Citigroup Announces 9,000 Job Cuts!

news excerpt:

AP
Citigroup lops off $14 billion in investments during 1Q

Friday April 18, 12:14 pm ET
By Madlen Read, AP Business Writer
Citi records $14 billion in 1Q write-downs; Wall Street relieved it's not worse

NEW YORK (AP) -- Citigroup Inc. said Friday it will eliminate about 9,000 more jobs, after poor bets on defaulting loans and the tumultuous credit markets lopped $14 billion in value from its investments during the first quarter.

That write-down, plus more than $3 billion in costs related to consumers' credit problems, led Citigroup to a quarterly loss of $5.1 billion.

Citigroup has announced 13,200 job cuts since the credit crisis began slamming the banking industry last summer. The bank announced 4,200 cuts in January, and more work-force reductions are likely.

"We're very, very focused on efficiency," said chief executive Vikram Pandit during a conference call.


For the full article, CLICK HERE.

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Again with the negative news! Sorry. I know I'm starting to sound like chicken little, screaming at the top of my lungs that the sky is falling. But there was something else I wanted to point out today. In past posts I've talked about how having an income from a Network Marketing business can help protect you in times of economic slumps where corporate profits are low and the risk of job loss for the working class is high. That's one way of looking at things. Housing market a bust, job loss at a high, gas prices jumping sharply and showing no signs of stopping -- we're all going to need extra money to get us thru.

But this argument falls a little short because it still considers employment as the primary income source and the Network Marketing income as secondary. If this news article tells us anything at all, it's saying that this is a flawed strategy because of the nature of the worker/corporation relationship. Corporations in economic downturns will protect their bottom line before they protect their employees. Why then depend on such companies as your primary income source? Why if you can generate the same or greater income with a Network Marketing business even entertain a forty year career for a company whose singular loyalty rests in its own bottom line.

With Network Marketing you're in the driver's seat. YOU decide how much or how little you make. YOU decide when you work and when you don't. When you've built a solid Network Marketing income your financial fate no longer lies at the whim of some company or corporation. The days of counting on your company to take care of you through thick and thing are long gone. It's time to start taking care of yourself.

To begin generating income with your own Network Marketing business, CLICK HERE.

Phone-A-Phobia

I admit I'm not an incredibly outgoing person. Some might even go as far as to call me introverted. So, when the prospect of having to speak with people on the telephone came up, I felt a certain retraction in parts of my… well, I won’t go there.

Suffice it to say that I have since conquered my fear of the phone and in fact am left with quite an empty feeling if I go even one day without making a call. What did I do to get there? Simple – I forced myself to pick up the phone.

For those of you who may be wrestling with this right now, your fear of the phone is your ego trying to protect itself from getting bruised – bruised from fumbling the lines and not knowing what to say, from speaking to inconsiderate and even rude people, from failing to not get the “yes” the you had so hoped for. But realize that it is not these actions themselves that do the bruising but rather it’s your ego’s perception of them that creates the hurt and the anxiety. And your ego has gotten so good at this that it locks you up even before you’ve picked up the phone.

So what we must do is shed the ego and rework our perception of things, see things for what they really are. The fumbled lines – a simple lack of experience and mastery that can only be gained through practice and repetition. The rude person on the other end – a total stranger whose opinion of you is completely irrelevant; a person who is reacting not to you but to their ego’s perception of you. The failed attempt at getting the “yes” – the only true failure is in not trying.

There are two roads we can take here: the difficult one and the easy one. The difficult road obviously is picking up that phone and facing your fears. On this road you’ll encounter lots of obstacles, especially early on. You’ll trip and fall many times along the way but you must be resolute and stay the course for it will surely make you stronger. The easy road is giving in to your fears and not making the calls. There’s no challenge here and because of that you will experience no growth. You nurture your weakness on this road and you deny your strength. Do you see then that this road though much easier than the first is infinitely more dangerous?

I’ve been at that crossroads before so I understand what you’re going through. All you have to do is pick up the phone and start dialing (or auto-dialing) and trust in your decision to take the hard road because that is the road which leads to success.

Housing Update: The Worst is Still to Come

news excerpt:

AP
US Foreclosure Filings Jump in March
Tuesday April 15, 5:12 am ET
By J.W. Elphinstone, AP Business Writer
Foreclosure Filings Against US Homeowners Soar 57 Percent in March; Bank Repossessions Surge

The onslaught of homes facing foreclosures has yet to ebb, a research report showed Tuesday, with bank repossessions skyrocketing last month as more troubled homeowners mailed in their keys and walked away.

And the worst isn't over: the wave of adjustable-rate loans resetting to higher rates will crest in May and June. And that's expected to push more homeowners into default and foreclosure in the third and fourth quarters of this year, according to RealtyTrac Inc. of Irvine, Calif.

Click here for the full article
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More bad stats from March. And experts are still saying that the worst is yet to come. I know that I'm seeming more and more like the bearer of bad news, and believe me it's not on purpose. A lot of the news out there right now is pretty bad so it almost can't be helped. But I wanted to share this particular article because of it's relevance to Network Marketing.

You see, as the statistic goes, an extra couple hundred dollars a month can prevent a large portion of the foreclosures right now. So if more people knew about Network Marketing and how relatively simple it is to start earning an extra $200 to $500 dollars a month or more, how many people do you think we could help avoid forclosure?

I'd wager that the number would be pretty high.

For all the networkers out there reading this, we have in our hands the ability to help turn this recession around and save thousands of people across the country from financial disaster. For those who haven't yet looked into Network Marketing, there is no better financial insurance plan than a residual income that is secondary to what you make at your job. So take the time to educate yourself on Network Marketing and start building a more stable financial future for you and your loved ones.



Want to learn what I'm doing to generate extra income? Click here.

Carlos Aponte Jr and His 4 Year Success Story

Carlos Aponte, Jr. recently attained the level of Premier in XanGo. It's a success story not only for Carlos and for XanGo but for the Network Marketing Industry as a whole. Congratulations Carlos and thank you for being such an inspiration!

I'm on Squidoo!!!

I just wanted the world to know that I am now on Squidoo.

check it out at: MLM HQ

For those of you not familiar with this service, "Squidoo is the world's most popular site for building free, single pages about your passions." So basically it's a service where you can create a webpage about absolutely anything you want. You can make as many individual pages as you want so this is a great way to generate leads and drive traffic to your site. Squidoo is yet another great tool to have in your Web 2.0 tool box.

If you guys have any questions about how to get started with Squidoo, shoot me an email or give me a call. I'll be happy to walk you through it.

And don't forget to sign up for my free Video Newsletter. To receive all the latest MLM business building tips and training directly in your inbox, simply send an email to: Subscribe@ronniecruz.com