stay on topic. If you have no specific topic, that’s fine, but realize your blog is going to be more a hobby than a business at that point.
43. Don’t overload your blog with javascript widgets. These things slow down the load speed of your site. In fact, just recently I had to get rid of the MyBlogLog widget on this blog because it was having some effects on page loading time.
44. Use Analytics. I personally use Google Analytics as well as the Wordpress.com Stats plug-in on this blog.
45. Use Windows Live Writer. It is the best blogging client program out there. Even though it is a Microsoft product and a Windows-only product, it is also better than any Mac blogging client I have tried. And it’s free.
46. Be yourself. I believe it is a good thing to show personality on your blog. Don’t be a fake. People can see right through it. Chris Pirillo draws people to his blog and Ustream feed almost solely on personality alone.
47. Don’t write like you’re writing for Britannica. You want your spelling and grammar to be correct, but be colloquial. Talk to people like you would normally talk to people, not as if you’re writing a PH.D. dissertation.
48. Link To Your Social Profiles On Your Blog. Link your various social media profiles right on your blog so that your readers can connect with you outside the confines of your blog.
49. Go where your readers are. Every market is different. When I blog about blogging, I know most of my readers are pretty adept online and probably hang out in the social media space frequently. If your readers are young, they might be on Myspace. If they’re Linux nerds, they may be in the Ubuntu forums. Regardless, you need to maintain a consistent presence in the spaces your readers congregate. Be an authority and be helpful, and traffic will be drawn over to your blog.
50. Equal time reading and writing. You should probably spend just as much time reading and learning as you do writing for your blog. This is how you expand your knowledge, become a better blogger, and get new ideas for your own site. Blogging isn’t all about you. Remember that.

Your Turn

Do you have any advice you would like to share? What tips would you like to add? Please comment below.

You Might Also Like:

1. What Do I Do All Day? [Problogger]
2. When Blogging Isn’t Blogging Anymore
3. The Power of Blogging

Ivete Sangalo - Ao Vivo MTV - Sorte Grande (Poeira)

Neil Diamond - Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon (1972)

Pulp Fiction Girl You'll Be Woman Soon

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USA President-elect’s Thanksgiving address.

Thursday, November 27th, 2008

Good morning.

Nearly 150 years ago, in one of the darkest years of our nation's history, President Abraham Lincoln set aside the last Thursday in November as a day of Thanksgiving. America was split by Civil War. But Lincoln said in his first Thanksgiving decree that difficult times made it even more appropriate for our blessings to be -- and I quote -- "gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American people."

This week, the American people came together with family and friends to carry on this distinctly American tradition. We gave thanks for loved ones and for our lasting pride in our communities and our country. We took comfort in good memories while looking forward to the promise of change.

But this Thanksgiving also takes place at a time of great trial for our people.

Across the country, there were empty seats at the table, as brave Americans continue to serve in harm’s way from the mountains of Afghanistan to the deserts of Iraq. We honor and give thanks for their sacrifice, and stand by the families who endure their absence with such dignity and resolve.

At home, we face an economic crisis of historic proportions. More and more Americans are worried about losing a job or making their mortgage payment. Workers are wondering if next month's paycheck will pay next month's bills. Retirees are watching their savings disappear, and students are struggling with the cost of tuition.

It's going to take bold and immediate action to confront this crisis. That's why I'm committed to forging a new beginning from the moment I take office as President of the United States. Earlier this week, I announced my economic team. This talented and dedicated group is already hard at work crafting an Economic Recovery Plan that will create or save 2.5 million new jobs, while making the investments we need to fuel long-term economic growth and stability.

But this Thanksgiving, we are reminded that the renewal of our economy won't come from policies and plans alone -- it will take the hard work, innovation, service, and strength of the American people.

I have seen this strength firsthand over many months -- in workers who are ready to power new industries, and farmers and scientists who can tap new sources of energy; in teachers who stay late after school, and parents who put in that extra hour reading to their kids; in young Americans enlisting in a time of war, seniors who volunteer their time, and service programs that bring hope to the hopeless.

It is a testament to our national character that so many Americans took time out this Thanksgiving to help feed the hungry and care for the needy. On Wednesday, I visited a food bank at Saint Columbanus Parish in Chicago. There -- as in so many communities across America -- folks pitched in time and resources to give a lift to their neighbors in need. It is this spirit that binds us together as one American family -- the belief that we rise and fall as one people; that we want that American Dream not just for ourselves, but for each other.

That's the spirit we must summon as we make a new beginning for our nation. Times are tough. There are difficult months ahead. But we can renew our nation the same way that we have in the many years since Lincoln's first Thanksgiving: by coming together to overcome adversity; by reaching for -- and working for -- new horizons of opportunity for all Americans.

So this weekend -- with one heart, and one voice, the American people can give thanks that a new and brighter day is yet to come.

Warren Buffett’s 10 Largest Holdings

Coca Cola                                    200 million shares

Proctor & Gamble                          105 million shares

Wells Fargo                                  290 million shares

Burlington Northern                         64 million shares

ConocoPhillips                                84 million shares

Kraft Foods                                  138 million shares

Johnson & Johnson                          61 million shares

American Express                          151 million shares 

US Bancorp                                   72 million shares

Wesco Financial                               5 million shares

 

These 10 holdings make up over 90% of the Berkshire Hathaway stock portfolio. Warren Buffett only owns 2 stocks personally. Those two stocks are Wells Fargo and Coca Cola.

Currency Outlook: Temporary Weakness in Dollar Will End in January

Google Launches a Sweet Competitive Research & Keyword Research Tool

Google Launches a Sweet Competitive Research & Keyword Research Tool

from SEO Book.com - by Aaron Wall

via Items shared by atul

The Inside AdWords blog announced the beta launch of Google's Search-based Keyword Tool. To some degree the tool is a Compete.com knock off, but with a number of exceptions

• this tool is free
• Google has more search data than Compete.com does
• this shows bid prices and search volume estimates next to keywords (like the Google Traffic Estimator)
• this shows your current page titles and keywords
• this shows the % of organic and paid traffic going to a URL

For any keyword, the Google Search-based Keyword Tool will show up to 800 related keywords with cost and search volume estimates. This tool also works to show you 100 keywords related to a site, and if you own a website they will show you thousands of keywords that they think you could bid on which are not already in your account. In addition they show your search share of voice (via ads and organic search results) for keywords. This data is easy to export using a handy export button.

There are a variety of cool extra filters that can be applied on this tool, including...

• minimum or maximum search volumes
• bid price range
• low, medium, or high competition
• keyword in URL
• combining URL and keywords as filters
• keyword + general category
• negative keywords

Using a variety of different combinations for these filters you can see many different sets of 800 keywords even within the same subset. Export these different lists a variety of times and you can quickly build a list of thousands of high value keywords.

If you are a paying subscriber, this thread has a few more tips for how to get the most out of this tool.

Defesa Civil alerta para golpistas que divulgam contas na internet

http://www.desastre.sc.gov.br/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=88:defesa-civil-alerta-para-golpistas-que-divulgam-contas-na-internet&catid=7:riscos&Itemid=21

A Defesa Civil alerta aos que desejam contribuir em dinheiro para as vítimas atingidas pelas fortes chuvas, no litoral de Santa Catarina, para que prestem atenção nas contas onde estão efetuando o depósito. Muitos golpistas têm utilizado a internet, se passando pela Defesa Civil, e pedindo dinheiro em contas não-oficiais, através de e-mails.

Na manhã desse sábado, a Defesa Civil recebeu a informação de que um brasileiro, que mora na Inglaterra, abriu uma conta para arrecadar ajuda de outros brasileiros que moram na Europa. Esse tipo de conta não é reconhecida como oficial pela Defesa Civil e é provável que seja objeto de golpe.

A Defesa Civil disponibiliza oito contas oficiais nos bancos:

SICOOB SC - 756
Agência 1005
Conta Corrente 2008-7

Caixa Econômica Federal 
Agência 1877 
Operação 006 
Conta 80.000-8

Banco do Brasil 
Agência 3582-3 
Conta Corrente 80.000-7

Besc 
Agência 068-0 
Conta Corrente 80.000-0

Bradesco S/A - 237 
Agência 0348-4 
Conta Corrente 160.000-1

Itaú S/A - 341 
Agência 0289 
Conta Corrente 69971-2

SICREDI - 748 
Agência 2603 
Conta Corrente 3500-9

SANTANDER - 033 
Agência 1227 
Conta Corrente 430000052

Nome da pessoa jurídica é Fundo Estadual de Defesa Civil, CNPJ - 04.426.883/0001-57.

Municípios abrem contas

Alguns dos municípios afetados também abriram contas para ajudar suas comunidades afetadas, os números das contas e bancos podem ser consultados pelo 199, na Defesa Civil de cada cidade.

Conta de Ilhota

Banco do Brasil 
Agência: 3148-8 
Conta corrente: 90.000-1 
Prefeitura Municipal de Ilhota

Britney Spears - Star Academy - Womanizer

Weekly Review and Outlook − Euro May Tumble in an Eventful Week on Speculations of Deep ECB Cut

Sat, Nov 29 2008, 20:03 GMT

by ActionForex.com Team

ActionForex.com

Weekly Review and Outlook

Euro May Tumble in an Eventful Week on Speculations of Deep ECB Cut

Improvement of risk appetite was the main theme in the forex markets early last week as reflected with AUD/USD and AUD/JPY being the top gainers. Nevertheless, momentum in yen crosses receded as the holiday shortened week went on and upside of yen crosses are still limited by some near term resistance levels. The outlook of investors sentiments remained shaky despite the boost by announcement of various stimulus and rescue plans.

The most important development of the week was, indeed, the deterioration in Euro towards the end with Euro felling sharply across the board after sharper than moderation in consumer inflation. Weakness of Euro was most apparent in EUR/GBP as the correction from 0.8660 record high resumed and dived to as low as 0.8234. EUR/USD was sharply lower from 1.3080 to as low as 1.2464 while EUR/JPY was back pressing 121 level. Note that Nov HICP flash was at 2.1% yoy, just inch above ECB's target of 2%, thus giving ECB the much room to catch up with other major central banks around the world on cutting interest rates.

Dollar index dived to as low as 84.78 early last week but subsequent strong rebound and break of 86.43 resistance argues that such correction from 88.46 has completed. Some more strength in the greenback is in favor, probably led by weakness in EUR/USD. Also, note that Gold's rebound lost momentum after hitting 833 level. OPEC also said that they will delay cutting production this year. Any short term reversal in Gold and Crude Oil will provide further support to the greenback.

The coming week will be extremely eventful, featuring rate decisions of four major central banks, ECB, BoE, RBA and RBNZ. In addition, we'll have both ISM indices as well as Non-Farm Payrolls. Let's prepare for a roller-coaster ride in the markets.

http://www.fxstreet.com/technical/analysis-reports/daily-forex-technical-report/2008-11-29.html

How To Create A XML Sitemap In 4 Easy Steps

How To Create A XML Sitemap In 4 Easy Steps

from MakeUseOf.com by Wendy Limauge

To get your website properly indexed by Google and other search engines you will need a sitemap. A sitemap is a file on your website that shows the search engines exactly what files you have.

There are two types of sitemaps - a HTML page or a XML file. A HTML sitemap is a single page that shows visitors all the pages on a website and usually has links to those pages. The XML type of sitemap is used by search engine crawlers to find out what pages are present and which have recently changed. A XML sitemap isn’t meant to look pretty for the website visitor.

XML-Sitemaps is a free sitemap generator. XML-Sitemaps will index your website and create a XML file that you can upload to the root directory of your website. There is nothing to download or install. Just use the XML-Sitemaps website and they will do all of the work.

4 Easy Steps for Creating a XML Sitemap

1. Go to xml-sitemaps
2. Enter your full website URL.
   Choose your other options:
   - Enter the frequency your website is usually updated from the drop-down list.
   - Choose an option under ‘Last modification’. This is the time the URL was last modified.
   - Leave the Priority at Automatic.
3. Click ‘Start’. Wait while your sitemap is being generated.
4. Click the link to download the .xml file.

Now you can upload the sitemap.xml file to the root directory of your website and you can submit your sitemap URL to Google Webmaster Tools.

(By) Wendy Limauge authors several blogs including the The Computer Lady Online and Twitter! Tweet! Win!.

Enjoyed the article? Please leave a comment and tell us what you think about it 

New here? Get your cheat sheets and freebies at MakeUseOf Downloads. Enjoy!

Tags:free sitemap generator, sitemap generator, webmaster tools, xml sitemap

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Risco x oportunidade: investidores usarão abono de Natal para aplicar em ações

http://web.infomoney.com.br/templates/news/view_rss.asp?codigo=1447726&path=/suasfinancas/

Por: Patricia Alves
28/11/08 - 19h30
InfoMoney

SÃO PAULO - Agressivo, arrojado, com forte apetite ao risco... não importam os adjetivos ou as classificações, o que importa é que, mesmo com a volatilidade atual e as incertezas com relação ao futuro dos mercados mundiais, grande parte dos investidores vai usar o décimo terceiro salário para investir em ações.

De acordo com enquete do portal InfoMoney, feita com 5.397 investidores usuários do site, 36,59% dos participantes disseram que usariam o abono de Natal para investir no mercado acionário.

Na segunda posição entre os principais destinos da gratificação ficou o pagamento de dívidas (15,53%), seguido por "gastar tudo" (11,71%).

Investimentos
Além do mercado de ações, outros investimentos, mais conservadores, estão entre os destinos do décimo terceiro salário.

Fundos DI/renda fixa foram apontados como preferência de 9,73% dos investidores, seguido por CDBs (9,02%) e poupança (7,12%).

"Sempre que a pessoa tem um dinheiro disponível para investimento, ela deve avaliar o que pretende com a aplicação", afirma o consultor em Finanças Pessoais, Raphael Cordeiro. "Se o objetivo for de curto prazo, não vale a pena se expor ao risco de mercado".

Para Cordeiro, quem tem planos no longo prazo pode diversificar a carteira de acordo com o perfil. "O cuidado, neste caso, é que o perfil pode ser alterado pelas emoções", alerta. "Pessoas extremamente conservadoras podem ver na baixa do mercado uma oportunidade de compra, motivadas por ganhos passados ou por iniciativas de terceiros, por exemplo. Como as oscilações são características da renda variável, esse investidor pode se apavorar diante de uma perda e prejudicar seu investimento", alerta.

Resultados
A tabela abaixo mostra o resultado completo da enquete:

Com a volatilidade atual, o que você irá fazer com o seu 13º?	Votos	Percentual
Gastar tudo	632	11,71%
Pagar dívidas	838	15,53%
Investir na poupança	384	7,12%
Investir em CDBs	487	9,02%
Investir em fundos DI/renda fixa	525	9,73%
Investir em ações	1975	36,59%
Outros investimentos	211	3,91%
Não decide o que fazer	345	6,39%

Megan Fox

Lisbon principles of sustainable governance

http://www.eoearth.org/article/Lisbon_principles_of_sustainable_governance

Lead Author: Robert Costanza (other articles)

Article Topics: Ecological economics, Sustainable development and Natural resource management and policy

This article has been reviewed and approved by the following Topic Editors: Nancy E. Golubiewski(other articles) and Cutler J. Cleveland (other articles)

Last Updated: August 9, 2007

At a workshop held in Lisbon, Portugal, in July 1997, sponsored by the Independent World Commission on the Oceans (IWCO) in conjunction with the Luso-American Development Foundation, a group of 16 scientists developed a core set of principles for sustainable governance of the oceans. These six principles are general enough to apply to the governance of our natural capital assets generally and are reproduced below:

Principle 1: Responsibility. Access to environmental resources carries attendant responsibilities to use them in an ecologically sustainable, economically efficient, and socially fair manner. Individual and corporate responsibilities and incentives should be aligned with each other and with broad social and ecological goals.

Principle 2: Scale-matching. Ecological problems are rarely confined to a single scale. Decision-making on environmental resources should (i) be assigned to institutional levels that maximize ecological input, (ii) ensure the flow of ecological information between institutional levels, (iii) take ownership and actors into account, and (iv) internalize costs and benefits. Appropriate scales of governance will be those that have the most relevant information, can respond quickly and efficiently, and are able to integrate across scale boundaries.

Principle 3: Precaution. In the face of uncertainty about potentially irreversible environmental impacts, decisions concerning their use should err on the side of caution. The burden of proof should shift to those whose activities potentially damage the environment.

Principle 4: Adaptive management. Given that some level of uncertainty always exists in environmental resource management, decision-makers should continuously gather and integrate appropriate ecological, social, and economic information with the goal of adaptive improvement.

Principle 5: Full cost allocation. All of the internal and external costs and benefits, including social and ecological, of alternative decisions concerning the use of environmental resources should be identified and allocated. When appropriate, markets should be adjusted to reflect full costs.

Principle 6: Participation. All stakeholders should be engaged in the formulation and implementation of decisions concerning environmental resources. Full stakeholder awareness and participation contributes to credible, accepted rules that identify and assign the corresponding responsibilities appropriately.

Further Reading

• Costanza, R. F. Andrade, P. Antunes, M. van den Belt, D. Boersma, D. F. Boesch, F. Catarino, S. Hanna, K. Limburg, B. Low, M. Molitor, G. Pereira, S. Rayner, R. Santos, J. Wilson, M. Young. 1998. Principles for sustainable governance of the oceans. Science, 281:198-199.

This Informational Box is an excerpt from An Introduction to Ecological Economics by Robert Costanza,John H Cumberland, Herman Daly, Robert Goodland, Richard B Norgaard. ISBN: 1884015727

Citation

Costanza, Robert (Lead Author); Nancy E. Golubiewski and Cutler J. Cleveland (Topic Editors). 2007. "Lisbon principles of sustainable governance." In: Encyclopedia of Earth. Eds. Cutler J. Cleveland (Washington, D.C.: Environmental Information Coalition, National Council for Science and the Environment). [Published in the Encyclopedia of Earth August 9, 2007; Retrieved November 26, 2008]. <http://www.eoearth.org/article/Lisbon_principles_of_sustainable_governance>

Banco público puxa expansão do crédito e ganha espaço de privado

http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/dinheiro/ult91u473179.shtml

NEY HAYASHI DA CRUZ
da Folha de S.Paulo, em Brasília
Sob pressão do presidente Lula para irrigarem o crédito no país após o congelamento do mercado na crise, os bancos públicos foram os que puxaram a expansão do crédito ocorrida no mês passado, quando as instituições financeiras privadas adotaram uma posição mais cautelosa e passaram a fazer fortes restrições à liberação de novos financiamentos.

Segundo dados do Banco Central, o volume de empréstimos oferecidos pelos bancos controlados pelo governo cresceu quase duas vezes mais do que no setor privado ao longo de outubro.

No mês passado, o tamanho das carteiras de crédito dos bancos públicos cresceu 5,2% na comparação com setembro, enquanto no mesmo período a expansão observada nas instituições privadas ficou em 1,8%.

Os bancos públicos respondem por pouco mais de um terço (35%) dos financiamentos fornecidos pelo sistema financeiro e são liderados por Banco do Brasil, Caixa Econômica Federal e BNDES. Mesmo não tendo a maior fatia do mercado, sua atuação foi decisiva para fazer com que o volume de crédito disponível no país chegasse a um valor equivalente a 40,2% do PIB (Produto Interno Bruto), o maior nível já registrado desde o início da série estatística do BC, em 1994.

Para Carlos Thadeu de Freitas, economista da CNC (Confederação Nacional do Comércio) e ex-diretor do BC, é normal que, em momentos de crise, os bancos públicos atuem para tentar normalizar a situação. "Está sobrando dinheiro no mercado, principalmente nos grandes bancos, mas ele não está chegando às mãos de quem precisa. É importante que os bancos públicos preencham esse vazio", afirma.

Freitas diz que, nas atuais circunstâncias, o setor financeiro pode preferir usar seus recursos para aplicar em títulos do governo federal em vez de emprestar ao setor privado, mas essa opção não faria sentido a um banco público, que já tem como controlador o próprio governo.

"Os bancos públicos estão fazendo o mesmo que o Fed (o BC americano) está fazendo nos Estados Unidos, que é injetar dinheiro no mercado. Por causa de restrições da legislação brasileira, o BC do Brasil tem uma atuação limitada nesses casos, e o papel acaba sendo exercido pelos bancos públicos", diz o economista.

Para Alex Agostini, economista-chefe da Austin Ratings, a atuação mais forte dos bancos públicos "é momentânea" e deve durar enquanto as condições de mercado não se normalizam. Ele diz que as instituições financeiras podem assumir riscos um pouco maiores em suas operações porque contam com garantias maiores do que as que existem entre as instituições privadas. "O suporte do banco público é o Tesouro Nacional, se ele precisar reforçar o caixa, pode recorrer ao governo", diz.

Isso não significa, argumenta, que a maior concessão de empréstimos possa colocar em risco a saúde financeira dos bancos públicos. Agostini cita o empréstimo de R$ 2 bilhões da Caixa para a Petrobras como exemplo disso, já que se trata de uma operação fechada com uma empresa reconhecidamente sólida e que deve trazer lucros ao banco estatal.

Os números do BC mostram que a carteira de crédito dos bancos públicos cresceu mais do que a de bancos privados em todos os segmentos analisados, com destaque para a indústria, o setor de serviços e as operações com pessoas físicas.

Taylor Swift

Rubin Agonistes

Rubin Agonistes

from The Big Picture by Marion Maneker

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2008/11/rubin-agonistes/

Robert Rubin’s defense only raises more questions about his role, his judgment and his character.

Bloomberg News/Landov

Reading today’s Wall Street Journal story poking and probing at Robert Rubin and his role in Citigroup’s downfall, one can’t help wonder why Rubin and Pandit are not better prepared to explain themselves.

Rubin’s quotes are filled with some fascinating self-contradictions. He doesn’t have operating duties–and takes no responsibility for what has happened at the bank–but he wants to stick around to help Pandit. (In what way?) He validates Charles Prince’s strategic plan. (So why isn’t Prince still CEO?) Nobody could have forseen this. (Funny, that doesn’t seem to work for the auto execs.)

Rubin defends himself by saying he was making speeches warning against the underpricing of risk–something we now know was caused by both the rating agencies and the ability to layoff risk through the swaps market (a market he previously protected from regulation.)

According the the Journal, Rubin “acknowledged that he was involved in a board decision to ramp up risk-taking in 2004 and 2005, even though he was warning publicly that investors were taking too much risk. He said if executives had executed the plan properly, the bank’s losses would have been less.”

Robert Rubin is the most influential figure of his generation to straddle Washington and Wall Street. He is a giant of fiscal responsibility. Had he warned seriously against what Citi was doing, the board would have been negligent to have ignored him. If they ignored him, he should have resigned to distance himself from their actions.

In trying to defend himself he claims he is not the only one who is suffering from unfair blame and cites Alan Greenspan. But Greenspan at least admitted publicly that he was wrong. Rubin views it only as a learning experience: “if you look back from now, there’s an enormous amount that needs to be learned.”(Great, thanks.)

We’ve seen this movie before when Greg Ip wrote a front-page story on Greenspan where the sage tried to defend his reputation and avoid culpability. That didn’t work for the Maestro. Here it will only force Rubin farther out on the limb he’s already clinging to.

The way Rubin describes his role at the company, he would have been better off working as a consultant. But Rubin doesn’t want to accept what we all know. Citi paid him a lot of money to rent his reputation. Rubin’s presence was a blessing on their actions. Rubin should have resigned with Prince. The short-term pain would have been easy to get over. Long-term he would have saved his reputation–probably even enhanced it.

Remember the wise warnings of John Kenneth Galbraith that each financial collapse demands that a seemingly all-powerful figure from the boom be discredited. Robert Rubin, who deserves a graceful and dignified exit from the public stage, seems determined to be the one to ruin his own reputation.

Source:

Rubin, Under Fire, Defends His Role at Citi 
‘Nobody Was Prepared’ for Crisis of ‘08
KEN BROWN and DAVID ENRICH
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122791795940965645.html

O massacre de sábado a noite - Paul Volker e os juros em 1979.