why

Why now might be a good time to save in a Roth 401(k) or Roth IRA

Roth accounts may make sense for a larger number of Americans due to low historical income-tax rates and the U.S. budget deficit, which some experts believe will necessitate the government raising tax rates in the future.




why

Josh Brown on why he picks Lowe's, Home Depot as his Last Chance Trade

Josh Brown, Ritholtz Wealth Management CEO, joins "Closing Bell" to discuss why he picks Lowe's and Home Depot as last chance trade.




why

Why advisors encourage these older investors to buy more stocks

Just because you're approaching retirement doesn't mean you have to shy away from stocks. Financial advisors discuss why it may make sense for investors to step up their equity allocation — particularly if they can count on pension income.




why

Twilio CEO on why the company suspended earnings guidance

Jeff Lawson, Twilio CEO, joins 'Closing Bell' to discuss the surge in demand for the product amid Covid-19, earnings, and the company's assistance to telehealth initatives.




why

Why unemployment benefits for the self-employed may be less than expected

Self-employed workers applying for unemployment benefits may get less than they think because of how they report income.




why

Trader says 'no guidance, no problem' for this medical device company—Here's why

Is Abbott Labs a buy? With CNBC's Melissa Lee and the Fast Money traders, Guy Adami, Tim Seymour, Pete Najarian and Steve Grasso.




why

Government and corporate debt are set to surge, here's why

CNBC's Steve Liesman reports on why debt will rise across the board.




why

Why the markets and economy are diverging during the pandemic

As economic data deteriorates, the stock market is substantially off its March lows, and the Nasdaq is now flat year-to-date. Peter R. Orszag, CEO, Financial Advisory, Lazard, joins "Squawk Box" to discuss the disconnect, the reopening of America and what might never return to normal.




why

Wharton's Jeremy Siegel on why historic April job losses aren't impacting stocks

Jeremy Siegel, finance professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, joins "Squawk Box" to discuss the April jobs numbers and what the data means for the U.S. economy.




why

Why Goldman's Jan Hatzius believes job losses may be higher than reported

Jan Hatzius of Goldman Sachs joins "Squawk on the Street" to discuss the latest jobs number, which saw the unemployment rate soar to 14.7 percent.




why

Why BMO's Brian Belski says the market has more room to run

CNBC's "Halftime Report" team is joined by BMO's Brian Belski to discuss his investment strategies amid the coronavirus pandemic.




why

Why American farmers are dumping milk

Across America, dairy farmers have dumped countless gallons of fresh, entirely usable milk, because there is no one to buy it. The shelter-in-place orders given by governments around the country in response to the coronavirus pandemic have shuttered big customers such as restaurants and schools and kept people at home. About 50 percent of the milk produced in the United States goes to restaurants and other food service operations, according to the National Milk Producers Federation.




why

The pubs have gone – so why are we drinking as much as ever? | Zoe Williams

People who love boozers always said it was the atmosphere, not the alcohol, that attracted them. The lockdown has proved us right

Some forgotten heroes – or mistreated victims, if you prefer – of the coronavirus outbreak are pubs. People who love pubs always said it was the atmosphere, not the alcohol, and people who didn’t love them thought we were just spinning them a line. Now we have proof, because we are drinking as much as we ever did and yet we complain almost constantly.

That debate has ended, anyway, because the people who miss pubs now talk only to each other. We start off complaining about the pub, then segue, almost shyly, into: “Are you managing to drink quite a lot?” “Jesus Christ, you should see the state of my recycling bin. It only got collected two days ago. Today I had to climb into it to compress the cans with my body weight.” “I actually can’t carry as much beer as I want to drink,” said one friend. “One night, I ended up buying a bottle of gin.”

Zoe Williams is a Guardian columnist

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why

I DON'T KNOW WHY I TAKE THEM




why

Pandemic disarmament: Why France was ready for Covid-19 a decade too soon

An investigation by French daily Le Monde has uncovered the extraordinary chain of events that led successive French governments to build an ambitious pandemic response strategy and then dismantle it almost entirely, leaving the country dangerously exposed to the Covid-19 disease.




why

why i gotta vote

Today on Toothpaste For Dinner: why i gotta vote


I NEED YOUR HELP: Please chip in $1 or more on Patreon and I can keep Toothpaste For Dinner updating daily, PLUS you'll get to see bonus comics & writing!



















why

Vanity Radio: Why You Should Think Twice Before Paying For an Interview


Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware®

In a super-crowded, hyper-competitive marketplace, one of the main challenges for book authors is to stand out. And where there's a need, there are always unscrupulous operators waiting to take advantage. The internet is awash in worthless schemes and outright scams designed to profit from authors' hunger for publicity and exposure.

I've written about a number of these--Hollywood book-to-screen packages, the hugely marked-up PR options offered by Author Solutions, the plague of marketing scams originating in the Philippines. Others to watch out for include book fair display packages (publishing industry expert Jane Friedman has a good article on why these are not worth your money), pay-to-play book review services, and what I'm going to talk about in this post: vanity radio.

What's vanity radio? In the "writer beware" context, it's radio air time that you, the program guest, have to pay for. Such schemes have been around forever in various forms, aimed at experts and creatives of all kinds, from services that explicitly sell pay-to-play interviews, to show hosts that charge interview fees to defray the fees they themselves have to pay their platforms.

The main selling point is the promise that your interview will be heard by a large and eager audience, giving wide exposure to you and your book (see the pitches that I've pasted in below). But vanity radio is primarily online radio, delivered via platforms like Blog Talk Radio and Spreaker, and streaming services like iTunes, iHeart Radio, and SoundCloud. Online radio listenership is steadily rising, but unless there are subscriber lists (as on YouTube, for instance), there's usually no way to determine the audience for any given host or show--or to authenticate any listenership claims the show may make. Lots of people may be tuning in...or no one at all.

As a result, the only verifiable benefit authors may receive for their money is an audio or audio-and-video clip that they can post to their websites and social media accounts. Whether that's worth it when it costs $99 or $150 or $200 is debatable enough. But when the price tag is four figures?

As always in the realm of junk marketing aimed at writers, Author Solutions has been both the pioneer and the primary practitioner. All its imprints sell vanity radio in some form: here's AuthorHouse's offering, for instance (just $1,099!). iUniverse's is identical. Xlibris and Trafford currently sell teasers rather than interviews (for significantly more money), but through 2017 they too hawked interviews.

Recently, however, AS's leadership in the realm of predatory marketing services has been challenged by a flood of scammy imitators. These copycat ripoff factories have adopted vanity radio in a big way, and they aggressively hawk it to authors, both on its own and as part of costly publishing and marketing packages. Here, for instance, is an offer from Book Vine Press (cost: $1,500):

From Author Reputation Press (cost: £1,500):


From Parchment Global Publishing (cost: $1,499):


The copycats re-sell the services of a number of show hosts (there's a list below), but the three personalities noted above--Kate Delaney with America Tonight Radio, Ric Bratton with This Week in America, and Al Cole with People of Distinction--make the most frequent appearances on the copycats' websites and in their email solicitations. Delaney and Bratton have substantial, legit resumes in TV and radio; Cole is a bit harder to research, but he too seems to have a sizeable track record as a talk show host.

What, if anything, do they know of the reputation and tactics of the copycats that are re-selling their services? I contacted all three for comment last week. Cole's assistant responded in email that "Al Cole knew nothing about this....Our office will certainly look into this." As of this writing, I haven't heard back from Delaney or Bratton.

Given that the copycats routinely charge an enormous markup on products they re-sell (see, for instance, this warning from the Combined Book Exhibit, whose book fair exhibit packages many of the copycats re-sell for hugely inflated prices; the copycats also seriously jack up the fees for paid book reviews such as Kirkus Indie and BlueInk Reviews), it seems a fair bet that the interviews' hefty price tags are substantially inflated as well.

Apart from the question of such interviews' value for book promotion, that seems like reason enough to avoid them.

******

Author Solutions copycats that sell interviews from the individuals mentioned above:

BookVenture, ReadersMagnet, Maple Leaf Publishing, Parchment Global Publishing, Rustic Haws, Branding Nemo, Creative Titles Media, Paradigm Print, Stampa Global, Books Scribe, Matchstick Literary, PageTurner Press, EC Publishing, WestPoint Print and Media: Ric Bratton

LitFire Publishing, Author Reputation Press, ReadersMagnet, BookTrail Agency, Book-Art Press, Box Office Media Creatives, IdeoPage Press, Book Agency Plus: Kate Delaney


ReadersMagnetAuthor Reputation Press, Rustik Haws, URLink Print & Media, Workbook PressParchment Global Publishing, BookWhip: Al Cole


BookTrail Agency: David Serero

BookTrail Agency, Book Agency Plus: Angela Chester


UPDATE 1/9/19: Parchment Global has added the disclaimer in red to its solicitations for Al Cole interviews (it might want to do some proofreading):


I don't know if this was at Mr. Cole's behest (remember, he's the only vanity radio host who responded--if not very expansively--to my request for comment) or is just CYA by Parchment Global itself, but hey--it lets me know that the scammers are still reading my blog.

Do I believe Parchment Global has stopped taking a cut? What do you think?




why

Why Should Feminists Be Against the Sex Offender Registry?

In October, the Supreme Court heard a case that was painfully ironic, considering the Kavanaugh hearings the nation had just been subjected to: a challenge to the United States’ extremely restrictive sex offender registry laws. While opinions on the case Gundy v. United States, which challenges the Attorney General’s ability to retroactively impose registry requirements, have yet […]




why

Why BAME people may be more at risk from coronavirus – video explainer

NHS staff from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds may be given roles away from the frontline under plans to reduce their disproportionately high death rate from Covid-19.

The Guardian revealed last week that minority groups were over-represented by as much as 27% in the overall Covid-19 death toll. Additionally, 63% of the first 106 health and social care staff known to have died from the virus were black or Asian, according to the Health Service Journal.

Senior reporter Haroon Siddique looks at the figures and explains why BAME people may be more at risk.

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why

Why the 5G coronavirus conspiracy theory is false – video explainer

Conspiracy theories linking 5G technology to coronavirus have resulted in dozens of phone masts across the UK being vandalised in recent weeks. Theories about the dangers of 5G had already been circulating, despite regulators confirming that the radiation levels of the new technology are well within safe boundaries. So how did the conspiracy incorrectly linking it to 5G start? And is 5G really dangerous? We explain why 5G has nothing to do with Covid-19

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why

From stage star to Vogue cover: Why age cannot wither Judi Dench

She is the oldest person to grace the fashion bible’s cover – and she’s a hit on social media. Who says that getting older signals an end to vitality?


You can’t call Judi Dench lazy when it comes to contributing to society, but she’s been particularly dedicated to boosting morale of late. Who knows, perhaps she felt pressured to make up for her turn in the unhinged Cats film, where her feline character horrified viewers by appearing to wear a coat made of its own fur. Dench has provided vital comic relief during this time of crisis, predominantly with silly social media clips – a Twitter video of her wearing a novelty dog hat with pop-up ears in which she instructs us to “keep laughing” racked up 5.4 million views. Now she has supplied a far meatier pick-me-up by becoming, at 85, British Vogue’s oldest cover star.

Related: Judi Dench becomes British Vogue's oldest cover star

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why

Why The "Star Wars" Sequel Trilogy Was Doomed From The Start

Our friends at Cracked are back at it again with a fresh installment to their weekly video series, "Your Brain On Cracked." This one's just too much fun. 




why

Why it’ll still be a long time before we get a coronavirus vaccine

Trials of experimental coronavirus vaccines are already under way, but it’s still likely to be years before one is ready and vaccination may not even be possible




why

Covid-19 shows why an infodemic of bad science must never happen again

Once the coronavirus pandemic is over, we must work out how to stop the spread of poor information that has helped make a bad situation that much worse




why

Why countries should start weekly covid-19 testing for key workers

Many countries are focusing coronavirus testing on people who have covid-19 symptoms. But regularly testing all essential workers would have more of an impact




why

But Why?






why

White men accused of killing Ahmaud Arbery won't face Georgia hate crime charges. Here's why.

Gregory and Travis McMichael, who are accused of fatally shooting Ahmaud Arbery, a black man, will not face hate crime charges. Here's why.





why

The reason why some people get very sick with the coronavirus, and others do not, could be hidden in their genes

Experts still aren't sure why some coronavirus cases are so much worse than others, but the answer may lie in patients' genetic differences.





why

Airline middle seats won't stay empty forever in the name of social distancing. Here's why

Permanently blocking middle seats and limiting the number of passengers per flight is a costly move for airlines and would increase ticket prices.





why

Why are Welsh Assembly Members changing their name?

As of 6 May, the name of Assembly Members will change to Members of the Senedd.




why

Why are MPs keen for garden centres to re-open?

From boosting the economy through to health benefits, Westminster has been talking up the measure.




why

'Definitely not the real thing': why eracers can't go from the bedroom to the cockpit

With more and more F1 drivers making the move to esports during the lockdown and doing well, could an expert sim racer easily make the leap the other way?




why

India coronavirus: Why celebrating Covid-19 'success models' is dangerous

Experts tell the BBC that euphoria over success models runs the risk of people becoming complacent.