Scam

Here are the reasons why I think the website Google Profusion and the supporting testimonial of someone named Rosario Bautista are both scams:

1. Their Facebook ad is misleading. I.e. “mystery shoppers wanted”.

2. When you read through Rosario’s testimonial, it’s too good to be true. P480k a month through Google links? Are you kidding me? I’m a legit Google Adsense publisher earning not even $50 a month from Google ads posted on my site.

3. The website “Google Profusion” does not explain how you earn those staggering amounts. It’s all vague. You get paid for posting links? Whose links? Where do you post it? Do they give you a website? Why would Google do that when it already has Adsense? Truth is you can get Google’s Blogger account for free and sign-up to their Adsense also for free. So why pay to get a job?

4. Rosario Bautista’s page is the only page in http://onlinesuccessblogs.com/rosariobautista/blog/?t202id=32738&t202kw=phms-8. Click on the site’s homepage and all you get is a blank page. There were no links to their success stories published in CNN, New York Times, etc.

5. They only pay in checks. Why is there no Paypal option? Most of my legit online jobs uses Paypal to transfer payments.

6. Google has nothing to do with it.

7. Lastly, read what those who got suckered in say about their experiences.

These are my nieces Clara and Bianca. In the span of 4 months since I left London in December 2007, they have grown up pretty fast. The last time we were together, Clara was still learning how to walk after she mastered climbing the stairs. Bianca was still a four-year-old kid who I regularly walk to school rain or shine. (Mostly rain.)

I miss the things we did together. Like watching Johnny and the Sprites at six in the morning, Mickey Mouse Playhouse at seven and Doodlebops at eight. I remember those bright cold sunny days when played at the lawn hoping for more sun than rains. (That was weird coming from someone who abhors any form of sunlight back in Manila. Ha ha.) It was totally a 180-degree turnaround from my too independent Manila lifestyle that made me realize something. Motherhood does not come in the form of a membership card even if you sign up for one. It is a gift not all us women can have.

While the black swan is swimming, there are also golden parachutes flying.

A colleague told me during a coffee break how the US federal funds were supposed to be distributed among the world’s most ailing banks. I have not read the news for weeks. So I was surprised to hear that while Americans worry about job security, these bank executives were trying to reserve their slots on the $900Bn something bailout fund. Imagine just one person enjoying an enormous compensation package that can already feed hundreds of their employees and could still afford them Vegas vacations:

Bank of America: Kenneth D. Lewis (Chairman and CEO) – $24.8 million
Bank of America: Joe L. Price (Chief Financial Officer) – $6.5 million
Bank of America: Amy Woods Brinkley (Global Risk Executive) – $9.3 million
Bank of America: Barbara J. Desoer (Global Technology and Operations Executive) – $10.5 million
Bank of America: Liam E. McGee (President Global Consumer and Small Business Banking) – $12.2 million
Bank of America: Brian T. Moynihan (President of Global Corporate and Investment Banking) – $10.1 million
Bank of America: R. Eugene Taylor (Former Vice Chairman and Former President, Global Corporate and Investment Banking) – $3.3 million
Citigroup: Sir Winfried Bischoff (Chairman) – $6.1 million
Citigroup: Vikram Pandit (CEO) – $573,813
Citigroup: Gary Crittenden (Chief Financial Officer) – $19.4 million
Citigroup: Sallie Krawcheck (Chair and CEO—GWM) - $7.1 million
Citigroup: Lewis Kaden (Vice Chairman) – $6.8 million
Citigroup: Michael Klein (CEO- Global Banking) - $7.9 million
Citigroup: Stephen Volk (Vice Chairman) – $7.6 million
Citigroup: Charles Prince (Former Chairman and CEO) – $15.1 million
Goldman Sachs: Lloyd C. Blankfein (Chairman and CEO) – $70.3 million
Goldman Sachs: Gary D. Cohn (President and Chief Operating Officer) – $72.5 million
Goldman Sachs: Jon Winkelried (President and Chief Operating Officer) – $71.5 million
Goldman Sachs: David A. Viniar (Chief Financial Officer) – $58.5 million
Goldman Sachs: Edward C. Forst (Chief Administrative Officer) – $49.1 million

Source: Company proxy statements for 2007.

They have messed up the world’s economy. Why should they be rewarded with taxpayers money? Let go of those creeps.

Shaped like Magellan's hat

We were at Sto. Nino Parish Church in Mactan to hear mass on a late Sunday afternoon. This is the first time I attended mass conducted in Cebuano dialect and saw young women in their ministry wear long veils like the very icons in the altar. We left with no idea what the entire one-hour sermon was all about. It felt like much being a foreigner in your own land. I hope they have English and Filipino versions during the day, and even Korean. This particular area in Mactan Island is a tourist belt.

Inside the hat-shaped church on a Sunday

So in between ho-hums, unimaginable boredom and missing church services at CCF, I managed to steal shots of the Sto. Nino Parish Church. The small church is right across two major roads leading to Cordova and Punta Engano. What’s amazing about this church is its unique architecture. The building was shaped like Magellan’s hat (I would have said Anakin Skywalker’s) and its glass panels depict the image of the Sto. Nino tinted with bright colors. It is no longer as backward as what a typical parish in the outskirts of a province should be, bamboo blinds and all. Cebu churches have actually come a long way to become one of the province’s heritage sites.

MoreNiche is a UK-based networking company open to humans anywhere in the world. Here’s how you make money as an affiliate:

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To learn more about MoreNiche’s affiliate program, simply visit their website.

This is not to encourage everyone to get into debt and run away from the obligation. Pay your dues but let your awful experience be a lesson to you and never again be enslaved by your creditors. You will never know how things are going to turn up in the future. Live a simple and quiet life.

Go Negosyo is basically a compilation of stories of successful men and women who ventured in different businesses and succeeded. It’s a powerhouse cast from business elites to movie personalities, basically all about people who already have the money to begin with. What I am looking for are small, ordinary and nameless people with rags to riches type of stories to boot. I think if you want to inspire a nation dominated by the lower class, start with stories of people whom they can relate to.

I guess I am looking at the wrong side.

Anyway, whatever inside that book is good. It could still move stones, create jobs and save more people from going hungry. Start with what little you have. Be creative in looking for opportunities – from supplies, food, vehicles, old houses to used Cisco. Save and save. For all you know, it’s harvest time.

I have almost signed up to a mutual fund program offered by Generali Pilipinas during the time when I asked them for 10 and 20-year life insurance quotes. The fund was in dollar denomination and the potential of earning interest at 20% and up was tempting. It was still P50 per dollar. Now imagine the effect of a weaker dollar to those who have invested their moolah in this financial program. It’s a bit of a nightmare.

BPO companies have been employing all sorts of tactical means to attract applicants in the same manner malls promote their 3-day sale events. Newspaper classifieds are filled with full-page ads by various call centers. Their billboards decorated major highways. Applicant referral bonuses. Headhunting in overcrowded MRT stations. Free english training to attract novices. Everyday, call center offices are filled with aspiring jobseekers from all walks of life, served with free-flowing coffee and sandwiches while hundreds of red-eyed, stressed out and disillusioned agents are being fired or leave these companies gladly.

Retaining employees has been a difficult task of most BPO talent management groups. According to Pinoypress.net, resigning call center agents blame “bad training design, oppressive trainors, too much stress, too much pressure, ‘prison-like’ condition, pay not worth the effort, etc.” Call center agents receive a monthly salary of P11,500 to P13,000. Mandatory benefits such as SSS, Philhealth and Pag-Ibig are being deducted from this meager income. It’s way below the $2,500 pay their US counterparts are enjoying.

US companies find the Philippines an ideal site to start BPOs due to low-cost labor and highly-skilled English-speaking natives.

To minimize risks on the seller’s part, a process was created where buyers and sellers can meet and trade on spot — buyer will pay the seller for the goods he needs and seller will make sure that goods are delivered to the buyer on the agreed time. A futures contract was drafted on mutual trust and goodwill and money was exchanged for the future delivery of goods.

This dealer-supplier contract can also be transfered from one hand to another by selling it at higher or lower price depending on prevailing conditions. If the dealer did not want the wheat, he can sell it to another dealer. The same thing also applies to the farmer. Other external conditions also affect this type of futures trading. If the weather was bad, supply was tight and those dealers were holding more valuable contracts. If supply was bigger, contracts held by dealers were far less valuable.

The same concept applies on today’s modern trading. Stock markets have become volatile as there are more industry players today and several factors that can affect trade also vary. This is where a futures broker comes in to assist you in important investment decisions and present you with other options.