QDo you agree with this:BUSH ADMINISTRATION responsible for 2008 FINANCIAL CRISIS --------------------------------------------------------------------------------I see a lot of politicians and forum members pointing fingers at who was responsible for the 2008 Financial Crisis we are currently experiencing.The answer is really simple.THE BUSH ADMINSTRATION!Bush selected the Board of Governors at the Federal Reserve.The Federal Reserve Governors are responsible for Banking Oversight.The below quotes are found here:Federal Reserve System - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaQuote:Private banks elect members of the board of directors at their regional Federal Reserve Bank while the members of the Board of Governors are selected by the President of the United States and confirmed by the Senate. Quote:The Board of Governors is the part of the Federal Reserve System that is responsible for supervising the private banks. A general description of the types of regulation and supervision involved is given by the Federal Reserve:[11]The Board also plays a major role in the supervision and regulation of the U.S. banking system. It has supervisory responsibilities for state-chartered banks that are members of the Federal Reserve System, bank holding companies (companies that control banks), the foreign activities of member banks, the U.S. activities of foreign banks, and Edge Act and agreement corporations (limited-purpose institutions that engage in a foreign banking business). The Board and, under delegated authority, the Federal Reserve Banks, supervise approximately 900 state member banks and 5,000 bank holding companies. Other federal agencies also serve as the primary federal supervisors of commercial banks; the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency supervises national banks, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation supervises state banks that are not members of the Federal Reserve System. Some regulations issued by the Board apply to the entire banking industry, whereas others apply only to member banks, that is, state banks that have chosen to join the Federal Reserve System and national banks, which by law must be members of the System. The Board also issues regulations to carry out major federal laws governing consumer credit protection, such as the Truth in Lending, Equal Credit Opportunity, and Home Mortgage Disclosure Acts. Many of these consumer protection regulations apply to various lenders outside the banking industry as well as to banks. Members of the Board of Governors are in continual contact with other policy makers in government. They frequently testify before congressional committees on the economy, monetary policy, banking supervision and regulation, consumer credit protection, financial markets, and other matters. The Board has regular contact with members of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers and other key economic officials. The Chairman also meets from time to time with the President of the United States and has regular meetings with the Secretary of the Treasury. The Chairman has formal responsibilities in the international arena as well. Quote:Preventing asset bubblesThe board of directors of each Federal Reserve Bank District also have regulatory and supervisory responsibilities. For example, a member bank (private bank) is not permitted to give out too many loans to people who cannot pay them back. This is because too many defaults on loans will lead to a bank run. If the board of directors has judged that a member bank is performing or behaving poorly, it will report this to the Board of Governors. This policy is described in United States Code, Title 12, Chapter 3, subchapter 7, section 301:[23]Each Federal reserve bank shall keep itself informed of the general character and amount of the loans and investments of its member banks with a view to ascertaining whether undue use is being made of bank credit for the speculative carrying of or trading in securities, real estate, or commodities, or for any other purpose inconsistent with the maintenance of sound credit conditions; and, in determining whether to grant or refuse advances, rediscounts, or other credit accommodations, the Federal reserve bank shall give consideration to such information. The chairman of the Federal reserve bank shall report to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System any such undue use of bank credit by any member bank, together with his recommendation. Whenever, in the judgment of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, any member bank is making such undue use of bank credit, the Board may, in its discretion, after reasonable notice and an opportunity for a hearing, suspend such bank from the use of the credit facilities of the Federal Reserve System and may terminate such suspension or may renew it from time to time. To me, it looks like the oversight LAWS WERE IN PLACE, and the Federal Reserve GovernoIf Bush hadn't let gas prices get so out of hand we would all have $300-$500 more to spend each month to stimulate the economy.You guys are blaming Clinton? He left us with a surplus. Bush will leave us with the biggest deficit we've ever seen. Bush spent all our money and robbed us blind at the pump.

QLEADERSHIP IN UNIQUELY CHALLENGING SITUATIONSDynamic, result oriented leader with a strong track record of performance in turnaround and high paced organizations. Utilize keen analysis, insights and team approach to drive organizational improvement and implementation of good practices. Superior interpersonal skills, capable of resolving multiple and complex (sales, human resources, legal, financial, operational) issues motivating staff to peak performance. Additional areas of expertise include:•Strategy, Vision and mission planning.•Sales & Marketing leadership•Profitability and cost analysis•Programs, services and products•Billing, collection and cash management•Contract negotiations & strategic Alliances •Finance, Budgeting & Cost management •Public relations & media affairs•Policy and procedure development•Licensing and trade mark •Team building and Performance improvement PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCEPRESIDENT 2007 MANUFACTURING CORPORATION… ERASED MAPresident of a Food and Beverage manufacturing company that specializes in vitamin fortified teas and juices. It is an emerging leader in the food and beverage industry.Notable Accomplishments: •Oversaw that manufacturing and production are completely in compliant with government regulations•Conducted new business development activities as a way to promote the company’s products and services and build a relationship within the community and consumers•Developed New product ideas for future trends and healthy consumptions to satisfy customer wants and needs•Generally responsible for all aspects of marketing, Advertising and sales of company products•Enhanced business infrastructure resulting in improved performance and cost reductionACCOUNT MANAGER/CONTROLLER 2005-2007 BANK CORPORATION…Account controller of the leading provider of financial services to institutional investors. Their investment services include and not limited to research, investment management, trading services and investment servicing.Notable Accomplishments: •Responsible for ensuring full compliance of divisional daily core operation standards, operational and client-specific procedures•Monitored amount of income and post daily expense accruals based on client direction•Calculated cash availability accurately to meet performance standards for limited complexity portfolios•Work with fixed income and hedge funds•Participated on a team responsible for merging multi-million dollar, complex companies. Project was transparent to customers with un-interrupted service•Maintain daily/monthly supporting documentation for all outstanding items and records required for fund audits•Calculate Net Asset Value per share•Maintained heavy load of accounts; kept each account balanced and ready for daily investmentsPERSONAL BANKER 2002-2005 FINANCIAL GROUP…. Banker for a $167 Billion commercial bank holding company. One of the 10 largest Commercial banking companies in the United States. Owned by the Royal Bank of Scotland.Notable Accomplishments: •Opened new business and personal account •Prospected for new business and personal clients with high net worth’s• Responsible for closing loans approved by the loan officer•Involved in setting up the new banking branches in the city EDUCATION erased College … Business Administration Management conc, Minor in Marketing MEDIA RELATIONS, APPERANACE AND RECOGNITIONSTHE LYNN ITEM: (HEADLINE) ....erased...... Launches Manufacturing Company BEVNET.COM: (HEADLINE) ...........................................erased........ super-premium line for today’s health-conscious consumer... YEARS ERASEDLetter of recognition From Massachusetts State Senator,:

QNot so anymore when the facts are considered. Now a scholar at the libertarian Cato Institute has demonstrated that (a) not only did Roosevelt not end the Depression, but (b) by incompetent measures, he prolonged it. But FDR's myth has sold. Roosevelt, the master of the fireside chat, was powerful. His style has been equaled but not excelled.Throughout the New Deal period, median unemployment was 17.2 percent. Joblessness never dipped below 14 percent, writes Jim Powell in a preview of his soon-to-be-published (by Crown Forum) FDR's Folly: How Franklin Roosevelt and His New Deal Prolonged the Great Depression. Powell argues that the major cause of the Depression was not stock market abuses but the Federal Reserve, which contracted the money supply by a third between 1929 and 1933. Then, the New Deal made it more expensive to hire people, adding to unemployment by concocting the National Industrial Recovery Act, which created some 700 cartels with codes mandating above-market wages. It made things worse, ''by doubling taxes, making it more expensive for employers to hire people, making it harder for entrepreneurs to raise capital, demonizing employers, destroying food . . . breaking up the strongest banks, forcing up the cost of living, channeling welfare away from the poorest people and enacting labor laws that hit poor African Americans especially hard,'' Powell writes.Taxes spiraled (as a percentage of gross national product), jumping from 3.5 percent in 1933 to 6.9 percent in 1940. An undistributed profits tax was introduced. Securities laws made it harder for employers to raise capital. In ''an unprecedented crusade against big employers,'' the Justice Department hired 300 lawyers, who filed 150 antitrust lawsuits. Winning few prosecutions, the antitrust crusade not only flopped, but wracked an already reeling economy. At the same time, a retail price maintenance act allowed manufacturers to jack up retail prices of branded merchandise, which blocked chain stores from discounting prices, hitting consumers.Roosevelt's central banking ''reform'' broke up the strongest banks, those engaged in commercial investment banking, ''because New Dealers imagined that securities underwriting was a factor in all bank failures,'' but didn't touch the cause of 90 percent of the bank failures: state and federal unit banking laws. Canada, which allowed nationwide branch banking, had not a single bank failure during the Depression. The New Deal Fed hiked banks' reserve requirement by 50 percent in July 1936, then increased it another 33.3 percent. This ''triggered a contraction of the money supply, which was one of the most important factors bringing on the Depression of 1938--the third most severe since World War I. Real GNP declined 18 percent and industrial production was down 32 percent.''Roosevelt's National Recovery Administration hit the little guy worst of all, Powell writes. In 1934, Jacob Maged, a 49-year-old immigrant, was fined and jailed three months for charging 35 cents to press a suit rather rather than 40 cents mandated by the Fed's dry cleaning code. The NRA was later ruled unconstitutional. To raise farm prices, Roosevelt's farm policy plowed under 10 million acres of cultivated land, preventing wheat, corn and other crops from reaching the hungry. Hog farmers were paid to slaughter about 6 million young hogs, protested by John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. New Deal relief programs were steered away from the South, the nation's poorest region. ''A reported 15,654 people were forced from their homes to make way for dams,'' Powell writes. ''Farm owners received cash settlements for their condemned property, but the thousands of black tenant farmers got nothing.''In contrast, the first Depression of the 20th century, in 1920, lasted only a year after Warren Harding cut taxes, slashed spending and returned to the poker table. But with the Great Depression, the myth has grown that unemployment and economic hardship were ended by magical New Deal fiat. The truth: The Depression ended with the buildup to World War II.

QA) Why did we wait almost 2 years after the "crises" to decide maybe we needed to do something about Wall Street??B) Didn't the housing crises (created by easy credit: a product of Federal Reserve policies) precipitate the economic crises??C) Why is the Federal Reserve being given more power in the form of a consumer protection agency (lol) when they failed so miserably the first time??D) Why is no one discussing re-instituting Glass-Steagall as part of this reform?? (separate commercial banking from investment banking)E) Do Democrats think Americans are going to believe CHRIS DODD (of ALL people) wrote a financial reform bill?? (considering he is one of Wall Street's favorite whores in congress.......author of AIG bonus language in original bailout etc.)http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_obama_financial_reform#mwpphu-containerThe U.S. is destined to endure a new economic crisis that sticks taxpayers with the bill unless Congress tightens oversight of the financial industry, President Barack Obama said Saturday.The overhaul is the next major piece of legislation that Obama wants to sign into law this year, but solid GOP opposition in the Senate is jeopardizing that goal."Every day we don't act, the same system that led to bailouts remains in place, with the exact same loopholes and the exact same liabilities," Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address. "And if we don't change what led to the crisis, we'll doom ourselves to repeat it."Opposing reform will leave taxpayers on the hook if a crisis like this ever happens again," the president said.dave........."The dems want to put regulation back in place to stop this from happening again"WHAT IS IN THIS BILL that would do that??dave.........I understand Democrats are trying to make it sound like derivatives trading was the whole problem, but it wasn't. Countrywide contributed (Chris Dodd's favorite company), Federal Reserve policies contributed, the fact that commercial and investment banking are intertwined contributed.poboy..........."The concept was to elevate the poor through the power of home ownership. "Except for that small detail where they didn't actually have the money to pay for the home..........which is why we have so many foreclosures now.................the plan was retarded from the very beginning.ned........."banks setting up investment to fail and profiting from the failure,"Because they KNEW you can't actually SELL lots of homes to poor people who can't pay for the homes. You can re-sell their mortgage however.

QA batch of economy-wide stats was released Friday morning, covering retail sales, industrial production, import prices, and consumer confidence. The verdict? It’s a 2 percent economy. Call it Goldilocks 2.0.Might the current financial turmoil throttle back growth a little more in the next six months? Yes, perhaps. Will there be some negative earnings surprises, especially from financial companies? Sure.But the bears would have us believe the sub-prime credit virus heralds the end of the world. They are wrong. Remember this: Our free-market capitalist economy is resilient and durable. It has proven time and again that it can take a punch.Sure, recession probabilities have increased. But so what? We’ve had virtually uninterrupted prosperity for twenty-five years, going back to the supply-side economy and technological boom launched by President Ronald Reagan. Since then, we’ve experienced 93 positive GDP quarters and only 5 negative ones. That makes for a truly phenomenal batting average.Consider this: Marginal tax rates are low. Inflation is low. Interest rates are low. And the world economy remains strong. The stock market — which I still believe is the best barometer of the health of business and the economic future — has behaved surprisingly well during this difficult stretch of turbulence. In fact, the sum total of the so-called “bear assault” is only a 4.5 percent correction from Dow 14,000 and other index peaks registered two months ago.Yes, profits are getting sloppy. And yes, there are some credit shocks out there yet to be revealed. However, the Federal Reserve will reduce the cost of money by bringing down its basic target rate on Tuesday. President Bush will veto any Democratic tax hikes. And at the margin, the Iraq War story is taking a turn for the better. Meanwhile, American entrepreneurs are still working hard.Speaking of next Tuesday, the best thing the Fed can do is deliver a big-bang, shock-and-awe rate cut that would bring the basic fed funds target 50 basis points lower to 4.75 percent. At the same time, it should lob a full percentage point off the discount lending rate, cutting it from 5.75 to 4.75 percent. This would be a confidence-inspiring move for all concerned: borrowers, lenders, businesses, consumers, and mortgage holders. Not only will slashing the cost of money add significant new liquidity to the economy, it will raise asset values across the board.The Fed also might think about setting up a special facility for non-bank lending institutions that are experiencing a liquidity squeeze. Perhaps also a temporary liquidity facility for commercial paper lenders. The asset-backed commercial paper market is vital to funding many of the daily operations of businesses across the country, and it’s this market that has been hardest hit.Such monetary front-loading would be very powerful, indeed. However, if the Fed goes small with only quarter-point reductions for fed funds and the discount rate, many investors will have an incentive to withhold money while they wait for interest rates to finally bottom at much lower levels later this year or next. In other words, a timid Fed action might actually prolong and deepen the economic slowdown.This is not a time for small-ball. It’s time for Bernanke and Company to go big.And let’s not forget that taxes are just as important as money. President Bush and Treasury man Henry Paulson should absolutely squash all the Washington rumors of tax hikes, in particular a cap-gains tax increase. If investors expect a hike in the cap-gains tax, they will have every incentive to launch a massive wave of stock market selling. Needless to say, this would be utterly calamitous for the whole economic picture.The animal spirits may have had their wings clipped a bit by the credit crunch, but with the right tax and money policies there is still plenty of sizzle and juice in this story. It’s very easy to be totally pessimistic and bearish right now, but that’s precisely why I will avoid falling into that trap.Optimists are winners. Pessimists are losers

QPeople watched them make backroom deals with corporate lobbyists and spend record amounts of money last year while expanding the size of the federal govt. They also watched Obama's treasury secretary Tim Geithner pay 100 cents on the dollar for "toxic assets" with tax payer money (had to make sure Goldman Sachs didn't lose anything....)Now Obama is trying to cast the debate as: You're either with the banks or you're with me. WTF?? Won't new fees on banks be passed onto consumers anyway??http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/21/obama-turns-to-populist-p_n_431272.htmlThe White House and Congress Democrats are launching a major populist initiative in an effort to lead, rather than suffer from, the anti-Wall Street, anti-establishment mood sweeping the country.In a sharp turnaround, the administration on Thursday announced a new proposal to place limits on the size of banks and prohibitions on their commercial activities. It's an idea that one senior White House official said President Obama began considering "a couple of months ago." But the timing of the rollout, coming one day after what the White acknowledged was a "wake up call" wasn't a coincidence.The reality of angry voters turning against them, as embodied by the election of Republic Scott Brown to the Senate seat in Massachusetts, is having a profound effect on Democratic leaders. Officials now recognize that the party appears far too aligned with financial industry bailouts and special-interest dealmaking, and that if the electoral bloodletting is to end, more distance is needed from Wall Street.The wheels are very much in motion. On Wednesday, just hours after Brown declared victory, White House senior advisers David Axelrod and Valerie Jarrett met with Elizabeth Warren, the congressionally-appointed bailout watchdog and a long-standing champion of consumer protection. Discussions touched on various aspects of financial regulatory reform including Warren's central project, a Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA). White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on Wednesday also reaffirmed Obama's directive that any piece of legislation had "to include a consumer protection agency.""People are going to get to decide whether they're for the banks or whether they're for Americans getting paid back," Gibbs said of Obama's bank tax proposal. "They're going to decide whether they're going to side with the lobbyists on killing a consumer agency or those that want to support it."

QYou often hear about how FOX is shilling for republicans and big business but what about NBC owned by GE whose CEO is close to Obama, even advises him, and he is also a director of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.-------------------------------------------------------------Brief BiographyMr. Jeffrey R. Immelt is Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer of General Electric Company. Mr. Immelt joined GE in corporate marketing in 1982 after receiving a degree in applied mathematics from Dartmouth College and an MBA from Harvard University. He then held a series of leadership positions with GE Plastics in sales, marketing and global product development. He became a vice president of GE in 1989, responsible for consumer services for GE Appliances. He subsequently became vice president of worldwide marketing product management for GE Appliances in 1991, vice president and general manager of GE Plastics Americas commercial division in 1992, and vice president and general manager of GE Plastics Americas in 1993. He became senior vice president of GE and president and chief executive officer of GE Medical Systems in 1996. Mr. Immelt became GE’s president and chairman-elect in 2000, and chairman and chief executive officer in 2001. He is a director of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, a trustee of Dartmouth College and a member of President Obama’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board.http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/officerProfile?symbol=GE&officerId=28187

QPresident Bush will speak at 10am today [Friday]. What program will fix the financial mess the government has gotten us into?[If he's already spoken when you respond -- feel free to shoot at his program, if there is one, and propose something better.]*** here's mine: ***Housing isn't the issue causing the continuing selloff in the financial markets.It's the Risk, Stupid.***Half of all Americans work for some firm whose payroll totals more or much more than FDIC insurance covers. All of those firms have treasurers who are trying to protect their money from a surprise failed bank. Dead bank => failed paychecks and maybe failed company.So all those treasurers are scrambling to remove their money from both the banking system and the commercial paper market.They have no confidence that their money is safe. Too much risk.***You fight no confidence by telling the truth and/or guaranteeing their outcome.Here's how:For those firms [banks and borrowers] that choose to participate, the government guarantees their deposits and short term borrowings for a maximum of 364 days, or until exit conditions [below] are met.During the period of the guarantee, the protected firm must: [summary: it must act as if it is in receivership in bankruptcy court].1. ask that all trading in shares, capital debt, and derivatives be suspended.2. cease all leakages of capital [dividends, repurchases, option issues, capital debt repayment, etc.]3. refrain from expanding more than 5% or into new businesses,4. limit executive and managerial pay to not more than $7,500 per month.5. begin to publish, monthly, in both the newspapers and via the Internet, their best picture of both their actual and potential credit loss situation, including the assumption that real estate prices in their markets will crash back to January 2003 levels for "move in condition" properties. {Why January 2003? My macro level estimate is that the housing markets will clear at that price level. Details on request.}To exit the program, the protected firm must publish it's loss information weekly for at least four weeks AND notify the public of its intended exit date.During the exit period, the government repays all the firm's deposits and borrowings if necessary.If, at the end of the exit period, the firm is unable to finance itself without government help, it immediately enters bankruptcy and is liquidated.***This will restore confidence. Company treasurers with funds that need to be deposited will not worry about whether the bank will be there tomorrow.And Americans will KNOW that their paychecks are good. [Consumers are pulling back on spending because they're scared for their jobs and paychecks -- not because their credit cards were canceled -- they weren't.]Further, it lets the banks return to making ordinary loans to borrowers with good credit in the ordinary course of business -- which they aren't doing now.AND, it forces the banks and companies to come clean with their losses -- thus permitting the marketplace to decide which companies should die and which can continue.***Give it some thought -- bloviating in front of the TV cameras and asking the markets to be patient hasn't worked and isn't going to work.What the markets want is the TRUTH.Are the banks insolvent? Which ones? How do we find out? What do we do until we can find out?

QAdvertising to children has become big business in recent years, with kids under 12 spending over 24 billion dollars of their own money in 2009 and directly influencing the spending of 188 billion more. From a sociological point of view, however, this phenomenon is related to the rise in the “money culture” that places value on an individual based on what he or she posses. This surge in child consumerism has resulted in a keen interest among marketers in knowing what makes kids tick. Marketers have discovered that intriguing fact that it is very well possible to sell to children. They know that the child consumers of today are the largest and fastest growing market. To learn more, advertisers have hired well-paid psychological consultants to help them study every phase and stage of a child’s life. The results are sophisticated, finely-honed commercials that work.All around the world, children spend more time in television than theyspend in class. TV sometimes exceeds sleeping hours. Such prolonged hours in front of the TV play a major role in forming the children’s consumption pattern. It is no wonder, these days television advertising is so effective. According to Nancy Shalek, then president of Shalek Agency, “Television has become the best medium for advertisement. Advertising at its best is making people feel that without their product, you’re a loser. Kids are very sensitive to that. If you tell them to buy something, they are resistant. But if you tell them they’ll be a dork if they don’t, you’ve got their attention. You open up emotional vulnerabilities, and it’s easy to do with kids because they’re the most vulnerable” Marketers also work hard to increase their product’s “nag factor,” a term which refers to how often and how vehemently children pressure parents to buy an item. Parents feel guilty about purchasing items, such as junk food or violent video games that they believe are bad for their kids. On the other hand, they worry that by constantly saying “no” they will increase their child’s depression or worsen parent-child relationship. Afsana Parvin, mother of 7-year-old Deepika, says.” Because she is so young it is difficult to explain the pressure it creates on parents. And she is the only child so it is hard to say no.”“Kids these days ask for more because they are exposed to so many things right now. When we were kids, we were not exposed to all these advertisements. In fact, the media was very limited in our times,” points out Dalia Arefin, a bank employee.Parent, meanwhile, in their earnestness to give the best to their child may go a bit overboard with their generosity and give in to their endless demands without any thinking. But by encouraging such materialism, are we really benefitting our kids? It is children’s tendency to show off and have the latest cool thing. When they do so, other children of their same age go through peer pressure and feel that if they don’t have that “cool” thing they are worthless. Most parents are very unsatisfied about the marketing of food to children. Food advertising on TV is often for junk foods like chanachur, potato chips, juices, soft drinks and candies. Total airtime of these foods always exceeds commercials for healthy food. Fast food shops all around the world spend billions to advertise their foods, for persuading kids. To directly target children, the fast food industry uses more than traditional commercials. Restaurants offer incentives such as play-grounds, contests, clubs, games and free toys. The free-gift marketing strategy has been there for generations in western countries and now our part of the world is trying to catch up with this trend. Another disturbing trend in child advertising is the targeting of very young children. Mike Searles, then president of Kids-R-Us, a major children’s clothing store, believes there are great advantages to hooking a child as soon as possible: “[I]f you own this child at an early age, you can own this child for years to come. Companies are saying ‘Hey, I want to own the kid younger and younger’” (as quoted in Ruskin, 1999, p. 42). As kids are becoming more powerful consumers, marketers are targeting them even more bluntly. To make kids spend more, the advertisers are letting their imagination run wild using sophisticated psychological techniques which includes catchy jingles, dances and cute cartoon characters, portraying adventures and mysterious worlds, always implying that their products will bring unbounded happiness. “The only thing I want to be is a beyblade player and go to the big stadium and become a champion,” says Sunny. He actually thought that the beyblade cartoon was real and has a collection of 67 beyblades! Advertisements can shape self-image and values of our children. Young children have difficulty distinguishing between advertisements and reality, and may not understand that ads are there to sell something for profit rather than with pure intention to make kids

QCan you please proofread my work?Advertising to children has become big business in recent years, with kids under 12 spending over 24 billion dollars of their own money in 2009 and directly influencing the spending of 188 billion more. From a sociological point of view, however, this phenomenon is related to the rise in the “money culture” that places value on an individual based on what he or she posses. This surge in child consumerism has resulted in a keen interest among marketers in knowing what makes kids tick. Marketers have discovered that intriguing fact that it is very well possible to sell to children. They know that the child consumers of today are the largest and fastest growing market. To learn more, advertisers have hired well-paid psychological consultants to help them study every phase and stage of a child’s life. The results are sophisticated, finely-honed commercials that work.All around the world, children spend more time in television than theyspend in class. TV sometimes exceeds sleeping hours. Such prolonged hours in front of the TV play a major role in forming the children’s consumption pattern. It is no wonder, these days television advertising is so effective. According to Nancy Shalek, then president of Shalek Agency, “Television has become the best medium for advertisement. Advertising at its best is making people feel that without their product, you’re a loser. Kids are very sensitive to that. If you tell them to buy something, they are resistant. But if you tell them they’ll be a dork if they don’t, you’ve got their attention. You open up emotional vulnerabilities, and it’s easy to do with kids because they’re the most vulnerable”Marketers also work hard to increase their product’s “nag factor,” a term which refers to how often and how vehemently children pressure parents to buy an item. Parents feel guilty about purchasing items, such as junk food or violent video games that they believe are bad for their kids. On the other hand, they worry that by constantly saying “no” they will increase their child’s depression or worsen parent-child relationship. Afsana Parvin, mother of 7-year-old Deepika, says.” Because she is so young it is difficult to explain the pressure it creates on parents. And she is the only child so it is hard to say no.”“Kids these days ask for more because they are exposed to so many things right now. When we were kids, we were not exposed to all these advertisements. In fact, the media was very limited in our times,” points out Dalia Arefin, a bank employee.Parent, meanwhile, in their earnestness to give the best to their child may go a bit overboard with their generosity and give in to their endless demands without any thinking. But by encouraging such materialism, are we really benefitting our kids?It is children’s tendency to show off and have the latest cool thing. When they do so, other children of their same age go through peer pressure and feel that if they don’t have that “cool” thing they are worthless.Most parents are very unsatisfied about the marketing of food to children. Food advertising on TV is often for junk foods like chanachur, potato chips, juices, soft drinks and candies. Total airtime of these foods always exceeds commercials for healthy food. Fast food shops all around the world spend billions to advertise their foods, for persuading kids. To directly target children, the fast food industry uses more than traditional commercials. Restaurants offer incentives such as play-grounds, contests, clubs, games and free toys.The free-gift marketing strategy has been there for generations in western countries and now our part of the world is trying to catch up with this trend.Another disturbing trend in child advertising is the targeting of very young children. Mike Searles, then president of Kids-R-Us, a major children’s clothing store, believes there are great advantages to hooking a child as soon as possible: “[I]f you own this child at an early age, you can own this child for years to come. Companies are saying ‘Hey, I want to own the kid younger and younger’” (as quoted in Ruskin, 1999, p. 42).As kids are becoming more powerful consumers, marketers are targeting them even more bluntly. To make kids spend more, the advertisers are letting their imagination run wild using sophisticated psychological techniques which includes catchy jingles, dances and cute cartoon characters, portraying adventures and mysterious worlds, always implying that their products will bring unbounded happiness.“The only thing I want to be is a beyblade player and go to the big stadium and become a champion,” says Sunny. He actually thought that the beyblade cartoon was real and has a collection of 67 beyblades!Advertisements can shape self-image and values of our children. Young children have difficulty distinguishing between advertisements and reality, and may not understand that ads are there to sell something for profit rather than with pu