Andrew Abraham

A.Abraham@AngusJackson.com

www.AJpartnersinc.com

www.myinvestorsplace.com

Futures trading involves risk. People can and do lose money

My name in Andrew Abraham. I have been investing in commodities and managed futures since 1994. I am a commodity trading advisor/co manager of a commodity pool who adheres to the philosophy of trend following. Trend following stresses a disciplined approach to commodity/ futures trading. Successful trend following and commodity futures investing requires patience, discipline and actively managing the risk. What sets us apart from other Commodity trading advisors and commodity pools is that we are not only concerned about the return on investment but how much risk you will have to tolerate to achieve your goals.

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/personal-finance-articles/trading-systems-for-commodity-trading-1396132.html

Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – Some members of Congress are saying the suspension of a Washington, D.C., air traffic controller who fell asleep on the job early Wednesday is only the beginning of the changes that are coming.

Possible new safety measures could include a high-tech air traffic control system that automates most operations done by humans now.

Transportation leaders in Congress are using the incident Wednesday to illustrate broader safety problems at the nation’s airports.

“This incident and other recent performance failures, including near miss incidents, are matters of serious concern,” said Rep. John L. Mica, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

Mica (R-Fla.) ordered his staff to collect more evidence of airline safety violations as part of a congressional investigation.

During the incident minutes after midnight, the lone air traffic controller at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport fell asleep while he was supposed to be directing airliners onto and off of the runway.

He told investigators it was his fourth night in a row of working the late shift from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.

Two pilots from approaching airliners radioed the control tower for permission to land but received no response.

After failed communications by radio and by telephone, the pilots landed on their own without getting clearance.

The airplanes were an American Airlines 737 that touched down at 12:12 a.m. and a United Airbus A320 that landed at 12:26 a.m.

The air traffic controller resumed radio flight operations at 12:28 a.m.

He has 20 years of experience as an air traffic controller, 17 of them at Reagan National Airport. He also is a Federal Aviation Administration manager.

The FAA announced Thursday that the controller, whose name was not given, had been suspended pending an investigation.

“I’m outraged,” said FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt. “We will get to the bottom of this.”

So far, the FAA’s response has been to ban control tower operations with less than two controllers directing aircraft.

Thirty-one major U.S. airports operate throughout the night with a single air traffic controller.

Mica, the congressional committee leader, said the ban on lone controllers was inadequate.

“Unfortunately the [Obama] Administration’s call for increased staffing at Reagan National, when there are no flights during the early morning hours, is a typical bureaucratic response,” he said.

The controversy could push Congress and the FAA to look more closely at the “NextGen” air traffic control system, a congressional staff member told All Headline News.

“Whether or not these safety incidents lead to more scrutiny of NextGen development remains to be seen,” said Justin Harclerode, spokesman for the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

NexGen is the short name for the planned Next Generation Air Transportation System.

Work started on the automated air traffic control system in 1993 but was halted amid technological hurdles and budget shortfalls.

Originally, the FAA planned to install the system by 2001.

Installation of the system now is scheduled to begin next year and continue in stages through 2025.

NexGen is designed to move air traffic control away from ground-based technology to satellite communications. The role of human air traffic controllers would be reduced by the technologies, which are intended to make airline operations safer and more efficient.

Safety hazards the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is examining as it considers new safety options include a near miss in January between an American Airlines jet and two Air Force C-17 cargo planes, Harclerode said.

They missed each other by less than a mile while being guided by a New York City air traffic controller. 

Others involve an air traffic controller who was distracted while talking on the phone to his girlfriend. He failed to to keep an eye on a plane that ran into a helicopter over the Hudson River in New York.

Another incident in New York involved an air traffic controller who allowed his child to issue commands to pilots on Feb. 17, 2010.

 

View full post on Politics Stories

KARACHI, Pakistan (IRIN) – The floods that swept across vast tracts of land from July to September 2010 covered many fields, houses and roads in a sea of swirling water – but they also played a part in exposing the depth of existing poverty and deprivation in Pakistan.

“The malnutrition we are seeing is not new. It has nothing to do with the floods; it is just that we are seeing it now as people come into contact with medical teams,” Shershah Syed, a gynecologist who has devoted himself to caring for impoverished women requiring care during pregnancy and birth, told IRIN.

Some of the ways in which powerful feudal families – in many cases linked to the political and bureaucratic elite – acted to protect their own interests at the cost of ordinary villagers have been well documented. Feudal overlords have been accused, both in the southern Punjab and in Sindh Province of influencing decisions regarding the diversion of floodwater or the breach of over-flowing dams to protect their own land.

A judicial investigation continues into allegations that in other places protective dykes were breached by wealthy landowners to save their farms, while flooding those of impoverished – and powerless – villagers.

The more subtle ways in which Pakistan’s feudal system works against people, even in times when there is no natural disaster, are beginning to surface only now – in some cases as a result of surveys conducted to assess the plight of flood-affected people.

Vast estates belonging to feudal families stretch out across the country, sometimes covering hundreds of acres. According to the World Bank, about 2 percent of households control more than 45 percent of the total land area. Large farmers have also monopolized subsidies in water and agriculture – with the system in place contributing heavily to rural poverty, the Bank says.

Call for land reform

“In a country where about half the workforce is engaged in agriculture, the key to improving lives is an end of feudalism by implementing effective land reforms. No one should own more than 12 acres [4.86 hectares] of agriculture land,” Farooq Tariq, spokesman for the Labour Party of Pakistan, told IRIN.

“Throughout Pakistan, millions of peasants are working on land they do not own, giving between half and two-thirds of their crops to landlords. The poor peasants and landless agricultural workers are exploited in many ways. Workers often end up tied to the land, after taking a loan from a landowner and offering to pay it back by working. Sometimes whole families end up in this type of debt bondage, working to pay off a loan on which the interest keeps accumulating. This system is one of the many ways that ties the peasants to absolute poverty,” he said.

Historically speaking, land reform has been held back by the fact that many parliamentarians are themselves big landowners, and as such are unwilling to initiate a re-division of land.

Nutritional crisis

The impact of feudalism, and the poverty it gives rise to, is poorly documented, but six months after the most devastating floods in the country’s history, with Sindh Province worst hit, a provincial government report based on a survey conducted with UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) support, has revealed a grave nutritional crisis. The survey has found a global acute malnutrition (GAM) rate of 23.1 percent in children aged 6-59 months in flood-affected areas of northern Sindh and 21.2 percent in southern Sindh – rates above the World Health Organization’s 15 percent emergency threshold level.

A severe acute malnutrition (SAM) rate of 6.1 has also been uncovered in northern Sindh, with the Sindh government estimating about 90,000 under-five children are malnourished.

According to UNICEF, SAM is an advanced state of acute malnutrition. Children with SAM need immediate treatment and are 10 times more likely than healthy children to die before they reach their fifth birthday. The survey also found high levels of malnutrition among women.

Experts working in the field, however, believe this situation is a product of entrenched deprivation, rather than floods.

“The malnutrition [revealed by the survey] was not caused by floods but by poverty; the majority of IDPs [internally displaced persons] in camps are from the lowest quintile of poverty”, Andro Shilakadze, a senior UNICEF field officer in Sindh, told IRIN.

“The women of Sindh have suffered like this for thousands of years due to the feudal system in the province, and of course the mother’s health affects the child,” said gynecologist Syed, who has performed life-saving operations in the most primitive conditions across flood-hit parts of Sindh and also runs a flood-relief camp.

Women eat last

“It is simple actually. Women work hard in the fields and in their homes. They receive only what is left of the food after the rest of the family has eaten. Men are served first, then the children and then the women last of all,” he added.

“It has always been like this. We women eat last, because we are least important,” Sumundri Bibi, an emaciated mother of six, told IRIN at a flood-relief camp in the southern Sindh town of Thatta.

“This is a patriarchal culture. Women suffer due to it,” Syed said.

James King’ori, nutrition cluster coordinator for UNICEF, told IRIN from Islamabad: “Women, particularly of child-bearing age (15-49), have an increased nutritional requirement to not only maintain their body growth, enable daily chore undertaking but also to support pregnancy and breastfeeding of infants. Addressing poverty in a strategic manner to benefit women is key,” he said.

But this seems unlikely to happen until there is a break from the system of uneven land ownership, and the exploitation that comes with it. “Ownership of land can quickly break the poverty cycle. We have seen examples of this in places where tenant farmers have taken control of land,” Tariq said.

“I know nothing about land ownership – just that we struggle to feed our children, and eat less ourselves so they have more on their plates,” Sumundri said.

kh/cb

View full post on All Stories

Frankfurt, Germany (AHN) – Germany’s rail system maybe disrupted if the train drivers’ union GDL commences with a planned strike on Wednesday. Should the group stop working rail freight transport and passenger transport could be affected.

The move is being spearheaded by the union in an effort to force small passenger-service companies to enter a national labor contract with higher pay for its 26,000 drivers.

GDL is demanding an overall pay agreement that would cover all drivers who work both for the main national railway operator, Deutsche Bahn, as well as private companies that operate some routes and in some case pay lower wages. Some of the companies pay their drivers up to 30 percent less than their colleagues employed by the national rail firm.

Germany’s rail system is critical to the region’s manufacturing and exports. Car companies in particular could be hard hit. Rail is the primary way vehicles move from their factories to Germany’s main car-export terminal at Bremerhaven.

German Chambers of Industry and Commerce boss Martin Wansleben voiced his concern on Saturday over the impact of an extended rail strike.

“Many industries depend on ‘just-in-time’ production,” he said.

“It would only take a few days for strikes in rail-freight transport to cause production disruptions because canceled train consignments can often not be immediately rerouted via road or domestic ship.”

Several small strikes have already occurred however this potential large-scale industrial action is an attempt to get national rail operator Deutsche Bahn and its private competitors to “put an offer on the table at last that can be the basis for talks,” GDL boss Claus Weselsky said.

According to GDL the 14-hour freight strike would begin at 8 pm (1900 GMT) Wednesday, while a six-hour passenger-service strike would begin Thursday at 4 am. The strike is slated to only occur in certain regions and non-union drivers will stay on the job. Even in its limited scope the ripple effect will be felt throughout the entire network.

Striking members of GDL however will receive pay from GDL while they do not work.

GDL represents 75 percent of the 26,000 employees. Last weekend after previous negotiations failed more than 90 percent of the members voted for the stoppage.

View full post on Labor Stories

View full post on All Stories

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada (AHN) – Canada’s population grew by 280,000 in 2010. The higher headcount, however, was not caused by natural births, but by permanent immigrants.

The permanent newcomers are in addition to 182,000 temporary workers, 100,000 foreign students and 12,000 refugees accepted last year.

It is the highest number of migrants accepted by Canada in 57 years, according to Immigration Minister Jason Kenney. The figure is 6 percent higher than the government quota of 265,000 permanent migrants yearly.

He defended the opening of the country’s gateways to newcomers because of the migrants’ contribution to Canada’s economic recovery. Kenney said the migrants cut backlog in applications for skilled workers.

Kenney said the federal government will soon amend its immigration laws to limit entry to 38 qualifying professions, particularly those whose job skills are in shortage in Canada even if they don’t have university degrees or language proficiency.

However, critics said the overemphasis on economic migrant affects other applicants such as those seeking refugee visas and family members still overseas.

Kenney stressed that abuse of Canada’s immigration system will not be tolerated. To ensure that the system would not be abused, Ottawa has filed a bill to prevent human smuggling.

View full post on Labor Stories

Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – The Senate Budget Committee is considering options for tax reform as a means of reducing the nation’s deficit.

During congressional hearings this week, economists testified that that U.S. tax system could increase its revenue by simplifying and by eliminating preferential treatment.

Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) said Wednesday the U.S. tax system would be more effective if it followed recommendations of a recently-appointed presidential commission.

The 18-member commission, called the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, recommended tax reforms as a key method for reducing the nation’s more than $13 trillion deficit.

“It has to start somewhere,” Conrad said as the hearings started. “And in a congressional process, we are it.”

The debt commission’s Dec. 1, 2010 report recommended five “steps” toward making the U.S. budget sustainable.

They included a $200 billion reduction in discretionary spending, such as the federal payroll and overseas military bases.

The commission also said the federal gasoline tax should increase by 15 cents per gallon while deductions for home mortgage interest and employer-provided health care should be eliminated.

Other steps would reduce Medicare costs, cut federal subsidies, lower the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 26 percent and increase payroll taxes for Social Security.

The recommendations failed to win a strong majority vote even with the commission that recommended them.

However, economists who testified this week before the Senate Budget Committee said there is no better option.

“America’s tax system is broken,” said Don Marron, an analyst from the Urban Institute-Brookings Tax Policy Center. “It’s needlessly complex, economically harmfully, and often unfair. It fails at its most basic task, raising enough money to pay our government’s bills.”

Larry Lindsey, a former Federal Reserve Board governor, said the current tax system is limiting the nation’s prosperity with its “needless complexity, horizontal inequities and implicit subsidies of economic activity outside of our borders to produce goods and services consumed at home.”

Rosanne Altshuler, a Rutgers University professor, recommended that the federal government start using a “value-added tax” on products and services.

For buyers, the tax would be assessed against the purchase price. For sellers, the tax is assessed against the increased value they add to materials or services before putting them on the market.

View full post on Politics Stories

View full post on All Stories

London, England, United Kingdom (AHN) – A report released Thursday by the Department for Work and Pensions found that about 1.5 million Britons abused the country’s welfare system the past decade by claiming welfare payments, but refusing work.

According to the report, about 750,000 of them were given sanctions and had their benefits cuts because they refused to follow regulations that would help them get jobs. Another 177,000 got Jobseeker’s Allowance and turned down offers, 444,000 more quit their work voluntarily and filed for Jobseeker’s Allowance and 123,000 were sanctioned because they claimed allowance after they were fired because of misconduct.

Employment Minister Chris Grayling said because of these abuses of Britain’s welfare system, the coalition government will impose tougher rules. Among the regulations the government is considering is to introduce fixed-term cuts in benefits beginning at three months and going up to three years for Britons who repeatedly refuse to obey regulations.

Another investigation the DWP initiated is on Britons receiving welfare, but who have moved overseas to warmer countries such as Spain and Thailand, or other western nations such as the U.S. and Sweden.

The department is also running after relatives who claim benefits of dead welfare recipients, those who have unreported assets such as property, savings or even yachts and those with exaggerated disability.

Minister for Welfare Reform Lord Freud estimated the cost to taxpayers for welfare payments to Britons living overseas at $99 million (GBP 66 million) in 2009.

View full post on Labor Stories

View full post on All Stories