I just thought I’d follow-up with you on the information I provided earlier about LiquidTalk (www.liquidtalk.com), and how it is providing a unique service for businesses, enabling them to push audio and video content to people’s wireless devices. LiquidTalk’s secure, web-based (SaaS) application for the enterprise enables remote employees to find, organize and create business-oriented audio and video content and push it proactively to their mobile devices. LiquidTalk has now expanded its solution to include the media-enabled BlackBerry® 8800 Series, BlackBerry® Pearl™ and BlackBerry® Curve™ smartphones, as well as iPhones and iPods.

Since I have had questions about the market demand for these capabilities, I thought I would share some data with you:

More and more workers are conducting business away from traditional office space.

According to employee mobility consultancy Runzheimer International1:

As much as 50% of the workforce may be “mobile employees”—those who spend at least 50% of business hours working from home, client sites, hotel rooms, airports and conference facilities; and while driving

44% of Fortune 2000 benchmark study participants intend to grow their population of teleworkers within the next year

Two-thirds of U.S. workers are mobile, spending 10+ hours outside the office each week (per analyst firm IDC)

50% of traveling workers will leave their notebooks at home in favor of other devices by 2012 (per Gartner)

Opportunities to connect and share knowledge and best practices in real time—once as simple as a short walk across the office—are limited. A key subset of the mobile workforce—sales and service—faces increasingly intense performance challenges.

Companies are asking reps to know more, as product lines multiply in scope and complexity, and sell more, as competition escalates and quotas increase. They’re leaning harder on a thinning crop of star performers to work longer hours to ramp up new reps and grow revenue streams:

80% of revenues are generated by just 20% of an organization’s sales force2

But more pressure does not drive a more productive workforce

Salespeople forget 85% of content and skills within four weeks of training3
Only 57% of reps made quota in 20074

Sales cycles have lengthened by 22% versus 3 years ago5

Rep turnover rates are at near-record highs (50%) and climbing6

A new generation of employee talent learns, communicates and works differently

With more than 64 million workers able to retire by the end of this decade7 and a strained workforce in need of help, Gen Y and the Millennials will have strong influence on the workplace; but their expectations and values are quite different:

“Digital natives” require information immediacy, constant connectivity

Mobile devices such as iPods and BlackBerrys are like extra limbs8

High importance is placed on peer input and teamwork

They expect to be seen, heard and accommodated9

Companies unprepared to address these workforce changes risk lost talent, lost revenue

65% of Fortune 2000 companies do not know if productivity is higher for their mobile employees.1 In fact, many organizations continue to manage business and employees in a traditional way, despite the risks:

A disengaged, disconnected workforce in a breakneck-paced, demanding workplace can contribute to a breakdown in how companies sell (and who does the selling)

How companies sell…may well become what differentiates market leaders from market laggards in the future10

If sales professionals could gain just 12 more minutes of productive time each day, top-line revenue would grow by 2 percent for the typical organization (Runzheimer)

Sources: 1 Runzheimer International 2005 Total Employee Mobility Benchmarking Study; 2 2004 Miller Heiman Sales Effectiveness Study; 3 ASTD Journal; 4 CSO Insights 2007 Sales Performance Survey; 5 Sirius Decisions; 6 CSO Insights Sales Effectiveness White Paper Series; 7 The Conference Board; 8 USA Today, Generation Next—Computer Comfort; 9 iconoculture.com; 10 CSO Insights 2007 Sales Performance Surve

Bear Stearns purchased for just $2 a share

Matt Wrye, Staff Writer
Article Created: 03/17/2008 09:39:11 PM PDT

JPMorgan Chase & Co. purchased bankruptcy-bound Bear Stearns Co. for a meager $2 a share on Monday - just one day after the Federal Reserve cut its discount interest rate to 3.25 from 3.5.

The twin developments were just the latest signs of a national economy that appears to be skidding toward recession.

The two gigantic subprime underwriters, who created thousands of jobs during the recent housing boom, now might be destroying them.

Hundreds of financial-industry employees in San Bernardino and Riverside counties were axed over the past two years thanks to the same types of poisonous loans shelled out by investment banks like Bear Stearns.

"Bear Stearns was waist-deep in the subprime slump," said Kurt Eggert, law professor at Chapman University and former member of the Federal Reserve Board's Consumer Advisory Council. "To some extent, what we're seeing is poetic justice."

To read this entire story, please visit: http://www.paradigmshiftpr.com/bearsterns.htm

Fed faces political heat over Bear Stearns deal

Mon Mar 17, 2008 4:11pm EDT
By Emily Kaiser - Analysis

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve walked into a political firestorm by pledging $30 billion in taxpayer money to guarantee Bear Stearns' assets while struggling homeowners at the core of the financial crisis default on their mortgages.

To be sure, the central bank could hardly sit idly by while the fifth-largest U.S. investment bank collapsed, potentially dragging down other financial firms with it. But by throwing out a lifeline believed to be the biggest single Fed bailout on record, it opened itself up to some pointed criticism.

"As the Fed rides to the aid of Bear Stearns, there is a growing disconnect between the Bush administration's willingness to help Wall Street and its willingness to aid the homeowners facing foreclosure," said Kurt Eggert, a professor at Chapman University's law school in Orange, California.

"When it comes to reducing foreclosures, the Bush administration has adopted a 'What me worry?' attitude, hoping that the market will fix the problem with some cheerleading by federal regulators," he said.

To read this entire story, please visit: http://www.paradigmshiftpr.com/fedfaces.htm

Mortgage legal expert shares thoughts in advance of Bush plan

I thought I would share with you some initial reactions from Kurt Eggert, a professor of law and director of the Clinical Legal Education Center at Chapman University's School of Law. Prof. Eggert is an expert and has recently written a paper entitled What Prevents Loan Modifications.

"The greatest concern is whether the plan reaches enough people, both because the scope of the plan seems to be quite limited and because it appears that it may be completely voluntary on the part of the servicers. If the plan does not reach very far, it will have little effect on the wave of foreclosures that threaten to swamp the economy," Prof. Eggert states.

"The plan could even increase foreclosures in the short term. If the plan focuses on borrowers who are presently current on their loans and able to pay the loans until the end of the teaser rate, it ignores borrowers who are already having trouble making their loan payments and need loan modifications to stay in their homes right now. The plan could cause servicers to focus their efforts of borrowers who are current now, and ignore the needs of borrowers currently in default. This could increase the foreclosures in the short term, which is exactly what the plan is designed to prevent," Prof Eggert continues.

"The plan also could be counter-productive if it is too small in that investors could argue that they’ve already taken their haircut through the teaser rate freeze and so all of the rest of the burden of the foreclosure wave should be born by borrowers or by the public in the form of a bailout. However, investors purchased their interests in these loans realizing that their investments were secured by subprime loans, and should have been aware that the subprime market has been plagued by aggressive loan practices and shoddy underwriting. Given that Wall Street and investors were a large factor in creating this problem by demanding investment in risk-layered, exotic loans little understood by many borrowers, Wall Street and investors should bear much of the burden of fixing the resulting problem. This plan may well be far too small a step on the investors’ behalf," Prof. Eggert also points out.

Prof. Eggert has indicated you can call him any time on his cell phone: (323) 717-6087.
Below is Prof. Eggert’s bio. Please let me know if you’d be interested in speaking to him in the future.

Professor Kurt Eggert is a Professor of Law and Director of Clinical Legal Education. He also runs Chapman’s Alona Cortese Elder Law Center, and teaches both clinical and doctrinal classes. His scholarship has focused on several different areas, among them predatory lending, consumer credit, gambling regulation, and elder abuse. He has testified to Congress on predatory lending issues and is a member of the Federal Reserve Board’s Consumer Advisory Council, where he chairs the subcommittee on Consumer Credit. Previously, he was an adjunct professor of law, teaching Elder Law, at Loyola Law School. From 1990 until 1999, he was a senior attorney at Bet Tzedek Legal Services in Los Angeles, where he specialized in complex litigation, including consumer fraud and home equity fraud. Professor Eggert received his B.A. from Rice University, magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, and received his Juris Doctor from Boalt Hall, the University of California at Berkeley School of Law. He teaches Legal and Equitable Remedies, Elder Law, Legal Research and Writing, Civil Procedure and Depositions/Discovery Complex Litigation.

Brief overview of What Prevents Loan Motifications: In that article, I discuss the current barriers that prevent or slow the modification of residential loans, even where such modification may be to the advantage of both borrowers and investors. I discuss not only the barriers in the pooling and servicing agreements, as well as the laws governing securitization, but also the barriers caused by what I call “tranche warfare,” conflicts of interests between the various investor groups and others with an interest in the loan pool. Such warfare and threat of litigation could keep servicers from acting, out of fear of suit or fear that they will breach their fiduciary duty to some group of investors. The teaser freeze plan may have some immunity for servicers who do loan modifications, which could help the process.

I also talk about the servicers’ self interest, and how servicers may be unwilling to do extensive loan modification unless they’re paid to do so, and are able to hire the new employees needed to take on such a massive task.

Ultimate Private Jet Golf Excursion to Asia

This one-of-a-kind Asian Golf Tour via private jet consists of two weeks exploring Asia's finest golf courses and outlandish accommodations (including meeting and dining with royalty in Thailand). Designed for an intimate group of four golfers/wine lovers (more can be added), you’ll be whisked to Bali, Langkawi and Hong Kong aboard our Gulfstream G550. Luxuriating in the most sumptuous hotels and private villas, including a wonderful stay aboard a palatial private yacht, this “golf outing” finds you on some of the most challenging and beautifulchampionship courses in the world.

Dining will be a rare treat, as only the finest Asian cuisines prepared by world-renowned chefs and matched with rare vintages (such as Domain Romanee Conti) will do. Angel’s Share’s extensive network of highly placed contacts will allow you to meet and dine with prominent and influential Asian business leaders, politicians, artists and even nobility. Your golf escort in each country is a top professional player who accompanies and instruct you as youwish.

Travelling in the utmost comfort is the our nom de plume, starting the moment you board your jet, equipped with luxurious seating and lounge areas, state-of-the-art entertainment technology, Wi-Fi, and a well-stocked bar and galley. Your cuisine and wine pairings are hand designed by Mark Russo of Angel’s Share and Richard Brierley, Head of North American Wine Sales at the prestigious Christie’s auction house. Mr Russo and Mr. Brierley consult with you before departure to create a unique experience tailored to your own discriminating tastes. Mark Russo can also accompany you on the trip, if youwish, to conduct the tastings and to educate you in depth about the wines and spirits you enjoy. On board you’ll enjoy a custom-ordered wine and spirits service for each guest from Baccarat, including special glasses for red and white Bordeaux, Burgundy, and Champagne and spirits.

This two-week golf tour experience for two to three couples is priced at $1.3 mm.

Trying to deal with ban on talking while driving

By COURTNEY McCANN Staff Writer, 609 272-7219
Published: Saturday, March 15, 2008

Members of Morales' generation have never been without access to a cell phone. They're calling friends while walking through the mall, sending e-mails during class and texting while driving to school.

"There is no other device to which teens are so emotionally attached, not even iPods," said Fareena Sultan, associate professor of marketing at the College of Business Administration at Northeastern University in Boston. "The iPod is only a source of music. But the cell phone is the way to connect with friends and get information."

Over the past year Sultan has been researching the younger generation's dependency on cell phones as part of a study on the media multitasking behavior of teenagers and young adults.

"If someone were to enter a typical teenager's home, they would probably see a laptop open with seven or 10 different windows open," Sultan said. "They have an iPod in their ear, a cell phone in their hand, maybe even the TV on in the background."

To read this entire article, please visit: http://www.paradigmshiftpr.com/tryingto.htm

Mortgage revamp ‘too little too late’

Proposal provides no relief to banks

LYNN ADLER

REUTERS

Among the offences, loans were often extended to borrowers unqualified to meet payments, without income checks or clear explanation about the costs. Fraud flowered.

‘‘While Paulson seems to be moving in small steps toward greater regulation of the mortgage industry, this new plan seems to be too late for the existing subprime meltdown, and too little for the next one,’’ Kurt Eggert, a law school professor at Chapman University in Orange, California, said in an e-mail.

To read this entire story, please visit: http://www.paradigmshiftpr.com/mortgagerevamp.htm

New Year's Resolutions for Job Searches

Here are some thoughts from Lynne Sarikas, director of the MBA career center at the College of Business Administration at Northeastern University, for improving job search efforts in 2008:

The biggest mistake people make in undertaking a job search is to underestimate the amount of time it takes. Finding a job is a big job. Not only do you need to allocate time to the process, you also need to develop a plan and monitor your progress against that plan. Great to make a new year's resolution to make a change but doing something about it requires careful planning and execution.

Define an overall plan - what type of job are you looking, what industry is likely to have that type of position, which companies do you most want to work for

Define and implement a networking plan - identify everyone you know who might be able to help you, conduct information interviews, develop specific strategies to get to know more about the companies you are most interested in and to identify contacts within those organizations, set a goal and strive to meet that networking goal each week, remember to offer something in return

Review your resume to be sure it is accomplishment focused not job responsibility focused, it should not read like a job description, focus on specific, measurable accomplishments, have someone else (preferably several someones) review it to ensure that it is error free

Practice writing cover letters until you are good at relating your experience to their needs, never submit a resume without a cover letter

Identify industry events to attend to meet key players and to learn more

Thoroughly research companies of interest so you can present yourself as a knowledgeable and well-prepared candidate

If possible do some practice interviews and solicit feedback to improve how you sell yourself, ask friends or family members who may interview on the job, ask the career center at your alma mater, etc. There is always room for improvement.

Just as you can't resolve to lose weight but never start the diet or exercise, you can't resolve to get a new job without developing and executing a specific plan and investing a significant amount of effort. Most jobs aren't filled from newspaper ads or online postings but through networking so it is critical to get out there to meet people. Common mistakes to correct for the new year:

Make sure the resume and cover letter are flawless, spelling and grammatical errors will eliminate you from consideration

Do not send a resume without a cover letter

Do not spend the majority of your job search time cruising job posting sites online, time is better spent networking and researching companies

Don't skip the planning and jump to execution, this needs to be a strategic, coordinated and focused effort

Doing the same thing doesn't lead to different results - polish the resume, practice interviewing, research the companies, give yourself every advantage as you try to sell yourself

Skin In The Game

Washington, D.C. - Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson proved Thursday the response to the credit crunch and mortgage crisis is becoming as muddled as the problems they're trying to alleviate.

Along similar lines, Kurt Eggert, a law professor at Chapman University in California and a former member of the Fed's Consumer Advisory Council, is a proponent of "assignee liability," requiring mortgage brokers to keep a minimum amount of assets on their balance sheets before they can be licensed.

"With assignee liability, investors would demand greater supervision of originators to ensure that borrowers were not victims of misrepresentation," he says. Being required to hang on to some of their loans would do wonders for lenders' risk-assessment as well.

To read this entire article, please visit: http://www.paradigmshiftpr.com/skinin.htm