Money Pump
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Home Based Business For The Busy Executive
Do you want to earn a full time income working from home? Or maybe you just want to make some extra money in addition to your current income. In either case you need a product.
Imagine owning an automated turnkey online business that earns you money 24 hours a day - 7 days a week - 365 days a year, without you even lifting a finger.
Sound impossible? Well, it is not if you have the right products, and tools to sell those products.
In the brick and mortar model, you need products for resale and a shop to display the products.
Starting a traditional business that way is a good venture into an arena whereby your potential and talents are put to full use. That would give you satisfaction that will be unmatched by a 9-5 job.
The only set back is the initial outlay is quite substantial and so is the risk.
No wonder many have taken advantage of the other model--Internet business which can operate from your very own home.
It's no secret that ordinary people are making thousands of dollars every month working from home, running simple websites that require almost no work or expenses.
The internet offers the quickest and easiest way to make a fortune. If you have what people want to buy and know how to promote it to your customers, then you will succeed! Contrary to what most people believe, you do not have to be a genius or have any special skills in order to on the internet. Anyone can online, including you!
It does not matter how old you are, where you are from or what your education level is. No experience of any kind is necessary. All you need is a computer and access to the internet.
There are currently thousands of websites that promise to make you a millionaire with little or no work required from your part. And almost all of them, with a few rare exceptions, do not work. They just take your money and give you a lot of worthless information that is completely useless to you. You may have even tried some of those 'get rich quick' schemes yourself, and ended up losing money instead of making them.
If you have the right products to sell and the knowledge required to sell them, then you will online, guaranteed! But 99% of people who try to make an income online fail, because they are missing one or both of those things.
How to start your own high-profit website in five easy steps:
Step 1: Find
a product to sell. This Package contains 45 high-quality bestselling software that are currently in high-demand, and also teaches you how to create your own profitable information products starting from scratch.
Step 2: Design your sales pages. This Package and all the individual products contained in it come with professionally designed sales websites. All you have to do is add your order link at the bottom of each sales page.
Step 3: Setup credit card processing on your website. Accepting credit cards online is neither complicated or expensive. Many companies allow you accept credit cards on your website, and in exchange they deduct a small amount from each sale to cover their fees. Paypal is probably the most commonly used for buyers and sellers.
Step 4: Selecting a Domain Name and Web hosting Company. Finding a Web Host is easy. There are many to choose from. Just make sure that choose one with at least 2000 megabytes of storage for you so you can continue to add more products to your store in the future. Also when selecting a domain name try to pick one that is appropriate to what you are selling.
Step 5: Your Ready, Start Promoting Watch the orders come in! Receive an automatic email notification from your credit card processing company every time you make a sale!
As you can see for yourself, we have already completed most of these steps for you. It would literally take you months to create just a single product and a single website to sell that product with. But now you do not have to waste your time and money creating products and websites that may end up failing because of their low quality and value.
You will be provided with 45 top-selling, high quality products and sales websites so you can begin making money immediately!
This is how you do it:
1) Design a separate website To showcase all the 45 products.
2) Set up thank you page for the products,
3) Upload the 45 products (all soft ware in Zip files ) to your server.
4) Get a payment processor
5) Test the various links to make sure your client has no problem downloading them.
6) Wait to see your Bank A/C to soar
Stein Ellen is an author actively contributing to online communities articles relating to internet business strategies. He maintains a site at http://www.xsitepro.theemarketingtips.com.
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Video: Patrick Barkham on why retailers launch early Christmas sales
<p><strong>Patrick Barkham</strong> hits Oxford Street as leading retailers launch early Christmas sales</p>
Find £1bn to help 10p tax rate victims, Darling told
<div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/88878?ns=guardian&pageName=Politics%3A+Find+%26pound%3B1bn+to+help+10p+tax+rate+victims%2C+Darling+told&ch=Politics&c3=The+Guardian&c4=Tax+and+spending%2CAlistair+Darling%2CEconomics+%28Business%29%2CCredit+crunch+%28Business%29%2CEconomic+policy%2CLabour%2CBusiness%2CMoney%2CPolitics%2CPre-budget+report&c5=Personal+Finance%2CCredit+Crunch%2CBusiness+Markets%2CNot+commercially+useful&c6=Patrick+Wintour&c7=2008_11_21&c8=1121605&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=Politics&c12=Tax+and+spending&c13=&c14=&h2=GU%2FPolitics%2FTax+and+spending" width="1" height="1" /></div><p>The leaders of Labour's 10p tax rebels yesterday served warning on the chancellor, Alistair Darling, that he has to find at least £1bn in Monday's pre-budget report to help the 6 million people who have still not been compensated for the disastrous decision to abolish the lower tax rate earlier this year.</p><p>Frank Field and Greg Pope, the leaders of the tax rebellion earlier this year, have written to Darling, urging action. Field told the Guardian: "The Labour backbenches will not abandon the poor who have still not been compensated. It is a Rubicon they will not cross, and at a time the government has found £50bn to bail out the bankers, the Treasury can surely find £1bn to ease the resentment of our core voters." </p><p>The chancellor is expected to announce a series of business and personal tax cuts in Monday's pre-budget report, aimed at the poorest because they are most likely to spend any extra cash.</p><p>The intervention of Field and Pope will add to the pressure on the Treasury which was last night seeking to dampen speculation of a massive tax giveaway next week after the latest official figures showed a backdrop of rapidly deteriorating public finances.</p><p>In the wake of the first October deficit in 14 years, officials dismissed suggestions that the chancellor could unveil a £30bn package - worth 2% of GDP - designed to lift the economy out of recession. </p><p>The quarterly payment of corporation tax means October is normally a surplus month for the public finances, but the slowdown in the economy, the collapse of the housing market, financial turmoil and tax concessions since the budget combined to leave the state in the red by £1.4bn last month. </p><p>City analysts said the budget deficit could rise to £70bn this year and top £100bn in 2009-10 even before the extra borrowing for Monday's fiscal package was taken into account.</p><p>In their letter Field and Pope write: "We are anxious that the government's promise to do all in its power to compensate fully the losers from the abolition of the 10p rate is not only met, but kept clearly separate from other tax reductions the government may announce next Monday."</p><p>Following an unprecedented backbench rebellion, and amid signs that Brown's leadership was at risk, the Treasury hastily assembled a £2.7bn compensation package in May. Darling increased personal allowances for all basic rate taxpayers. Although only 1.1 million householders have lost out overall, this masks the fact that 6 million individuals have been losers. </p><p>Field and Pope write: "Overwhelmingly these taxpayers are on low earnings. The Institute of Fiscal Studies estimates that the greatest loss of around £112 a year are for taxpayers earning £7,755."</p><p>They accept that the complexity of the tax system means it will be impossible for the Treasury to help every group that has lost, but argue it does seem likely that most of these losers are on low earnings and fall below a threshold of £13,355 a year.</p><p>"We do hope you can give us an assurance that Monday's statement will include a measure that will recompense as many of these individuals as is practically possible. Only in this way would it be possible to draw a clear line under this wholly sorry saga." </p><p>Field claims the net cost of his proposal will be £1bn.</p><p>In other developments the employment minister, Tony McNulty, said the pre-budget report would propose a new employment programme, adding it was "a no-brainer" to revisit the closure programme for Jobcentre Plus officers. Since 2002, the government has closed nearly 500 job centres, including 40 in the last year, and cut staff by 16,000. </p><p>Ministers are also under intense pressure to use the pre-budget report to rethink its housebuilding programme after figures were released yesterday showing only an estimated 22,200 housing starts in England in the September quarter, down 33% on the previous quarter.</p><p>This decline in housebuilding levels makes the government's target of building 240,000 homes a year by 2016 look hopelessly unrealistic.</p><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/taxandspending">Tax and spending</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/alistairdarling">Alistair Darling</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/economics">Economics</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/creditcrunch">Credit crunch</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/economy">Economic policy</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/labour">Labour</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/pre-budget-report">Pre-budget report 2008</a></li></ul></div><div class="guRssAdvert"><a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Politics&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1227227420284112100312126351"><img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Politics&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1227227420284112100312126351" border="0" /></a></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html">More Feeds</a>
Treasury quells talk of £30bn tax giveaway
<div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/30059?ns=guardian&pageName=Business%3A+Treasury+quells+talk+of+%26pound%3B30bn+tax+giveaway&ch=Business&c3=The+Guardian&c4=Pre-budget+report%2CEconomic+policy%2CEconomics+%28Business%29%2CTax+and+spending%2CMoney%2CBusiness%2CPolitics&c5=Personal+Finance%2CCredit+Crunch%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CBusiness+Markets&c6=Larry+Elliott&c7=2008_11_21&c8=1121588&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=Business&c12=Pre-budget+report+2008&c13=&c14=&h2=GU%2FBusiness%2FPre-budget+report+2008" width="1" height="1" /></div><p>The Treasury was last night seeking to dampen speculation of a huge tax giveaway next week after the latest official figures showed that Alistair Darling will deliver his pre-budget report against a backdrop of rapidly deteriorating public finances.</p><p>In the wake of the first October deficit in 14 years, officials dismissed suggestions that the chancellor could announce a £30bn package - worth 2% of GDP - designed to lift the economy out of recession.</p><p>Darling will today put the finishing touches to the PBR, but is concerned that a fiscal boost in excess of 1% of GDP would risk alarming the financial markets. The speech will attempt to reassure the City that tax cuts will be quickly clawed back once the recession is over and that the government has a credible plan for bringing the budget deficit back under control.</p><p>Britain's leading independent tax experts, the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said yesterday that the outlook for the public finances was "very bleak" after the Office for National Statistics reported that borrowing in the first seven months of the current financial year was £37bn - almost double the £20.1bn amassed in the same months last year.</p><p>The quarterly payment of corporation tax means October is normally a surplus month for the public finances, but the slowdown in the economy, the collapse of the housing market, financial turmoil and tax concessions since the budget combined to leave the state in the red by £1.4bn last month. </p><p>Figures released yesterday showed that building on an estimated 22,200 new properties was started during the three months to the end of September, the lowest level registered by the Department of Communities and Local Government since records began in 1980. The figure was 33% fewer than during the previous quarter and 48% down on the same period of 2007. Separate data revealed a 7% increase in mortgage lending in October, although the depressed state of the property market meant it was 44% lower than a year earlier.</p><p>City analysts said the budget deficit could rise to £70bn this year and top £100bn in 2009-10 even before the extra borrowing for Monday's fiscal package was taken into account.</p><p>Gillian Tetlow, senior researcher at the IFS, said that a recession similar to that of the early 1990s would add £60bn to the budget deficit. "One of the most important issues for the PBR to address is how much of the additional borrowing we see over the next couple of years is likely to be purely temporary and how much will require a combination of new tax raising measures and lower public spending to reverse."</p><p>Ministers believe that the recession, diminishing inflationary pressure and the low level of public debt mean that it is right to give the economy a boost by helping businesses and those on low incomes.</p><p>The shadow chancellor, George Osborne, criticised plans for a PBR giveaway. "He has maxed out on the nation's credit card and now he's planning to take out another one," he said.</p><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/pre-budget-report">Pre-budget report 2008</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/economy">Economic policy</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/economics">Economics</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/taxandspending">Tax and spending</a></li></ul></div><div class="guRssAdvert"><a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Business&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1227227420291112100312126351"><img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Business&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1227227420291112100312126351" border="0" /></a></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html">More Feeds</a>
Larry Elliott: Don't fear for the pound
<div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/60215?ns=guardian&pageName=Comment+is+free%3A+Don%27t+fear+for+the+pound&ch=Comment+is+free&c3=The+Guardian&c4=Recession+%28UK%29%2CEconomics+%28Business%29%2CCurrencies+%28dollar%2C+pound+etc%29%2CBusiness%2CEconomic+policy%2CPolitics%2CMoney&c5=Personal+Finance%2CCredit+Crunch%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CBusiness+Markets&c6=Larry+Elliott&c7=2008_11_21&c8=1121547&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=Comment+is+free&c12=blog&c13=&c14=Comment+is+free&h2=GU%2FComment+is+free%2Fblog%2FComment+is+free" width="1" height="1" /></div><p>This is the crisis with just about everything. Failing banks, the drying up of credit, crashing house prices, rising unemployment, weakening growth and - as the official figures showed yesterday - a ballooning budget deficit. Students of economic crises will detect only one thing is missing from this litany of woe - a sterling crisis of the sort that Britain went through in 1967, 1976 and 1992.</p><p>The expectation is that a run on the pound will not be long in coming; one of the playground spats between the government and opposition this week was over whether the shadow chancellor, George Osborne, was being unpatriotic by predicting sterling would hit the skids as a result of plans to cut taxes in Monday's pre-budget report.</p><p>There are many reasons to be afraid - very afraid - about the state of the world, but a sterling crisis is not one of them. Unless there is a catastrophic loss of confidence in the government's economic and financial management, the pound is likely to stabilise close to current levels; the risk of it falling should certainly not deter the Bank of England from cutting interest rates aggressively.</p><p>Why? Because there has already been a marked depreciation over the past year. Sterling is at a record low against the euro, has dropped by 40% against the yen, and has fallen by 20% against the dollar since the summer - a more rapid descent than in the aftermath of Black Wednesday. Anybody who decided this summer to take advantage of the $2 pound with a winter shopping spree in Manhattan is in for a shock.</p><p>That decline was justified given the UK's unique exposure to turmoil in the financial markets and its absurdly overblown property market. But after such a precipitous fall, the downside potential is limited - especially since the outlook in the US, eurozone and Japan looks just as bleak. News from across the Atlantic has been dire, with Ford and General Motors on the point of collapse and the stockmarket down 45% this year. Germany is suffering from weaker demand for exports, Italy is suffering from a chronic lack of competitiveness, and Spain, like the UK, is grappling with a housing boom-bust. Japan also relies heavily on exports, but reported its third successive seasonally adjusted monthly trade deficit yesterday.</p><p>It is important to identify why the pound has been under pressure in recent months. Investors were concerned that not enough was being done to prevent a painful recession; the currency was falling, in other words, because interest rates were too high, not too low. The dollar has been rising on foreign exchanges this year because of anticipation that aggressive and early cuts in borrowing costs from the Federal Reserve would mean it would beat the rest of the developed world out of recession. That optimism looks misplaced, but it is indicative of a climate where investors are more concerned about growth potential than interest rates.</p><p>That's not to say the pound won't fall further, since currencies tend to overshoot. But sterling looks undervalued against the dollar and cheap against the euro. That may depress UK tourists looking to clean up on 5th Avenue but it is good news for the economy.</p><p>Since 1997, an overvalued currency has made imports cheaper and exports dearer; there has been a silent sterling crisis that encouraged speculation while making manufacturing less profitable. The economy needs a competitive level for the pound that helps cut the trade growth and so create the conditions for more balanced growth. Its depreciation, coupled with the likely prolonged squeeze on consumers when they have to start paying back Monday's tax cuts, means there is a better chance of tackling the structural imbalances in the economy than there has been for years.</p><p><a href="mailto:larry.elliott@guardian.co.uk">larry.elliott@guardian.co.uk</a></p><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/recession">Recession</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/economics">Economics</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/currencies">Currencies</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/economy">Economic policy</a></li></ul></div><div class="guRssAdvert"><a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Commentisfree&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1227227420298112100312126351"><img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Commentisfree&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1227227420298112100312126351" border="0" /></a></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html">More Feeds</a>
M&S spectacular pulls in bargain hunters
<div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/15500?ns=guardian&pageName=Business%3A+M%26amp%3BS+spectacular+pulls+in+bargain+hunters&ch=Business&c3=guardian.co.uk&c4=Marks+and+Spencer+Group+%28Business%29%2CRetail+industry+%28Business%29%2CHigh+street+retailers%2CBusiness%2CMoney&c5=Personal+Finance%2CFashion+and+Beauty%2CBusiness+Markets&c6=Julia+Finch&c7=2008_11_20&c8=1121366&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=Business&c12=Marks+%26+Spencer&c13=&c14=&h2=GU%2FBusiness%2FMarks+%26+Spencer" width="1" height="1" /></div><p>In the basement of Marks & Spencer's vast store in the new Westfield shopping centre in west London, trolleys are clattering through the tills. </p><p>It is the 20% off one-day spectacular - designed to pull in customers and shift unsold stock - and a couple from Dorset are paying for a trolley laden with Pol Monnet champagne. They have just bought 36 bottles - and saved nearly £500 on the shelf price of the bubbly.</p><p>The champagne is a triple bargain. On top of the 20% off is another 10% discount and a £5 a bottle reduction for buying more than 12 bottles. The result is the £26 shelf price slashed to just £13 a bottle. </p><p>Isabelle Marsh has just bought 36 bottles for £494 - and saved £442. She runs a fun casino business - Viva Las Vegas in Bournemouth - and the champagne will be used as prizes. The couple were in London visiting friends when they heard about the M&S discount day and made a special trip to Westfield to stock up at the bargain prices.</p><p>At the next till her friend, Kay and Roger Brahams from Surrey, who are also in the casino business, are doing exactly the same. They also have a load of half-price champagne and also a collection of blue spotted bow-ties and waistcoats for their croupiers - four waistcoats, four bow-ties and two pairs of black trousers for £124, down from £155 for one day only. "It's for the business," says Roger Brahams. "It is too good to miss."</p><p>The wine department is brimming with bargains. One couple are considering a job lot of Mersault, down from £23 a bottle to less than £19, for their wedding next year. The best bargain? An £85 bottle of Clos L'Eglise Pomerol for £68.</p><p>On the clothing floor, however, the signs are that shoppers have just used the discount day to bring forward purchases they were planning to make anyway.</p><p>Mark, a BBC employee who works nearby, has popped in to buy an £80 coat he has had his eye on for some time. "My wife rang me this morning to tell me about the sale," he explained. He paid £64 and was walking away very pleased with his bargain - but has not been tempted into other purchases.</p><p>A local resident, who had called in to buy cashmere sweaters for her parents in Canada, and was also bringing forward a planned purchase. "My parents like the sweaters and I would have come in to buy them next week anyway."</p><p>Two other local workers from Shepherds Bush were also using their lunch break to buy reduced price cashmere, which they said they would not have considered but for the cut in price. "We wouldn't have paid full price, we would have waited for the sale after Christmas, but today we can make sure we get the colours and sizes we want."</p><p>One added: "I never pay full price. I am a bargain hunter. There's no point in paying top prices for basics."<br /></p><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/marksspencer">Marks & Spencer</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/retail">Retail industry</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/highstreetretailers">High street retailers</a></li></ul></div><div class="guRssAdvert"><a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Business&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1227227420312112100312126351"><img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Business&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1227227420312112100312126351" border="0" /></a></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html">More Feeds</a>
Savers urged to act fast for highest interest rates
Falling interest rates mean savers have a limited amount of time to benefit from existing deals, says Huma Qureshi
Would an office like Google's change your life?
Wishing your workplace was more fun? Be careful who you tell
Oil falls below $50
<div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/8217?ns=guardian&pageName=Business%3A+Oil+falls+below+%2450&ch=Business&c3=guardian.co.uk&c4=Oil+%28business%29%2CCommodities+%28oil%2C+gold+etc%29%2CBusiness%2CWorld+news%2CUK+news%2CUS+news%2CMotoring+%28Money%29%2CMoney%2CHousehold+bills&c5=Motoring%2CPersonal+Finance%2CCredit+Crunch%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CBusiness+Markets%2CEnergy&c6=James+Robinson&c7=2008_11_20&c8=1121292&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=Business&c12=Oil&c13=&c14=&h2=GU%2FBusiness%2FOil" width="1" height="1" /></div><p>Oil prices fell below $50 a barrel today for the first time since May 2005, reflecting declining demand as the global economy slows - London-traded Brent crude fell $3.10 to $48.62 a barrel, while US light sweet crude was down $3.71 to $49.91.</p><p>The latest fall means oil is the cheapest it has been for over three years, and defies predictions earlier this year from some leading producers who said it could peak at $200 a barrel. </p><p><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/may/23/oil.commodities1">In May this year, Libya's leading oil official Shokri Ghanem</a> said: "It is out of our hands. $200 a barrel is not logical but even $135 is not logical, so yes oil could reach $200 a barrel. Why not?"</p><p>The average price of oil for the year to date was $107.72. It peaked at $147.25 a barrel in July this year, well over twice the level it was at in the same month in 2007. </p><p>The decline in the value of oil is good news for motorists and consumers. The price of petrol is likely to fall and utility bills will also come down if the price remains low, although some energy companies have been criticised for failing to pass on price cuts to their customers quickly enough. </p><p>Energy minister Ed Miliband met leading suppliers earlier this week to demand they lowered their prices. The fall is also likely to reduce inflationary pressure and makes another big interest rate cut more likely. The Bank of England's monetary policy committee next meets to set the rate on December 4.</p><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/oil">Oil</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/commodities">Commodities</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/usa">United States</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/motoring">Motoring</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/householdbills">Household bills</a></li></ul></div><div class="guRssAdvert"><a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Business&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1227227420329112100312126351"><img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Business&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1227227420329112100312126351" border="0" /></a></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html">More Feeds</a>
Poll: Are you feeling the pinch?
Amid a constant stream of bad economic news, the latest retail figures suggest that we've far from given up our favourite national pastime ? shopping ? despite some evident pain on the high street. Have you changed your spending habits?
Rural south hit hardest by unemployment rise
As the economy enters recession, the impact upon the jobs market is starting to be felt across the UK, particularly in the south of England
Christmas: How to cope financially this festive season
Worried about the cost of Christmas? With a bit of planning you can sail through the season of goodwill without breaking the bank, says Laura Howard
Supermarkets flout rules on special offers, says Which?
<div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/75665?ns=guardian&pageName=Money%3A+Supermarket+offers+%27not+always+special%27&ch=Money&c3=guardian.co.uk&c4=Consumer+affairs+%28Money%29%2CRetail+industry+%28Business%29%2CMoney%2CBusiness%2CSupermarkets+%28business%29%2CUK+news&c5=Personal+Finance%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CBusiness+Markets&c6=Staff+and+agencies&c7=2008_11_20&c8=1121111&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=Money&c12=Consumer+affairs&c13=&c14=&h2=GU%2FMoney%2FConsumer+affairs" width="1" height="1" /></div><p>Supermarket special offers are misleading consumers and breaking government guidelines, the consumer group Which? said today.</p><p>Tesco, Marks & Spencer and Sainsbury's are all accused of labelling products as having money off when they have only briefly been sold at a higher price.<br /> <br />Guidelines state that for an item to be a genuine offer it must be sold in the store at the advertised higher price for the previous 28 days.</p><p>The item must also not stay on offer for longer than it has been at the higher price, unless the retailer displays a sign saying otherwise. The only other exception is if an item is going out of date.</p><p>However, by buying the same basket of items once a week between June and August in Tesco, Waitrose, Sainsbury's, Asda, Morrisons and Marks & Spencer, Which? found some retailers were flouting those rules.</p><p>The offending deals were:</p><p>? M&S cherries were marked as half price at £2.49, despite selling for £2.99 immediately before. The cherries had only been sold at £4.99 for 17 days, a month before the offer</p><p>? Waitrose blueberries were only at the higher price of £3.99 for two weeks before being sold at "half price" (£1.99) for six weeks</p><p>? Sainsbury's Gallo Cabernet Zinfandel and Chardonnay Sauvignon had £1 off at £3.99 for five weeks, then briefly returned to the higher price of £4.99 for one week before going back to £1 off</p><p>Which? also found Tesco strawberries and M&S bacon were "on offer" for the entire three-month investigation. Although these offers did not break the guidelines they could "hardly be described as special", Which? said.</p><p>Nikki Ratcliff, head of research services at Which?, said: "Supermarkets need to comply with the spirit of the new government guidelines and stop misleading consumers into thinking they're getting great deals when they're not."</p><p>An M&S spokeswoman said: "We always aim to offer our customers excellent value and follow guidelines on promotions wherever possible.</p><p>"For the bacon, unfortunately we made a mistake with the ticketing of this product and we apologise to our customers. We rectified it straight away."</p><p>Tesco said it had clear policies in place to ensure it followed the guidelines and that all its offers were genuine. "Competition among retailers is strong and we're absolutely focused on delivering the best value while following regulations," it said.</p><p>Waitrose and Sainsbury's said they would be taking action in light of the findings to make sure they stuck to the guidelines in future.</p><p>A survey of 3,039 Which? online panel members found almost three quarters thought special offers were good value and more than half often bought items because they were on offer.</p><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/consumeraffairs">Consumer affairs</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/retail">Retail industry</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/supermarkets">Supermarkets</a></li></ul></div><div class="guRssAdvert"><a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Money&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1227227420346112100312126351"><img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Money&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1227227420346112100312126351" border="0" /></a></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html">More Feeds</a>
Credit crunch: Will it deter the Christmas shoppers?
Credit crunch, what credit crunch? Consumers were still shopping till they dropped at a festive fair last week, says Frances Booth
After Barclays, Pirc takes on retail minnow Clinton Cards
<div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/93405?ns=guardian&pageName=Business%3A+After+Barclays%2C+shareholder+watchdog+takes+on+retail+minnow+Clinton+Cards&ch=Business&c3=guardian.co.uk&c4=Retail+industry+%28Business%29%2CMoney%2CInvesting+%28Business%29%2CInvestments&c5=Personal+Finance%2CInvestments%2CBusiness+Markets&c6=James+Robinson&c7=2008_11_20&c8=1121103&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=Business&c12=blog&c13=&c14=Business+blog&h2=GU%2FBusiness%2Fblog%2FBusiness+blog" width="1" height="1" /></div><p>Executives at Clinton Cards are unlikely to be on Pirc's Christmas card list. The shareholder body, which took on Barclays earlier this week, issued a strongly worded critique of the company's management last night, highlighting concerns over the way it's run. </p><p>It may pale into insignificance when placed beside the excesses of the banking sector, where executives were paying themselves millions as their employees persuaded people with no money to take out colossal mortgages, but if Pirc can embarrass corporate giants like Barclays, it can easily shame retailing minnows based in Essex. </p><p>Clinton Cards is a small business, built by its founder Don Lewin, a Londoner who used to work as a chimney sweep, and it's difficult not to admire his success.</p><p>I expect he regards Pirc as a bunch of over-zealous box tickers, and it's true that its demands for good corporate governance sometimes seems ridiculous when they are applied to tiny companies who don't have big boards and run relatively streamlined operations.</p><p>Unfortunately for Lewin, they may have a point this time. </p><p>Lewin, who founded the company in the late 60s, is the chairman and chief executive of the listed group, worth around £26m, an arrangement guaranteed to get the corporate governance lobby into a frenzy.</p><p>But he also employs two of his children as directors and Pirc claims there is only one truly independent non-executive director on its 10-strong board. Lewin named his company after his son Clinton Lewin (left), who is MD, and has been waiting to succeed his father for years. Don Lewin's daughter Debbie Darlington (nee Lewin) joined the company in 1985 and was appointed to the board in 2000. </p><p>Both of them know the business inside out and evidently do a good job - the company consistently produces healthy profits - and there are no signs of a shareholder rebellion - yet. But Pirc is advising its members to vote against approving the company's report and accounts at its AGM on Tuesday.</p><p>Worse still, according to Pirc, there is little information about pay, the highest paid director receives one of the largest salaries in the quoted retail sector - Don Lewis was paid just over £1m this year and last, and there are no details about the amount paid into pension schemes.</p><p>The Lewin family owns 32% of Clinton Cards, which made pre-tax profits of £19.5m this year. There are far larger companies who operate in a similar fashion - Rupert Murdoch's media empire is one - and shareholders are generally happy to turn a blind eye to corporate governance issues providing they make lots of money and pay decent dividends. A healthy share price helps too, but Clinton's has fallen from around 60p at the end of 2007 and stood at 13p this morning. It will be interesting to see whether there are mutterings of dissent next week. </p><p>A source close to the company points out that it had strong family connections, and that under Lewin's guidance it has "grown from a very small concern in Loughton, Essex to one of the country's biggest card retailers". It is familiar with Pirc's complaints, although it hadn't seen the group's latest alert, and believes it is fixated on issues that few shareholders are concerned about. </p><p>Strangely, Pirc omits to mention that Don Lewin recently turned 75, and this year also marks the 40th anniversary of the company's formation, and 20 years since its stockmarket flotation. That might seem like a good time to step back from the business, or hand over control of the company to his son - after a thorough, and completely transparent search for a suitable successor, of course.<br /> <br />The last time there was a downturn in the City, the company made 'redundancy cards', and in the current environment it must be thinking about dusting off those designs. Don Lewin's retirement card, however, seems to be stuck in the post.</p><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/retail">Retail industry</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/investing">Investing</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/moneyinvestments">Investments</a></li></ul></div><div class="guRssAdvert"><a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Business&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1227227420381112100312126351"><img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Business&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1227227420381112100312126351" border="0" /></a></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html">More Feeds</a>
Mortgage lending increases by 7%
<div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/71834?ns=guardian&pageName=Money%3A+Mortgage+lending+increases+by+7%25&ch=Money&c3=guardian.co.uk&c4=Mortgages+%28Money%29%2CProperty%2CMoney%2CMortgage+lending+figures+%28Business%29%2CBusiness%2CUK+news&c5=Personal+Finance%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CBusiness+Markets%2CProperty+Mortgages+and+Interest+Rates&c6=Hilary+Osborne&c7=2008_11_20&c8=1120931&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=Money&c12=Mortgages&c13=&c14=&h2=GU%2FMoney%2FMortgages" width="1" height="1" /></div><p><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/mortgages">Mortgage</a> lending increased by almost 7% in October but remains well below last year's level, figures showed today.</p><p>The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said gross mortgage lending totalled £18.7bn in October, up from September's record low of £17.4bn.</p><p>Despite <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/interestrates">interest rate</a> cuts in October and November, which have brought the Bank of England base rate down to 3% from 5%, the market was still stymied by a lack of mortgage funding, the CML said.</p><p>As a result, the gross lending figure, which does not take into account repayments and redemptions, remains the second lowest this year and is 44% lower than last October when lending totaled £33.4bn.</p><p>The CML's direct general, Michael Coogan, said the outlook for the mortgage market remained weak and more government action was needed to free up lending. </p><p>"Consumer confidence is now being affected by the worsening economic outlook. However, any recovery in lending is also being held back by the continuing shortage of mortgage funding," Coogan said. </p><p>"The government should therefore publish the delayed Crosby review as part of the forthcoming pre-budget report and announce concrete steps that will enable and encourage firms to increase mortgage loans."</p><p>Andrew Montlake, a partner at mortgage broker Cobalt Capital, said few people would take heart from the fact that lending was up month-on-month. </p><p>"You have a double whammy where consumer confidence is shot to bits by a rapidly weakening economy and the mainstream lenders are only accepting 'quality' applicants with big deposits," he said.</p><p>"I hate to say it, but it could be some time before things start to improve."</p><p>Yesterday, the National Association of Estate Agents also reported a slight bounce in the housing market in October, saying its members had sold an average of seven <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/property">properties</a> each during the month, compared with six in September.</p><p>The percentage of buyers entering the market had also increased, it said, but the number of house hunters on agents' books was down 7% from the previous month.<br /> <br />One of the problems buyers face is the continued shortage of cheap deals. Although many lenders cut their standard variable rates (SVRs) in line with the base rate reduction after <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2008/nov/08/rate-cut-mortgages-banks">pressure from the government</a>, they have withdrawn some of their most competitive deals and continue to demand large deposits.</p><p>Financial information firm Moneyfacts said today that despite the 2% fall in the base rate since the start of October, rising margins meant the average rate on a new two-year tracker mortgage had only fallen from 6.29% to 5.11%. </p><p>At the same time, the maximum loan-to-value on tracker deals had been slashed from 90% to 75%.</p><p>Fixed-rate mortgages have started to come down in price, with Abbey cutting its two-year deals last week, and poised to cut rates on its three-year deals by up to 0.5% tomorrow.</p><p>However, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/firsttimebuyers">first-time buyers</a> will struggle to benefit from the price cuts as lending is restricted to 75% of the value of a property, and those 75% deals are restricted to a maximum of £150,000.</p><p>Nationwide building society is also cutting the cost of its fixed-rate mortgages tomorrow, with some rates falling by 0.8%. </p><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/mortgages">Mortgages</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/property">Property</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/mortgagelendingfigures">Mortgage lending figures</a></li></ul></div><div class="guRssAdvert"><a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Money&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1227227420396112100312126351"><img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Money&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1227227420396112100312126351" border="0" /></a></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html">More Feeds</a>
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