We export gas, that's why

Who is to blame for high gas prices?
For the first time in 50 years, our top export is fuel. Yes, we are being gauged because oil companies can now make more selling gas to other countries. Obama has nothing to do with it. The U.S.is using less fuel because of a weak economy and more efficient cars and trucks. That allows refiners to sell more fuel to rapidly growing economies in Latin America, for example. Gas costs over $5 there. In 2011, U.S.refiners exported 117 million gallons per day of gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and other petroleum products, up from 40 million gallons per day a decade earlier. The last time the U.S.was a net exporter of fuels was 1949. Refiners can simply make more selling away from us, driving the price higher. http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/story/2011-12-31/united-states-export/52298812/1Speculators are also driving the price up: OPEC said the world has plenty of crude but that the number of barrels of oil changing hands in the financial markets is 35 times greater than the actual supply. Every time oil contracts change hands, someone gets a markup. ‘Drill Baby Drill’ is NOT the answer. GOP candidates are wrong.

Wealth: What every high school graduate needs to know in the 21st century
This book shows you how to:
Buy discount financial service DIRECTLY online.
Save $3,000 a year on products and services you already use.
Invest savings without high commissions or fees.
Compound assets tax-FREE forever.
Buy whatever you need without going into debt.
Self-insure manageable risks—invest the premiums saved.
Manage your financial system in 1 hour per year.Accumulate a $2,000,000 Wealth ReserveTM..amazon.com/Wealth-every-school-graduate-century/

Did you make the 1% club?
In 2007, an estimated 2.3 million U.S.adults had gross assets of $2 million or more, holding more than $12 trillion in combined net worth. More than 1.3 million top wealth holders were men, while just under 1 million were women. In 2007, Californiahad the largest number of individuals with net worth of $2 million or more, while Wyoming had the highest per capita population of these very wealthy residents. Between 2001 and 2007, there was an increase of 12.1 percent in the number of individuals with net worth of $2 million or more in inflation-adjusted dollars. This increase outpaced the 7.3-percent increase in the overall adult population of the UnitedState. Members use a tax-FREE account to help them reach $2 million: amazon.com/Build-Your-$2,000,000 Tax-FREE-Wealth-Reserve/

Beware Chevy owners
If you can start your car from an airplane, with your phone, hackers can stop it . . . while you’re driving! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNm860owoV0But why would you want to start your car from an airplane? Cars don’t need to warm up anymore. Hackers could endanger the lives of motorists by turning off their car engines as they drive along, warns a software security firm. Anti-virus firm McAfee warn that as cars become ever more reliant on computers, wireless systems such as Bluetooth, and software to function, it places them at increasing vulnerability to malicious hacking.The firm warns that software is embedded in so many car parts now - from airbags and radios to seats and cruise control systems - that cyber-criminals could wreak havoc. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2035063/Hackers-turn-car-engine-driving.html

USAA and State Farm Are Top Insurers in Customer Experience
USAA was the top-rated insurance carrier followed closely by State Farm, which are the only two insurers to receive "good" customer experience ratings. Seven insurers received "okay" ratings while five carriers at the bottom of the list - Travelers, 21st Century, MetLife, American Family, and Liberty Mutual -received "poor" ratings. http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/usaa-and-state-farm-are-top-insurers-in-customer-experience-ratings-according-to-new-temkin-group-research-141024893.html

CA health care buyers face 15% rate hike
Blue Shield has $3.1 billion in excess surplus, yet still plans to raise rates up to 14.8% for 320,000 Californiapatients. Repeated rate hikes in the face of massive company surpluses at the same time that inflation slows show the need for a ballot initiative to prevent excessive rate increases, said Consumer Watchdog Campaign.

CO affirms students can carry concealed weapons around campus too.
The University of Colorado overstepped its authority when the school's board of regents imposed a ban on the carrying of concealed weapons at its four campuses, the state's Supreme Court ruled on Monday. In overturning the policy, the court said that a concealed -carry law passed by the state legislature trumped the school's ban because it did not carve out an exception for the state's flagship university.
Dodge City banned guns in town because people got shot.

ObamaCare: Do we really want to get rid of it? Is FIRING your insurer an option?
Before the GOP votes to end the Affordable Care Act, let’s make sure the mandate is really a bad thing. First, if you are one of 40 million without health care, you need it. Second, if you are a senior, you receivediscounts on prescription drug payments. Third, if you have kids without employer coverage, they have health insurance because the law allows these young people to stay on their parents' health care plans up to age 26. Fourth, if you are a senior with the early-stage cancers and other medical issues due to free wellness visits that Medicare now covers because of health reform, you are happy. Fifth, if you were not able to get insurance before due to a pre-existingcondition, you can now. Sixth, if you could not afford coverage before, exchanges will be available soon to buy it from. Seventh, there are now new community health centers like in Windham CT that benefited from funds in the Affordable Care Act. Seventh, if you were being treated for cancer or other costly care, your insurer can’t stop paying—now there is no limit. The GOP attacks the mandate to cover everyone but they have no alternative to cover people without coverage. Politicians have FREE government coverage already so it does not hurt them and the 1% to use this issue to win back control in Washington.What will the 40 million do when they get sick?
Ron Paul said he expects hospitals to give free care. GOP promises to cut Medicare. We will all end up in line at the hospital.

GOP wants “mandate” for auto insurance
MS considers “mandate” by GOP legislature to reduce uninsured motorists which make up 28% of drivers, it is estimated. Many drivers let coverage lapse after the 1st month. This forces premiums higher for everyone else. GOP for the mandate to have coverage. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505245_162-57387521/miss-lawmakers-try-again-on-auto-insurance-checks/
PA drivers to pay more
Three Nationwide Group companies are raising rates on thousands of Pennsylvaniaautomobile policyholders to bring in a combined $31.9 million more in premiums. No explanation was given. Erie will also raise rates. Members shop for coverage every 2 years to make sure they have only what they need: amazon.com/Industry-Insiders-Guides-Buying-Insurance/dp/1466435712/

Is long-term care insurance for you?
Some insurers seem to raise the price dramatically and the end result is that you must cancel. AARP writer documented one policy started in 1994 for $1,006. In 2004 the premium was up to $1,409. In 2007 the state-approved rate went to $1,902. The owner could not afford any more so he converted it to a savings account basically. The owner filed suit that the policy was ‘guaranteed renewable’ but was priced high on renewal so it would lapse. Then the insurer did not have to pay. The owner lost on appeal too. He might have been better off if he had chosen an alternative. Members find out: amazon.com/Long-term-Care-Insurance-better-alternatives/dp/147006877X/

Prudential to stop selling long-term care insurance
Pru will continue group coverage to employers but has joined other insurers in quitting the individual sales. Apparently, even with price increases, insurers can’t make enough money with the coverage.

Is your bank the place to buy investments?
A recent survey says only 20% of people who own investments and annuities bought them at the bank. Customers who purchase investment and insurance products where they bank have on average $348,000 of investable assets, 84 percent more than financial assets held by other banking customers. However, only two out of every 10 affluent customers have purchased these products from their bank or credit union, according to The Value of an Investment and Insurance Customer to a Bank, a study by Kenneth and Christine Kehrer and Peter Bielan. Members buy DIRECTLY and save. amazon.com/Insiders-Guides-Discount-Financial-Services/dp/143480593X/

AZ passes bill to help pay for long-term care
Arizona will allow taxpayers to fund a tax-deductible savings account to pay for non-hospital expenses, such as nursing home care, home health care, and assisted or alternative family living. It also would allow taxpayers to take deductions for long-term health care insurance premiums.


WA goes forward with ObamaCare purchasing exchanges
The Washingtonstate Legislature has passed a bill setting rules for insurers preparing for the state's online insurance exchange. Uninsured will be able to buy health coverage with subsidy for poor.

CA starts ObamaCare early
All four Sacramento-area counties are joining a program that will insure tens of thousands of low-income residents who have been without coverage, more than a year before federal health care changes kicks in. For county governments and health care providers, the Low-Income Health Program is a chance to get a head start and work out some of the kinks in a new and complicated system -- one that must emerge by Jan. 1, 2014, but remains largely unformed. For new patients, the plan could mean the difference between getting sporadic care in unfamiliar clinics (or simply staying sick), and having something that resembles full-fledged health insurance, paid for in county and federal dollars. The Medicaid expansion is the piece that's starting early in California -- where the program is called Medi-Cal -- and several other states, including Washington, Connecticut, Minnesota and New Jersey.

IRS drops penalties for unemployed
Certain taxpayers who have been unemployed for 30 days or longer will be able to avoid failure-to-pay penalties. In addition, the IRS is doubling the dollar threshold for taxpayers eligible for Installment Agreements to help more people qualify for the program. http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=236540,00.html

Republican government in VA “mandates” medical tests and you have to pay for them!
GOP is for "mandates" when it comes to controlling things they want but not health care for the poor. Is this political or what?


SCAMS
How the 1% lives: willing to rob a taxi driver—and investors?
Morgan Stanley's William Bryan Jennings, the bank's bond-underwriting chief in the U.S., was charged with a hate crime in the Connecticut stabbing of a New York City cab driver of Middle Eastern descent. The driver told officers that Jennings assaulted him Dec. 22 with a pen knife and used racial slurs after a 40-mile cab ride from New York City to his multimillion dollar home, Darien Police Detective Mark Cappelli said in an interview. Jennings refused to pay the $200 cab fare, the driver told police.

"I don't even consider myself wealthy,"
Mrs Romney said after discussing her collection of expensive horses—“I have one in every port.” http://news.yahoo.com/ann-romney-talking-awkwardly-money-now-too-225101365.html“Let them eat cake,”
Queen Marie-Antoinette on learning there was no bread left in Paris.

Mitt introducing his wife:
“I’ll introduce to you the heavyweight champion of my life.” Later he flip flopped: "I didn't mean weight."

“I told him to avoid the subject [of birth control]” says Karen Santorum. She also told him not to call Obama a snob because Obama wants every kid to have the chance to go to college.
Karen Santorum is a nurse and has a law degree. Lots of college! Go figure!

Rush Limbaugh loses 24 Companies But GOP OKs Rush slander
Limbaugh, the highest paid radio host with a $400 million 8-year contract, is often hailed as a top Republican voice outside of Washington who is credited with setting the tone for the Republican party. Interestingly, all of the Republican candidates have essentially failed to come out against Limbaugh's controversial comments with the exception of Ron Paul, who spent many years as an OBGYN. Law student Sandra Fluke can "definitely" sue Rush Limbaugh for slander over the talk-show host's ugly remarks on his radio program, legal experts say. Fluke seems to be leaving her options open.$400 million could probably cover her tuition and loans at Georgetown!


IAN 41 Watchung Plaza, B242 Montclair, NJ 07042 973.746.2014www.InsuranceAdvisorsNetwork.com