http://www.thestar.com/Crime/article/592401
Summary:
The suspects used a PIN pad device that the spa to assess all the credit card users' information during spring and summer in 2008. They used the money to buy clothes and open businesses of their own. Police officers urged people to check their credit card statements often so that they can prevent unwanted frauds, and eliminating the chance of being a victim of fraud schemes.
Relation to the book
Recalling from a few chapters back, we covered a chapter about personal banking and financing. There is a section that talks about credit cards and how we should always be double checking our monthly bank statements to look out for errors (one should always keep a detailed record of his or her transactions so that he or she will know the exact bank balance anytime). On the other hand, individuals can easily make reference to any particular payments or transactions that had occured during the month. This is the most effective solutions to which individuals can find out instantly if there is a fraud in credit or debit card transactions.
Reflection
It kind of shocks me with how there are actual cases of credit card frauds that are happening in Canada. I feel very angry when i find these types of articles. Why? That's because I don't understand why people do such things. Most people earn money with their own effort and skills they own, so what makes it okay for those criminals to cheat away their money like that? Humans all cheat. HOwever, cheating other people's precious money is just way too over. I really hope that they can set up stricter punishments for people cheating like this. On the other hand, we should always look carefully at our monthly bank statements, and beware of these frauds. When we are being careless individuals, these credit-card-crime-do-ers will target us and take advantage of our money. Thus, remember to double-triple check bank statements.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Chapter 16 blog
http://sify.com/finance/fullstory.php?id=14784512
Summary
This article is reporting about a new study (Internal Revenue Service data) showing the rich are cheating when it comes to paying tax - hiding more of their own income. Studies show that the rich's income was between $500,000 and $1 million; however, they understated their gross incomes by 21%. The net misreporting rate includes both underreported income and inflated deductions. The IRS estimated that people understate their business income by 43% in general, and for sole proprietors, who report self-employment income underreported their income by 57%. All these years, IRS has been able to collect back all those taxes the rich people owed. Currently, the government is suing UBS for the names of 18,000 wealthy Americans who have had unreported bank accounts.
Relation to the chapter
In this chapter, we have talked about taxable earnings, which states that the employee's contributions to a registered pension fund or plan, union dues, deduction for living in a prescribed area, and deductions authorized by the district office must be subtracted before determining the tax amount. In this case, what the rich people did in the above article reported was understating their income amount so that they can get more money back with less income tax taken away from them. However, this was against the law of the Income tax act. As a result, the government took back their tax money.
Reflection
I think I do understand why the rich people do that. Who would want their money taken away from them if they've worked hard for it? I think not wanting people to take away their possessions is human nature. However, i think if giving out some part of your money so that you can help build a better community for everyone can be something good also. Look at all those parks, community centers, and transportations, and without us paying for our tax, those will not happen at all. Therefore, I find rich people being too selfish and greedy. Why not give out a helping hand to the community if they're earning so much money right? I feel glad for the government has already took back some money from them.
Summary
This article is reporting about a new study (Internal Revenue Service data) showing the rich are cheating when it comes to paying tax - hiding more of their own income. Studies show that the rich's income was between $500,000 and $1 million; however, they understated their gross incomes by 21%. The net misreporting rate includes both underreported income and inflated deductions. The IRS estimated that people understate their business income by 43% in general, and for sole proprietors, who report self-employment income underreported their income by 57%. All these years, IRS has been able to collect back all those taxes the rich people owed. Currently, the government is suing UBS for the names of 18,000 wealthy Americans who have had unreported bank accounts.
Relation to the chapter
In this chapter, we have talked about taxable earnings, which states that the employee's contributions to a registered pension fund or plan, union dues, deduction for living in a prescribed area, and deductions authorized by the district office must be subtracted before determining the tax amount. In this case, what the rich people did in the above article reported was understating their income amount so that they can get more money back with less income tax taken away from them. However, this was against the law of the Income tax act. As a result, the government took back their tax money.
Reflection
I think I do understand why the rich people do that. Who would want their money taken away from them if they've worked hard for it? I think not wanting people to take away their possessions is human nature. However, i think if giving out some part of your money so that you can help build a better community for everyone can be something good also. Look at all those parks, community centers, and transportations, and without us paying for our tax, those will not happen at all. Therefore, I find rich people being too selfish and greedy. Why not give out a helping hand to the community if they're earning so much money right? I feel glad for the government has already took back some money from them.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Chapter 15 Blog
http://www.forbes.com/2009/01/30/honda-loss-guidance-markets-equity-0130_markets03.html
Summary
This article is about how Japanese automakers are suffering a $3.7 billion lost. The Detroit Big Three automakers had loss a lot of money after a year, Japanese also followed along. Why? This is because there is a lower demand from the west, and also due to the recession in Asia and Brazil; thus, it is dragging Honda down. However, it claims that Honda will be able to remain safe although there is such a great loss. They're planning to take out 140 billion yen for the full year ending, since the company had a profit of $472.6 billion for the first 9 months of the fiscal year. However, it expects a loss of 332.6 billion at least for the next quarter. On the other hand, there is a bright side of Honda's result. Their sales for motorcycles had gone up by 5.8% ( mainly because of the sales were doing well in Asia - especially Indonesia and Brazil), while their Honda vehicles' sales went down by 5.1% (because of the US , Japan, and Europe recession). In the end, their third quarter revenue went down by 16.8%, and had a net income of 20.2 billion yen (11.16 yen a share).
Relation to the chapter
In this chapter, we learned about analyzing financial statements to check out how a company is doing. While reading the above article, a lot of numbers were shown with regards to their sales and profits. As according to the chapter, these figures can be used to show how much a company had improved and how much a company had done not as well. Specifically, these figures can be plugged into formulas to find ratios (quick ratios, equity percentages, debt ratios..etc) to compare the ups and downs of the progress of a company. These will let outsiders (bankers, creditors, perspective investors, shareholders, or governor agencies) have an idea of how the company is doing, and whether or not they should invest or lend money to the company.
Reflection
I think seeing all those big numbers listed in the article was quite shocking. It would be pleasant if they company was to gain those big digits, but sadly, they are losing that much of an amount. I think that kind of loss is due to the recession we're having right now around the world. Everything is going under inflation. In addition, the economy right now isn't doing well in general. Many businesses are closing down because of that. Just like one of my uncles in Hong Kong, he has his own car business too. However, because there is low in demand for cars because of the recession going on worldwide, he wasn't able to continue on the business(since he has a great loss of profit). I really hope to see the economy jump out of recession soon.
Summary
This article is about how Japanese automakers are suffering a $3.7 billion lost. The Detroit Big Three automakers had loss a lot of money after a year, Japanese also followed along. Why? This is because there is a lower demand from the west, and also due to the recession in Asia and Brazil; thus, it is dragging Honda down. However, it claims that Honda will be able to remain safe although there is such a great loss. They're planning to take out 140 billion yen for the full year ending, since the company had a profit of $472.6 billion for the first 9 months of the fiscal year. However, it expects a loss of 332.6 billion at least for the next quarter. On the other hand, there is a bright side of Honda's result. Their sales for motorcycles had gone up by 5.8% ( mainly because of the sales were doing well in Asia - especially Indonesia and Brazil), while their Honda vehicles' sales went down by 5.1% (because of the US , Japan, and Europe recession). In the end, their third quarter revenue went down by 16.8%, and had a net income of 20.2 billion yen (11.16 yen a share).
Relation to the chapter
In this chapter, we learned about analyzing financial statements to check out how a company is doing. While reading the above article, a lot of numbers were shown with regards to their sales and profits. As according to the chapter, these figures can be used to show how much a company had improved and how much a company had done not as well. Specifically, these figures can be plugged into formulas to find ratios (quick ratios, equity percentages, debt ratios..etc) to compare the ups and downs of the progress of a company. These will let outsiders (bankers, creditors, perspective investors, shareholders, or governor agencies) have an idea of how the company is doing, and whether or not they should invest or lend money to the company.
Reflection
I think seeing all those big numbers listed in the article was quite shocking. It would be pleasant if they company was to gain those big digits, but sadly, they are losing that much of an amount. I think that kind of loss is due to the recession we're having right now around the world. Everything is going under inflation. In addition, the economy right now isn't doing well in general. Many businesses are closing down because of that. Just like one of my uncles in Hong Kong, he has his own car business too. However, because there is low in demand for cars because of the recession going on worldwide, he wasn't able to continue on the business(since he has a great loss of profit). I really hope to see the economy jump out of recession soon.
Monday, December 8, 2008
Ch 14 Blog
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/08/06/business/NA-US-Retailer-Fraud-Indictment.php
Summary
This article is about how 11 hackers hacked into business accounts and stole more than 41 million credit and debit card numbers in USA. This is one of the largest case in stealing Credit and debit card numbers during the years. The suspects were charged; they are from Estonia, Ukraine, Belarus and China. Specifically, they had wireless computer networks of retailers including TJX Cos., BJ's Wholesale Club, OfficeMax, Boston Market, Barnes & Noble, Sports Authority, Forever 21 and DSW and made programs that captured card numbers, passwords and account information. In addition, they caused major losses by banks, retailers, and costumers. According to a survery the US did, it stated that more than half of small retails kept sensitive pieces of information and 57 per cent don't believe that making customer data secure is something that essential. On the other hand, 61 per cent of small businesses have never tried to get information about how they can properly handle and store customer information. However, there is a way to lower the chance of being hacked if businesses removed prohibited data and properly secured the data that was left (after 5-10 years).
Relation to the Chapter
In the chapter, it talked about personal banking, how one should always keep a detailed record of his or her transactions so that he or she will know the exact bank balance anytime. Moreover, he or she can esaily check back on t any particular payment or analyze payments for income tax and other purposes. This is one of the solutions to which how customers can find out right away if there is a fraud in credit or debit card transactions, or see if any weird payments are going on knowing that he or she never made such a transaction. I think this would also make customers realize frauds earlier and decrease the amount of loss.
Reflection
Recently, I heard that frauds of credit and debit card transactions are increasing over the years. Business often think that they are protected by security locks and costumers always think they are safe, but people are able to set up hacking systems. Thus, i think one way to prevent having our money being cheated, we shoudl always be keeping an eye on our bank statements, and keep our receipts together all the time. I remember my aunt recieved her bank statements one month, and she found some weird transactions going on on her account. Luckily she quickly gathered up all her reciepts that she kept in a folder and went to talk to the person in charge. She later found out that one of the employees in a particular store stole her number and started using her money. Thus, this is why we shoudl always keep a record of what we are spending on to prevent unwanted money loss.
Summary
This article is about how 11 hackers hacked into business accounts and stole more than 41 million credit and debit card numbers in USA. This is one of the largest case in stealing Credit and debit card numbers during the years. The suspects were charged; they are from Estonia, Ukraine, Belarus and China. Specifically, they had wireless computer networks of retailers including TJX Cos., BJ's Wholesale Club, OfficeMax, Boston Market, Barnes & Noble, Sports Authority, Forever 21 and DSW and made programs that captured card numbers, passwords and account information. In addition, they caused major losses by banks, retailers, and costumers. According to a survery the US did, it stated that more than half of small retails kept sensitive pieces of information and 57 per cent don't believe that making customer data secure is something that essential. On the other hand, 61 per cent of small businesses have never tried to get information about how they can properly handle and store customer information. However, there is a way to lower the chance of being hacked if businesses removed prohibited data and properly secured the data that was left (after 5-10 years).
Relation to the Chapter
In the chapter, it talked about personal banking, how one should always keep a detailed record of his or her transactions so that he or she will know the exact bank balance anytime. Moreover, he or she can esaily check back on t any particular payment or analyze payments for income tax and other purposes. This is one of the solutions to which how customers can find out right away if there is a fraud in credit or debit card transactions, or see if any weird payments are going on knowing that he or she never made such a transaction. I think this would also make customers realize frauds earlier and decrease the amount of loss.
Reflection
Recently, I heard that frauds of credit and debit card transactions are increasing over the years. Business often think that they are protected by security locks and costumers always think they are safe, but people are able to set up hacking systems. Thus, i think one way to prevent having our money being cheated, we shoudl always be keeping an eye on our bank statements, and keep our receipts together all the time. I remember my aunt recieved her bank statements one month, and she found some weird transactions going on on her account. Luckily she quickly gathered up all her reciepts that she kept in a folder and went to talk to the person in charge. She later found out that one of the employees in a particular store stole her number and started using her money. Thus, this is why we shoudl always keep a record of what we are spending on to prevent unwanted money loss.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Chapter 12 Blog
http://www.courant.com/news/local/columnists/hc-ubinas1005.artoct05,0,423379.column
Summary
This article is about the legislature passed a bill in June allowing gas stations to offer these cash discounts in US ( to pay with cash right after when purchasing gasoline). The legislators may like to think they are trying to help consumers that are going broke with the rapidly growing gas prices, but many people didn't really understand why they did that. The gas prices are so expensive that some people would just fill in just enough gas so that they can go to another gas station with a lower price. One of the consumers went into a gas station and paid for gas with her credit card, however she ended up paying 10 cents more because she didnt pay cash. Many people felt that this cash discount seems to only favour those that carry a lot of cash around with them. People didn't think they were getting a deal. Michael J. Fox, the head of gasoline retailers, defends this cash discount plan. He defends the gas station owns by saying they are the one that has to face the outrageous fees by the big oil and credit card companies, thus they have to increase the credit price. In addition, people thinks that there should be a better way to help ease the burden on drivers rather than using this cash discount plan.
Relation to the Chapter
This chapter mentioned about cash discounts, and in the article it states that people thought it was unfair. since nowadays, many people use credit cards instead of cash, it is hard for them to pay in cash all the time and thus not able to pay it right away. Cash discount is when the seller allows a certain percentage reduction in the gross price given by a seller to a buyer who pays within a set period of time. As a matter of fact, there are many drawbacks to this system. One of the drawbacks is that seller tends to increase prices as much as it is then so that he or she can figure out whether or not the selling price high enough to cover the loss arising from this deduction.
Reflection
It is evident that the gas prices are rising all around the world. Governments are trying to come up with plans so that they can help ease the burden on drivers. However, I think that the plan they have in the states isnt that good because why would people be carrying that much cash around all the time? Most people would be paying gas via credit card or debit card because that is what most convenient to them. In my opinion, they should create some other programs like our SuperPass cards, when we purchase a 400 L per month, we get a 2.2cent discount per liter. Isn't that a better idea?
Summary
This article is about the legislature passed a bill in June allowing gas stations to offer these cash discounts in US ( to pay with cash right after when purchasing gasoline). The legislators may like to think they are trying to help consumers that are going broke with the rapidly growing gas prices, but many people didn't really understand why they did that. The gas prices are so expensive that some people would just fill in just enough gas so that they can go to another gas station with a lower price. One of the consumers went into a gas station and paid for gas with her credit card, however she ended up paying 10 cents more because she didnt pay cash. Many people felt that this cash discount seems to only favour those that carry a lot of cash around with them. People didn't think they were getting a deal. Michael J. Fox, the head of gasoline retailers, defends this cash discount plan. He defends the gas station owns by saying they are the one that has to face the outrageous fees by the big oil and credit card companies, thus they have to increase the credit price. In addition, people thinks that there should be a better way to help ease the burden on drivers rather than using this cash discount plan.
Relation to the Chapter
This chapter mentioned about cash discounts, and in the article it states that people thought it was unfair. since nowadays, many people use credit cards instead of cash, it is hard for them to pay in cash all the time and thus not able to pay it right away. Cash discount is when the seller allows a certain percentage reduction in the gross price given by a seller to a buyer who pays within a set period of time. As a matter of fact, there are many drawbacks to this system. One of the drawbacks is that seller tends to increase prices as much as it is then so that he or she can figure out whether or not the selling price high enough to cover the loss arising from this deduction.
Reflection
It is evident that the gas prices are rising all around the world. Governments are trying to come up with plans so that they can help ease the burden on drivers. However, I think that the plan they have in the states isnt that good because why would people be carrying that much cash around all the time? Most people would be paying gas via credit card or debit card because that is what most convenient to them. In my opinion, they should create some other programs like our SuperPass cards, when we purchase a 400 L per month, we get a 2.2cent discount per liter. Isn't that a better idea?
Friday, October 3, 2008
Chapter 11 Blog
http://www.suntimes.com/business/930743,CST-NWS-saving04.article
Summary: This article is about how food, gas costs force lifestyle changes for many people. In the article, Mark Davis, a 44 year-old policeman used to head out for restaurants two or three times a week. Now, he only goes there once a weeks. Why this change? It is due to the fact that he has 4 children, and one of them is only few months old. Moreover, the prices of foods and gas is going up a lot. Moreover, the price of gasolin has raised to $4 dollars a gallon in Chicago. This forced Davis to be a lot careful with regards to where he is driving. On the other hand, his family's vacation plans have also changed. Why? In the past, he would go on a vacation without his children around, but this year he planned to go for 1 family vacation trip instead. This time they will be going to somewhere near their hometown, and not fly to other countries like before.
Connection: This article talks about how the rising prices of foods and gasoline have made such a big impact on people's lifestyle. We have talked about something new in our chapter -freight in costs, which is when seller pays a fee for transportation of goods. ( By raising the price of gas, businesses will experience a higher freight in cost when recieving delivery like foods. Thus causing food prices increasing so that businesses will be able to maintain their profit and maintain the amount of inventory. This leads to the fact of losing costumers and so there will be a decrease in their profits and net income (increase in expense and decrease in revenue).
Reflection: I do see the price of gasoline and foods also rising a lot. Especially with the gasoline, when i got off work at night. i would see cars in a crazy line up heading for gasoline when its 116.9cents per liter. I remember about ten years ago, 60 cents was considered to be expensive. As we can see, gasoline's price is skyrocketing. In this case, businesses have chosen to lay the burden on customers instead. On the other hand, I do think this has a great impact on our lives because we will be prefering to use public transport instead, due to the fact that it costs quite a lot for driving a car. Moreover, I used to go out for lunch every friday with my friends, however, after the price of the foods in restaurant has risen, we stopped going. So then, i think these two factors affect many business especially food industry. They probably have lost many customers due to this rise in price.
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