Poverty in America: Over 35 million living below the poverty line

by: Ofer Shoshani
Copyright 2005 Ofer Shoshani

The problem of poverty in America comes as a surprise. How can a wealthy nation experience poverty? Though the rate of poverty is lower in a developed nation like America than in Africa, the problem of poverty is real. Inner-cities and rural communities in America are all affected by poverty.

In 2004 the American government defined poverty as a family of four living with an income below $18,810. However, consider the costs in America of housing, utilities, transportation, food, health care, and child care. Even this income seems too small.

The effects of poverty in America are many. Poor nutrition leads to poor health. Poor health makes study and work difficult. Poor education and an inability to work effects income. These problems must be considered alongside other issues: the problem of racism, discrimination against communities, and unequal access to education.

With over thirty-five million living below the poverty line in America, poverty looms as one of the nation's biggeset problems. It requires huge effort and imagination to begin solving the problem. At its heart, solving the problem of poverty is about the creative cultivation of the talents and dreams of all Americans.

Access to education must be equal for all. Those prospering must bear the burdens of those in need. Everyone must be helped to avoid despair and to hope for change. Everyone must recognize the offensiveness of poverty in a nation like America.

Some organizations have already begun work against poverty in America. The Catholic Campaign for Human Development seeks to transform America into a more caring nation where poverty is an offense against all. The Clemente Course is an education programme for the underpriveleged in America -- it offers a humanities education to those unable to attend University on their own.

These organizations can help you begin to explore the problem of poverty in America and to contribute to a solution.

More Articles on Poverty, globalization and Justice Articles can be found here: http://betotal.com/artman/publish/cat_index_58.shtml


About the author:
Ofer Shoshani has been working for the last 5 years as a professional journalist, writing from Spain, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador, USA, Israel, India & Thailand. More of his work can be found at http://www.betotal.com(international child sponsorship programs), http://www.nzpassport.com(Immigration, Relocation and Investment in New Zealand) and http://www.bespanish.com(Immigration, Relocation and Investment in Spain).

Sales Process - How to Avoid Wasting Time on Prospects Who CAN'T or WON'T Pay

by: Alan Rigg
Do you have blind faith that, if you can somehow convince a prospect to engage in a sales cycle, you will eventually make a sale? If you do, watch out! This belief can waste your time, effort, and company resources.

Unfortunately, time and resource investments do not inevitably produce sales. How many of the opportunities in your pipeline have been stalled at the same step in the sales cycle for weeks...or months? In how many opportunities have you and your company invested enormous amounts of time, energy and resources (conducting product demonstrations, writing lengthy proposals, providing product evaluations, etc.), only to have the prospect decide they don't WANT to buy, or prove INCAPABLE of funding the purchase? Even when you make sales, how many turn out to be "nightmare" customers who are always dissatisfied and consume huge amounts of post-sale resources?

All Prospects Are NOT Created Equal

You DO need to help your prospects explore whether their business problems are substantial enough to justify investing time in a sales cycle. However, you also need to figure out whether each prospect is WORTHY of your time and resource investments! If a prospect is not a good fit, gracefully exit from the opportunity! (Why not refer them to a competitor and let the competitor burn some cycles?)

How can you determine whether a prospect is worthy of your time and resource investments? Many sales skills training courses teach an acronym, M-A-N, that stands for Money, Authority, and Need. The basic idea is to determine whether:

1. The prospect is willing to commit enough budget dollars (MONEY) to pay for the product or service

2. The key decision makers and influencers (AUTHORITY) have been identified; and

3. The prospect's pain (NEED) is severe enough to justify investing in a solution.

Unfortunately, even when you do a good job of M-A-N qualification, you can be "blindsided" by issues that delay sales cycles or destroy opportunities outright. For example:

* Some prospects prove incapable of securing financing. They may have a budget, but they are not "credit worthy", so they can't FUND the budget.

* Some decision makers need to have specific information provided in a specific format before they can authorize a buying decision.

* Sometimes you invest considerable time and effort in troubleshooting complex problems and designing solutions, only to be informed that the prospect must take the proposed solution OUT TO BID. This can lead to the opportunity being lost to a low bidder or the profitability of the opportunity being pummeled.

To avoid these issues, add additional questions to the M-A-N qualification process. The acronym that I have assigned to this revised process is M-A-I-N BP, which stands for MONEY, AUTHORITY, INFORMATION, NEED, and BUYING PROCESS. Here are sample M-A-I-N BP questions:

MONEY

* How will your prospect pay for the product or service?

* Has a budget been established?

* Are they credit worthy?

AUTHORITY

* Who (in the prospect's organization) needs to approve an acquisition of this nature?

INFORMATION

* What information do the decision makers require before they can make a decision?

* What format does this information need to be in?

NEED

* What are the prospect's business problems?

* How compelling are they? In other words, can you quantify (associate dollars, percentages, and time frames with) the pain the prospect is feeling?

* Are the quantified business impacts substantial enough to warrant investment by the prospect's organization (and YOUR company) in identifying and fixing the problem(s)?


BUYING PROCESS

* What is the prospect's buying (procurement) process?

* What impact might this process have on the profitability of the transaction?

* What competitive advantage will you receive if you invest your time and resources in designing a solution that goes out to bid?


If you decide to add M-A-I-N BP qualification to your sales opportunity qualification process, here are some final thoughts to keep in mind:

* If you don't know the answers to ALL of the M-A-I-N BP questions, it is highly likely you are wasting your time and resources!

* Opportunity qualification is NOT A ONE-TIME EVENT. As an opportunity advances through the sales cycle, you should frequently ask whether any of the answers to the qualification questions have changed. If an answer changes, it could impact the length of the sales cycle and even destroy the viability of the opportunity. At minimum, an answer change will probably require a change in focus and/or a reprioritization of planned activities.

* Never feel bad about disqualifying an "opportunity". The amount of opportunity in each territory is virtually unlimited. If you carefully qualify and re-qualify each opportunity, and only invest time and resources in qualified opportunities, you will maximize your return on time and resources invested.

About the author:
Sales performance expert Alan Rigg is the author of How to Beat the 80/20 Rule in Selling: Why Most Salespeople Don't Perform and What to Do About It. His company, 80/20 Sales Performance, helps business owners, executives, and managers DOUBLE sales by implementing The Right Formula(tm) for building top-performing sales teams. For more information and more FREE sales and sales management tips, visit http://www.8020salesperformance.com

Going Broke Committing To Your Job? A Home-Based Business Is The Answer

by: Eugene Byers
As the price of gas hovers around $3 per gallon in many states, people everywhere are starting to wonder about their future. It doesn't help that oil industry analysts are predicting gas prices will remain high for months and maybe for years.

Suddenly, commuting to your job is looking like a major investment that's already a big hit on your budget.

Maybe it's time for you to finally start a serious home-based business. Don't panic. Starting a business at home doesn't need to take a big investment. It can be done cheaply, basically coming out of the grocery money. And you don't need more training or education, because some firms offer very simple, well thought out, automated systems for you to use.

Expect to hear anywhere from a helpful part-time income of a few hundred dollars per month to an impressive full-time income that would rival the earnings of many corporate CEO's.

Here's what to look for when choosing a home-based business:

* Find something that really sounds exciting to you. Success in business is often based strictly on your enthusiasm for what you're selling. If you truly enjoy the product, you'll sell a whole lot more.

* Don't let anyone tell you Network Marketing (or MLM) is a bad thing. Big corporate media reports often portray MLM in a bad light, but that's only because most reporters have very little experience working outside the corporation. The truth is MLM has hit it's own pace since the advent of the Internet. Many top companies are earning hundreds of millions of dollars each year, with thousands of happy members. These companies enjoy unprecedented low overhead and little to no debt.

* Look for a home-based opportunity that comes with all the training and support you'll need to get started. Nothing can be more detrimental to your business than getting all set up, then finding out there is no one to help you figure out what to do next. Look for opportunities that have online assistance, telephone help, or get you connected with other more experienced members.

Finally, don't put off the business you can start today. As the months go by and prices get even higher, more and more people will be looking for their own home based business to supplement or replace their income. Get started now to be at the top of this exciting movement.

About the author:
Euguene Byers has studied many home-based business opportunities. He offers the best of the bunch at http://goldrushusa.com/5428euGet instant info on this business that lets you earn cash and 24K Gold Bullion: http://www.wealthinfo4u.com/5428euReach Eugene at high_impact4u@yahoo.com

An Untapped Resource For Finding Your Ideal Home Business

by: Chuck Huckaby
The pitch "Business For Sale!" may be your key to a Profitable Home Based Business!
In fact, your GOLDEN Opportunity may be just a FEW CLICKS AWAY!...

But most people NEVER even know that a profitable, proven, growing home based business that COULD be theirs might be right under their nose!

99% of the people seeking a home based business go to the news stand or the Internet.

They look at 100 "me too" operations selling nutrition, soap, or some digital product and HOPE it might work locally.

Wouldn't it be much simpler to find a viable, cash generating, home based business opportunity right in your own home town that is already proven to work?

You can!

And 99.5% of the other home business wannabe's in town will never bother you as competition either.

That's because they don't know how to tap into the nationwide network of business brokers.

Yes.

They even sell HOME BASED BUSINESSES!

I can hear you now.

"But I don't have money to BUY a business!"

Well, you don't necessarily have to buy anything.

But, you CAN look at "Business for Sale" listings from all over the country and you WILL find home businesses for sale.

Or ideas for businesses that can be operated from home that you can re-create in your neck of the woods.

For the price of some hours spent surfing the net at a key website I've discovered, you'll develop page after page of ideas for your home based business.

In fact, you may never have to go searching again for ideas once you know where to look and find out that the looking only involves the investment of your time.

Found a business you really like at a reasonable price? You might just want to buy it.

Or at least respond to the listing and see what other information you can glean about the enterprise!

Your time learning about businesses for sale may be the best investment you'll ever make in your home business career. It will expand your horizons as an entrepreneur, cure you of home business pipe dreams, and let you find out what works in the REAL world!

For information on how to find an indepth and NO COST listing of business brokers throughout the US, visit:

http://1sthowtoworkathome.com/business-for-sale.html



About the author:
Chuck Huckaby, Lawrenceburg,TN, USA
http://1stHowToWorkAtHome.com/business-for-sale.html
Chuck Huckaby publishes 1stHowToWorkAtHome.com, the Budding NetPreneur's "Escape The Rat Race Portal" with so much content, it's like getting a no cost ebook on every page!

Forex Trading Online - 7 Reasons You Should!

by: Keith Thompson
Copyright 2005 Keith Thompson

Forex trading online is a fast way to use your investment capital to it's fullest. The Forex markets offer distinct advantages to the small and large traders alike, making Forex currency trading in many ways preferable to other markets such as stocks, options or traditional futures. Here are seven reasons why you'll want to look into Forex Trading online.

1 - Forex is the largest market.
Forex trading volume of more than 1.9 billion, more than 3 times larger than the equities market and more than 5 times bigger than futures, give Forex traders nearly unlimited liquidity and flexibility.

2 - Forex never sleeps!
You can execute forex trading online 24/7, from 7AM New Zealand time on Monday morning, to 5PM New York time on Friday evening. No waiting for markets to open: they're open all night! This makes Forex trading online a very attractive component that fits easily into your day (or night!)

3 - No Bulls or Bears!
Because Forex trading online involves the buying of one currency while simultaneously selling another, you have an equal opportunity for profit no matter which direction the currency is headed. Another advantage is that there are only around 14 pairs of currencies to trade, as opposed to many thousands of stocks, options and futures.

4 - Forex Trading online offers great leverage!
You can make the most of your investment resources with Forex trading online. Some brokers offer 200:1 margin ratios in your trading accounts. Mini-FX accounts, which can typically be opened with only $200-300, offer 0.5% margin, meaning that $50 in trading capital can control a 10,000 unit currency position. This is why people are flocking to Forex trading online as a way to highly leverage their investments.

5 - Forex prices are predictable.
Currency prices, though volatile, tend to create and follow trends, allowing the technically trained Forex trader to spot and take advantage of many entry and exit points.

6 - Forex trading online is commission free!
That's right! No commissions, no exchange fees or any other hidden fees. This is a very transparent market, and you'll find it very easy to research the currencies and the countries involved. Forex brokers make a small percentage of the bid/ask spread, and that's it. No longer any need to compute commissions and fees when executing a trade.

7 - Forex trading online is instant!
The FX market is astoundingly fast! Your orders are executed, filled and confirmed usually within 1-2 seconds. Since this is all done electronically with no humans involved, there is little to slow it down!

Forex trading online can get you where you want to go quicker and more profitably than any other form of trading. Check it out and see what Forex trading online can do for you!


About the author:
Keith Thompson is the webmaster of http://www.forex-trading-today.com,a site focusing on the latest Forex news and resources.