National Insurance Card

National Insurance Card

Running an expat newspaper taking part in Argentina

Sean O'Hare interviews Kristie Robinson, the expat who co-founded an English newspaper taking part in Argentina on a financial plan of merely £3,500.

The indication to agree up a newspaper taking part in Buenos Aires came, unsurprisingly, taking part in a pub. Four drinks to the good and 26-year-old journalists Kristie Robinson and Lucy Cousins might see to it that definitely veto wisdom why it would fail. The information with the purpose of it still sounded akin to a good indication the following day of the week convinced them they were on to something.

'We were fresh, foreign and female with with the purpose of crazy mix of wild optimism and naivety. Taking part in information it was probably the optimism and naivety with the purpose of got us from end to end it,' reflected Kristie, without hesitation 31, acknowledging the challenges with the purpose of faced them since they agree up their problem taking part in a disgracefully macho city, originally with veto working visas before officially permitted credentials.

Contained by 10 weeks of new taking part in Buenos Aires and with a financial plan of £3,500, the put together owned the paper's trade name, had in print a sufficient amount make a copy to fill their firstly 16 folio edition and sold three adverts to cover the cost of the firstly 2,000 make a copy print run of The Argentimes, a free English language newspaper aimed next to fresh British and American expats and educated fresh Argentines.

'Having previously worked concurrently next to an English language newspaper taking part in Bolivia we understood the complete process of getting a paper not at home taking part in South America and were convinced we might figure out the same taking part in Buenos Aires, where the simply competition was on or after the Buenos Aires announce, a paper with the purpose of still kept four pages a week in support of the shipping news. I mean who reads the shipping news?" held Kristie, a Liverpool university International Relations and Spanish graduate on or after Warwickshire.

With the help of a web developer ally back taking part in London, The Argentimes website launched all together, while a photographer ally who merely happened to be alive planning a sabbatical to South America agreed to join the team and take the pictures.

'We had veto overheads so in attendance was veto real stress. Although we were living sour our savings and weren't earning a wage, the paper was paying in support of itself. Our back home was our department and we sold advertising to the hostels, hotels, bars and restuarants, knowing plump well they wanted the custom on or after the fresh group evaluation our paper. A colour paper with supplementary pages was supplementary desirable to advertisers, so like five editions we had increased the print run to 5,000 copies, apiece with 24 colour pages," held Kristie.

'We got taking part in touch a chord with the UK and American universities with the purpose of presented Spanish and newspaper journalism degrees and agree up an internship programme, ensuring all six months before so we had a new wave of enthusiastic, aspiring journalists who not simply wrote except plus took turns taking part in handing the paper not at home taking part in the streets and to our advertisers next to hotels and bars."

Everything was available well until Lucy unfaltering, like six months, to call it a day of the week. Despite sounding akin to a good indication back taking part in London, the veracity of running a newspaper and acting since writer, editor, salesperson and troubleshooter was proving too a large amount in support of the native Australian, who packed her bags.

Solitary and without hesitation single-handedly running a growing editorial team of interns and a little commission-based advertising team on or after the front room of her borrowed San Telmo dwelling, Kristie began to consider the officially permitted allusion of the paper's existence.

Argentine law requires problem owners to control a D.N.I card (equivalent to the British National Insurance card) before an Argentine native since the company president, so she set taking part in a vexed call to an Argentine businessmen she had met while networking taking part in London.

She held: 'I remember calling and saw: 'My partner has merely not here, I am running this phenomenon illegally, the powers that be won't dedicate me a piece papers and remain important me to marry an Argentine to solve the catch. I don't be familiar with who to trust.' By a stroke of break he set me taking part in touch a chord with his ally taking part in Buenos Aires who happened to be alive a little problem investor. We met, I trusted him the minute and taking part in return in support of shares taking part in the paper he legitimised the problem."

Apart on or after the out of the ordinary dispute with the printers who were often on smash into, the paper went on or after strength to strength. 16 of the UK's top universities and several American universities were distribution students not at home to Kristie's front room department where they would encounter to discuss story ideas, employment the supercomputer and phone line and churn out the fortnightly newspaper with the purpose of dealt with a host of topical social and opinionated issues, since well since reviews and skin tone on the most recent melody, arts and rage trends.

By the finish of 2008 Kristie was approached by data lines Rivadavia media company with a £50,000 offer in support of 80 for each cent of the newspaper. Kristie and her partner would keep hold of a stake, she would remain to edit the paper and plus receive a salary on or after the media company and a new department. She normal, although not with no reservation.

'The information with the purpose of we would lose our sovereignty since a paper was challenging to swallow, yet though I was promised in attendance would be alive veto editorial interference. What did you say? Swung it was the panic about of the impending decline. Ahead of the offer came taking part in we were warned 2009 would be alive a real struggle and with the purpose of the paper might operate under as advertisers were likely to pluck out not at home due to the depression taking part in tourism', she held.

Since is collective taking part in Argentine problem, the £50,000 was to be alive paid taking part in monthly installments finished two years. On Christmas Eve 2009 and merely solitary day into paying sour the agreed sum, data lines Rivadavia handed the paper back to Kristie saw it veto longer wanted it.

'In order to shield ourselves, we had a clause in print taking part in to the contract with the purpose of held if Rivadavia defaulted on two consecutive payments it would lose ownership to us. We didn't expect them to employment it to their pro,' held Kristie.

Without hesitation, along with a invite set of circumstances to fight with data lines Rivadavia, Kristie has her old paper back, albeit under its new choose, The Argentina on your own, and the challenge of result new advertisers. Until so therefore it desire exist solely online.

She held: 'In lots of ways it worked not at home well - I old my salary to disburse sour a number of debt and acquisition myself a number of furniture, we survived the decline and without hesitation I persuade to regenerate my entrepreneurial spirit. It wouldn't be alive Argentina if it was all plain sailing.'

National Insurance Contributions

National Insurance Contributions

Tariff impression on consumer budgets

The things of the emergency financial statement want befall felt adversely by generally households and consumers inside the UK, a leading economics assemble has predicted.

Capital Economics estimated with the intention of disposable incomes want decline by 1 for every cent then time, the initially decline since 1982.

By 2015, the combined '40 billion of tariff increases and costs cuts fit made known inside the Chancellor's financial statement want be inflicted with seen 8 for every cent whittled as of the mean household income.

Capital Economics understood with the intention of 2011 would befall the toughest time, incoming equally it does on the back the boost inside storage bin as of 17.5 for every to 20 for every cent.

If the facts curve made known to befall accurate, it may possibly occur equally a blow to the government's hopes of a confidential sector-driven recovery.

Vicky Redwood, a senior economist by Capital Economics, commented: 'Consumers visibly stomach to befall amongst the biggest losers inside the fiscal squeeze.'

The reserves own facts forecast the shortage cold measures would cost the top 10 for every cent of households '1,600 inside two years' calculate, with mean earners bringing up the rear linking '300 and '600, and the poorest '180.

Other than Capital Economics has a a reduced amount of optimistic check over and has calculated with the intention of tariff hikes by themselves want lessen mean household budgets by '550 then time.

Ms Redwood added: 'We expect overall real household disposable incomes, with inflation, to increase by 0.5 for every cent otherwise so this time, previous to falling by 1 for every cent otherwise so inside 2011 and flatlining inside 2012.

'This would befall the tightest squeeze on incomes since the mid-1970s, as real incomes fell by almost 3 for every cent inside 1976 and 1977. And if we are aptly inside thinking other fiscal tightening is yet to occur, the squeeze may possibly curve made known to befall worse.

'Although the financial statement controlled overall tariff rises of '8.2 billion, households' taxes rose by near '11 billion to help shell out pro cuts inside corporation tariff and the increase inside the threshold pro employers' national insurance contributions.

'The fiscal squeeze want condemn consumer costs to a period of extraordinary weakness.'

G-20 Summit: Disharmony Rears Its Head

national insurance contributions

Proposals for a transaction tax to underwrite banks' risk-taking split the G20 summit at the weekend, but there was agreement over the need to maintain fiscal support.

Gordon Brown's suggestion of a so-called "Tobin tax" received a mixed response from the global financial community and the US Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner, slapped down the proposal. A "day-by-day" tax on speculation is "not something we are prepared to support", he said. Jean-Claude Trichet, the president of the European Central Bank, was also lukewarm on the issue. "I am not personally convinced," he said.

The row was described by the Tories as "embarrassing". But Downing Street said the tax was just one of a series of measures put forward as possible candidates to "re-balance risk and reward", none of which had the Prime Minister's particular endorsement. Other options include an insurance fee, a resolution fund, or contingent capital arrangements. "We are not trying to set out pre-determined conclusions," a spokesman said.

Alongside the row over a Tobin tax, the agreement on the need for continued fiscal stimulus appears more solid. "The recovery is uneven and remains dependent on policy support, and high unemployment is a major concern," the G20 communiqué issued at the weekend said. "To restore the global economy and financial system to health, we agreed to maintain support for the recovery until it is assured."

But behind the ostensible harmony, the shared interests forged at the height of the financial crisis are starting to diverge. Some countries are already going their separate ways (see box). Australia and Norway are both already tinkering with monetary policy, although their commodities-fuelled economies have few implications elsewhere. But last week's statement from the ECB also included noises about an exit strategy: "...looking ahead, not all our liquidity measures will be needed to the same extent as in the past." And within 24 hours of the weekend's G20 communiqué, Manmohan Singh, the Indian Prime Minister, signalled that stimulus measures are set to be withdrawn from 2010.

But the real problems will come from a resurgence of tension between the Anglo-Saxon economies of the UK and US, and that of Germany. As a big trading nation, Germany was horribly exposed to the global downturn, but will rebound faster than economies reliant on financial services and the property sectors.

The German government is already eyeing its exit strategy. The new coalition of the Christian Democrats and the Free Democrats won Germany's general election in September on a pledge to get the public finances back into shape and cut €24bn (£21bn) from the nation's tax bill. Add to that a constitutional amendment put through by the outgoing "grand coalition" setting a zero limit on annual borrowing for state governments, and a 0.35 per cent of GDP cap on federal government, all by 2016. Both are in direct conflict to the spirit of the communiqué.

Meanwhile, the UK government may talk up stimulus, but reality looks quite different. From January 2010, VAT will go back up by 2.5 per cent, and April will see the start of the new 50p tax rate for higher earners. National insurance contributions, fuel duty and air passenger duty are also all set to rise in the coming years, while swingeing public spending cuts are also expected to try to curb the UK's ballooning national deficit.

Local priorities: Countries going their own way

• GERMANY

So far Germany has acquiesced in calls for maintaining fiscal stimulae. But the new government won on a tax-cutting pledge and the constitution requires reduced public debt by 2015. Domestic politics will likely beat global rhetoric.

• INDIA

Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister, said yesterday that India would "wind down" its fiscal stimulus from 2010 as growth rises to 7 per cent. Inflation is a big concern for a country where millions live on just $2 (£1.20) a day.

• AUSTRALIA

Australia has raised its interest rate twice since September, taking it to 3.5 per cent. The country saw just one quarter of contraction, at the end of 2008, thanks to continuing commodities exports, particularly to China.

• NORWAY

Norway was the first European nation to tighten monetary policy with last month's quarter-point interest rate rise. its oil and gas industry insulated it from the worst of the downturn and ensured a swift recovery.

SEPTA strike over, but fare hikes loom

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Now that buses, subways, and trolleys are running again after a six-day transit strike, SEPTA riders can brace for the next unpleasantness: a fare hike.

SEPTA has been planning to increase fares in 2010 ever since it last boosted them in 2007. Regular smaller increases are better, SEPTA officials maintain, than infrequent big increases.

The day of reckoning is drawing closer. Raises likely would be scheduled to take effect around July 1, the start of the agency's 2011 fiscal year.

SEPTA won't say how much fares may go up. But the agency has budgeted for a 9.5 percent increase in passenger revenue in fiscal 2011.

A fare increase of that size could mean the cost of a token would go from the current $1.45 to about $1.60, and a weekly TransPass from the current $20.75 to about $22.75.

But nothing's certain.

"If there is a fare increase, we don't know how much it will be," SEPTA spokeswoman Jerri Williams said yesterday. She said it would depend on inflation, ridership, the overall economy, and SEPTA's effort at "fare simplification."

A 10 percent hike could boost SEPTA's base cash fare from the current $2 to $2.20. That would put it behind New York City, Chicago, and San Diego, which are at $2.25, and ahead of Boston ($2 subway/$1.50 bus), San Francisco ($1.75), and Washington ($1.65 subway/$1.35 bus).

SEPTA would have to hold hearings in the region's five counties and get approval from its 15-member board before implementing any fare increase.

Williams was quick to say the new contract agreed to yesterday for bus drivers, subway and trolley operators, and mechanics was not to blame for a fare hike.

There was no wage increase for the first year of that contract, and the $1,250-per-worker ratification bonus is to be paid from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation budget, not SEPTA's.

"It has nothing to do directly with the contract," Williams said of a possible fare increase. She noted that a transportation funding and reform commission in 2006 recommended regular fare increases to keep up with rising costs.

Yesterday, SEPTA passengers generally were happy just to have a ride.

Buses, subways, and trolleys were back on their regular routes after a midnight contract settlement brokered by Rep. Bob Brady (D., Pa.) and Gov. Rendell.

The new five-year contract for the 5,100 members of Transport Workers Union Local 234 "is essentially the same" as the one rejected by the union leadership a week ago, Rendell said.

Two changes made the difference: an increase in dental insurance coverage - paid for by delaying part of one year's raise - and an agreement to have a joint labor-management committee review any future impact on SEPTA's costs created by national health-care legislation.

"We tried to get it done in time so there could be an announcement during the Eagles game, so people would know before they went to bed," Brady said yesterday. "But we couldn't quite make it in time."

It was nearly 12:45 a.m. before Rendell, Brady, Mayor Nutter, and officials of the union and SEPTA gathered in the lobby of the Park Hyatt at the Bellevue to announce the settlement.

(They would have been there earlier, except their elevator got stuck when it reached the lobby at 12:40. It took three hotel employees about five minutes to pry the doors open and help the riders step a foot up to get out.)

TWU members will vote on the agreement in about a week and a half, said union president Willie Brown.

The provisions of the contract include the $1,250 bonus upon ratification, a 2.5 percent raise in the second year, and a 3 percent raise in each of the final three years.

Also, there is no increase in the workers' health-insurance contributions, which is 1 percent of base pay. The workers' contribution to the pension fund will increase from the current 2 percent of base pay to 3.5 percent over the life of the contract, and maximum pension payments will be increased from $27,000 a year to $30,000 a year.

Brady, who kept negotiations alive by driving back from Washington early Sunday to meet with union officials, said he thought it was crucial to try to settle the contract before the start of another commuting week.

"Once you get past the first week of a strike, you really have problems getting back to the table," he said. "Things start to get bitter."

Brady, a veteran labor leader who has been involved in many SEPTA negotiations, said long-standing ill will between the union and SEPTA management contributed to the difficult negotiations.

"There's a lot of history there, all of it bad," Brady said. "There's not a trust factor there at all."

Rendell had threatened to withdraw nearly $7 million in state funds he had offered to pay for the workers' bonuses if an agreement was not reached by yesterday. The money is to come from a PennDot economic-development fund, he said.

Rendell and Nutter scolded union leaders earlier for rejecting what the governor called a "sensational" contract. And the weight of public opinion seemed to be against the union, with many people complaining the workers were asking for too much in tough economic times.

Early in the strike, Brown said he understood he was "the most hated man in Philadelphia." Brady said that Brown tried to take the name-calling and scorn in stride, but that some epithets went too far.

"He got one call who said he hoped his [Brown's] wife, daughter, and grandchild all got cancer and died on Christmas," Brady said.

As riders returned to their regular transit routines yesterday, they said they were happy to have transit back but miffed that they'd had to endure a strike.

William Cartegena, 47, a social worker who travels daily by subway from Fern Rock to Center City, said he was glad the Broad Street Line was running again but still disappointed in SEPTA workers for the sudden onset of the strike.

"There was absolutely no consideration for commuters," said Cartegena, a member of District Council 47 of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees. "I'm a member of a union, and I thought it was an embarrassment and a disgrace the way they did it."

Tax rise fears prompt rush to use allowances

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Growing worries about an increase in Capital Gains Tax, currently standing at 18pc, to narrow the gap with the new 50pc top tax rate next April has resulted in business advisers being inundated with "help me" pleas from entrepreneurs seeking to protect their business from further demands from the taxman.

As reported in Your Business last week, many are planning to boost dividend payments to investors to try to shelter some of their income against the higher tax rate for people earning more than £150,000 a year. Others are examining ways to advance bonus payments to escape the initial impact of a tax that tops 60pc after including National Insurance contributions.

Tony Burns, sole director of Claim Angel, founded less than two years ago, has wasted little time in trying to boost his dividend stream before next April after exhaustive talks with advisers.

He said: "I've worked closely with my accountants to set up a system of management accounts on a monthly basis to maximise the amount of dividends we can take out of the company. I don't see why we should hand it over to the taxman.

"We want to take out as much dividend as we can before March 31 but we have to be careful. We have to monitor profits very closely and make sure we don't damage the business."

Mr Burns, 44, a rehabilitated drug addict who works with a staff of six and a team of solicitors in Liverpool handling compensation claims, added: "It's a scary time for business and to have tax going up is just too much.

"We're handling a lot of personal injury claims, including many from wounded servicemen and I don't want to let them down but as a small businessman I'm not getting any help from the Government."

More entrepreneurs are considering moving abroad to escape the new tax regime. A survey by business advisers Tenon of 300 entrepreneurs earning more than £150,000 showed a fifth of them are planning to leave Britain for countries with more favourable tax rates.

Dave King, a director of Nottingham-based Nexus Total Print Solutions considered the emigration option but, with a young family, has decided to stay in Britain and find ways of cushioning the tax leap. He said: "We've been talking with our advisers and they've come up with a clever arrangement to defer tax. We'll ultimately pay less tax but its a perfectly legal arrangement. Why do we have to go to these lengths? Its unfair to see the creative lifeblood of this country being penalised in this way."

HM Revenue & Customs are closely monitoring tax avoidance schemes stimulated by the 50pc rate. "HMRC is aware of various strategies being put forward to mitigate the 50pc income tax rate," a spokesman said. "Ministers may choose to change the law."

Business advisers believe there is little prospect of HMRC intervening to try to stop advance dividend or bonus payments because in any event the Treasury will get an earlier tax if lower tax payment.

The Tenon survey shows entrepreneurs considering emigrating are looking at familiar tax havens such as Monaco, the Cayman Islands and Guernsey.

Tenon is advising clients to move quickly to use up all their tax free allowances with cash or stocks and shares and introducing share schemes which could avoid all income tax and National Insurance liabilities.

Mr Raynor believes the Chancellor will use the Pre-Budget report to try to block the "opportunities for early planning" and fears capital gains will be one of the targets.

George Bull, head of tax at Baker Tilly says the huge gap between capital gains and income taxes is a "clear target."

Small businesses brace for House health bill

national insurance

Many small business groups oppose the U.S. House’s 1,990-page health care reform bill, contending that it would raise insurance premiums for many firms and create disincentives for hiring new workers.

Some small business owners, however, support the legislation. They think the insurance market needs the bill’s reforms, such as barring insurance companies from denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions. They also think providing a government-run option in new health insurance exchanges would bring needed competition to the insurance market.

The coming vote on the House bill is the first step in the end game for reform. The Senate still must vote on its version, and then the two bills must be merged for a final vote by each chamber.

This process could take weeks, if not months, to play out, but the House bill provides a starting point for small businesses to determine whether the legislation would help or hurt them.

Here’s a look at some of the provisions that would have the most effect on small businesses:
Health insurance exchanges

The House bill would create a national insurance exchange where small businesses and individuals without coverage could shop for coverage. States could opt to offer their exchanges or create regional exchanges.

These exchanges would become operational in 2013. In the first year, businesses with as many as 25 employees could buy insurance through the exchanges. That would increase to 50 employees in 2014 and 100 employees in 2015.

A government-run plan, or public option, would be offered as an option in the exchange. This plan would negotiate the rates it pays to hospitals and other providers, instead of paying Medicare rates, which are less than the rates private insurers pay providers. The public plan’s costs would be covered by the premiums it charges.

By 2019, 30 million Americans would be covered through the exchanges, with 6 million opting for the public plan, according to Congressional Budget Office estimates.

The exchange will “promote transparency and new choices,” said Kelly Conklin, who owns Foley-Waite Associates, an architectural woodworking company in Bloomfield, N.J.

“It provides a competitive public health insurance plan that will give small businesses new leverage, drive down costs and inject new competition into the marketplace,” Conklin said.

Conklin serves on the national executive board of Main Street Alliance, a coalition of small business owners that supports the House bill.

The National Federation of Independent Business, which opposes the bill, supports allowing small businesses to pool their purchasing power for health insurance. It sees several big problems with the exchanges in the House bill, however.

Health plans that would be offered through the exchange would have to offer a minimum level of insurance benefits — including behavioral health treatments and durable medical equipment — that exceeds what’s now covered in many small business policies, said Michelle Dimarob, a House health care lobbyist for NFIB.

“It’s going to be more expensive that what small businesses typically are buying today,” Dimarob said.

All employers, even those not using the exchanges, would have to meet these minimum insurance standards by 2018.

Business groups also fear that the public plan would undermine private insurance.

A letter to House leaders signed by 10 other business groups that oppose the House bill, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said the public plan “will not operate on a level playing field and compete fairly if the government acts as both a payer and a regulator.”

Even if the public plan initially pays negotiated rates to providers, “soon there would be tremendous pressure for the new public plan to pay below-market rates, just as we have seen in Medicare and Medicaid,” the letter states. This would shift costs to private insurers and employees who are covered by private plans, it said.
Employer mandate

The legislation requires employers with annual payrolls of at least $500,000 to provide health insurance to their employees or pay a payroll tax of as much as 8 percent.

Employers also could face this tax even if they offer insurance. If their coverage isn’t affordable to low-wage workers, these individuals could get government-subsidized coverage through the exchange, and the employer would be taxed to help pay for the coverage.

The bill requires employers to pick up 72.5 percent of the premium for individual coverage and 65 percent for family coverage. That’s a higher share than many small businesses pay now, Dimarob said.

The bill’s supporters say that 86 percent of small businesses would be exempt from the employer mandate. But many small businesses with as few as 15 employees would be subject to the mandate, NFIB Tax Counsel Bill Rys said. Even if they couldn’t afford coverage and were struggling to stay afloat, they still would face the payroll tax because that is based on their companies’ wages, not profits, he said.

“It’s a direct tax on jobs,” Rys said.

The CBO estimated that employers would pay $135 billion in penalties during 10 years as a result of the employer mandate.

Andrew Gross, managing partner of Radiation Technical Services and Sturdy Built Homes in New Orleans, said he doesn’t have a problem with the employer mandate. His businesses provide insurance to all of their 85 full-time employees.

“To me, it’s the morally right thing to do,” Gross said.

Competitors that don’t offer insurance to employees have an unfair advantage, said Gross, who traveled to Washington on Tuesday to lobby with other Main Street Alliance members for the House health care bill.

Some small businesses could qualify for tax credits that would cover as much as 50 percent of the cost of insurance. This credit, however, only lasts two years and is limited to companies with low-wage workers, Rys said.
Tax increases

To help pay for the bill, which would cost $1.05 trillion during 10 years, the legislation would impose a 5.4 percent tax surcharge on individuals with incomes of $500,000 or more (or $1 million for joint filers). This surcharge would raise an estimated $461 billion during 10 years.

Although only a tiny percentage of small business owners would have to pay this new tax, it could hit many of the nation’s most successful business owners — those most likely to create new jobs. Most small businesses are structured as S corporations, partnerships or sole proprietorships, in which company profits flow through to their owners and are taxed as individual income.

Combine this surcharge with a likely increase in individual income tax rates for high earners, and some small business owners could face tax rates around 45 percent —10 percent higher than the highest corporate tax rate.

“That’s a pretty big bite,” Rys said. “It’s less money that they’re going to have to operate the business.”

Gross, however, doesn’t think the surcharge would have too much of a damaging effect on a business if the owner already is able to take $500,000 from it.

Health care should be a shared responsibility, he said. In some years, the surcharge may apply to him.

“When it does, I’ll be very happy for it,” Gross said.

Anti-Fraud Groups: Abolishing State's Fraud Unit Will Increase Cost of Insurance

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WASHINGTON, Nov. 5 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Consumers in Arizona should
expect to pay more for insurance in the future if a budget proposal to axe the
state's fraud bureau goes through, three national anti-fraud groups warned
today. A preliminary proposal being considered in the state would abolish the
fraud unit in the Department of Insurance, and halt the state's investigations
of a wide range of insurance crimes.

The three groups -- the National Insurance Crime Bureau, the Coalition Against
Insurance Fraud and the International Association of Special Investigation
Units -- urged Gov. Jan Brewer to resist the cutback, citing an increased
level of insurance fraud during the current down economy. In the letter to
Gov. Brewer, the groups said the state already has reduced the number of
fulltime employees in the Fraud Unit from 14 to 4. "Since criminals seek the
path of least resistance, any further cuts to the Fraud Unit would put the
economic health of Arizona and its residents at risk," the groups warned.

Organized fraud rings will rush to fill the enforcement void left by the Fraud
Unit's demise, the three groups predicted. "Without question, there will be an
eventual and inevitable rise in insurance costs for Arizona businesses and
Arizona residents," the letter to the governor further warned.

A total of 47 state bureaus around the country have been created to
investigate and prosecute insurance fraud. Several have faced budget cuts this
year, but none have been wholly eliminated. Arizona would be the first.

Zenith National Insurance Down 4.9% Since SmarTrend's Sell Recommendation

national insurance

SmarTrend, our proprietary pattern recognition system, called a Downtrend for Zenith National Insurance (NYSE:ZNT) on October 28, 2009 at $29.61.

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Inside Insurance: Georgia 5th in construction equipment theft

national insurance

The National Insurance Crime Bureau and the National Equipment Register reported Oct. 27 more than 13,500 pieces of heavy equipment were stolen in 2008, and, of that number, the top five states represented 43 percent of the thefts.

Georgia ranked fifth for stolen heavy equipment while Texas was number one, Florida number two, North Carolina number three and California number four. Between 2005 and 2007, the state ranking in order for stolen heavy equipment was:

1. Texas

2. California

3. Florida

4. North Carolina

5. Georgia

The majority of thefts by location were thefts from others' premises followed by theft from the insured's premises. Lagging far behind was theft while in transit.

The most popular type of equipment stolen was mowers, riding or garden tractors, with more than 5,000 taken. The second most popular were loader vehicles, including backhoes, wheeled or tracked vehicles or skid steer vehicles.

Equipment produced since 2000 accounted for 79 percent of the reported thefts. The age of the stolen equipment was just under 18 percent for 2008 models, just under 14 percent for 2007 models and just under 12 percent for 2006 models.

On the recovery side of the equation, only 21 percent of stolen equipment was recovered in 2008. There are several factors as to why the recovery rates are rather low:

-- Delays in discovery and reporting of theft.

-- Inaccurate or nonexistent owner records

-- Lack of pre-purchase screening of used equipment

-- Limited law enforcement resources dedicated to equipment investigations

-- Complexities in equipment numbering systems

-- Limited, possibly inaccurate, equipment information in law enforcement systems.

From 2005 to 2008, the following states accounted for 44 percent of recoveries.

1. California

2. Texas

3. Florida

4. North Carolina

5. Georgia

Here are the key statistics about heavy equipment theft according to the NICB and NER:

-- 15,639,322 - Number of ownership records.

-- $10,180,845 - Value of items recovered by law enforcement with the help of NER and the NICB.

-- $27,770 - Average value of machines recovered by police with NER and NICB assistance.

-- 17,790 - Law enforcement officers trained by the NICB in 2008.

-- 11,177 - Fleets with equipment registered with NER.

-- 328 - Recoveries made by law enforcement with the help of NER and the NICB in 2008.

The following conclusions are drawn from the results of the study:

Equipment owners and insurers should focus risk-management efforts on easily transportable high-value equipment.

Equipment security and work-site security are important. Work-site security should be a priority because equipment often sits in areas with little or no physical security.

Officers investigating equipment theft should focus on popular targets and look for red flags such as location, type of transport, missing decals, altered paint, and, especially, missing identification plates.

The area that needs the most improvement is also the area that promises immediate results: insuring accurate information is supplied to law enforcement 24 hours a day.