Download or read book Land of the Fee written by Devin Fergus and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018-06-08 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The loans ordinary Americans take out to purchase homes and attend college often leave them in a sea of debt. As Devin Fergus explains in Land of the Fee, a not-insignificant portion of that debt comes in the form of predatory hidden fees attached to everyday transactions. Beginning in the 1980s, lobbyists for the financial industry helped dismantle consumer protections, resulting in surreptitious fees-often waived for those who can afford them but not for those who can't. Bluntly put, these hidden fees unfairly keep millions of Americans from their hard-earned money. Journalists and policymakers have identified the primary causes of increasing wealth inequality-fewer good working class jobs, a rise in finance-driven speculative capitalism, and a surge of tax policy decisions that benefit the ultra-rich, among others. However, they miss one commonplace but substantial contributor to the widening divide between the rich and the rest: the explosion of fees on every transaction people make in their daily lives. Land of the Fee traces the system of fees from its origins in the deregulatory wave of the late 1970s to the present. The average consumer now pays a dizzying array of charges for mortgage contracts, banking transactions, auto insurance rates, college payments, and payday loans. These fees are buried in the pages of small-print agreements that few consumers read or understand. Because these fees do not fall under usury laws, they have redistributed wealth to large corporations and their largest shareholders. By exposing this predatory and nearly invisible system of fees, Land of the Fee reshapes our understanding of wealth inequality in America.

Download or read book Gotcha Capitalism written by Bob Sullivan and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2008-01-22 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What is Gotcha Capitalism? Coughing up $4 fees for ATM transactions. Iron-clad cell phone contracts you can’t get out of with a crowbar. Paying big bucks for insurance you don’t need on a rental car or forking over $20 a day for supposedly “free” wireless internet. Every day we use banks, cell phones, and credit cards. Every day we book hotels and airline tickets. And every day we get ripped off. How? Here are just a few examples of how big business can get you: • You didn’t fill up the rental car with gas? Gotcha! Gas costs $7 a gallon here. • Your bank balance fell to $999.99 for one day? Gotcha! That’ll be $12. • You miss one payment on that 18-month same-as-cash loan? Gotcha! That’ll be $512 extra. • You’re one day late on that electric bill? Gotcha! All your credit cards now have a 29.99% interest rate. But not for much longer. In Gotcha Capitalism, MSNBC.com’s “Red Tape Chronicles” columnist Bob Sullivan exposes the ways we’re all cheated by big business, and teaches us how to get our money back–proven strategies that can help you save more than $1,000 a year. From the Trade Paperback edition.

Download or read book Temporary People written by Deepak Unnikrishnan and published by Restless Books. This book was released on 2017-03-14 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing "Guest workers of the United Arab Emirates embody multiple worlds and identities and long for home in a fantastical debut work of fiction, winner of the inaugural Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing.… The author's crisp, imaginative prose packs a punch, and his whimsical depiction of characters who oscillate between two lands on either side of the Arabian Sea unspools the kind of immigrant narratives that are rarely told. An enchanting, unparalleled anthem of displacement and repatriation." —Kirkus Reviews, starred review In the United Arab Emirates, foreign nationals constitute over 80 percent of the population. Brought in to construct and serve the towering monuments to wealth that punctuate the skylines of Abu Dhabi and Dubai, this labor force is not given the option of citizenship. Some ride their luck to good fortune. Others suffer different fates. Until now, the humanitarian crisis of the so-called “guest workers” of the Gulf has barely been addressed in fiction. With his stunning, mind-altering debut novel Temporary People, Deepak Unnikrishnan delves into their histories, myths, struggles, and triumphs. Combining the linguistic invention of Salman Rushdie and the satirical vision of George Saunders, Unnikrishnan presents twenty-eight linked stories that careen from construction workers who shapeshift into luggage and escape a labor camp, to a woman who stitches back together the bodies of those who’ve fallen from buildings in progress, to a man who grows ideal workers designed to live twelve years and then perish—until they don’t, and found a rebel community in the desert. With this polyphony of voices, Unnikrishnan maps a new, unruly global English and gives personhood back to the anonymous workers of the Gulf. "Guest workers of the United Arab Emirates embody multiple worlds and identities and long for home in a fantastical debut work of fiction, winner of the inaugural Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing.… The author's crisp, imaginative prose packs a punch, and his whimsical depiction of characters who oscillate between two lands on either side of the Arabian Sea unspools the kind of immigrant narratives that are rarely told. An enchanting, unparalleled anthem of displacement and repatriation." —Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review "Inventive, vigorously empathetic, and brimming with a sparkling, mordant humor, Deepak Unnikrishnan has written a book of Ovidian metamorphoses for our precarious time. These absurdist fables, fluent in the language of exile, immigration, and bureaucracy, will remind you of the raw pleasure of storytelling and the unsettling nearness of the future." —Alexandra Kleeman, author of You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine “Inaugural winner of the Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing, this debut novel employs its own brand of magical realism to propel readers into an understanding and appreciation of the experience of foreign workers in the Arab Gulf States (and beyond). Through a series of almost 30 loosely linked sections, grouped into three parts, we are thrust into a narrative alternating between visceral realism and fantastic satire.... The alternation between satirical fantasy, depicting such things as intelligent cockroaches and evil elevators, and poignant realism, with regards to necessarily illicit sexuality, forms a contrast that gives rise to a broad critique of the plight of those known euphemistically as ‘guest workers.’ VERDICT: This first novel challenges readers with a singular inventiveness expressed through a lyrical use of language and a laserlike focus that is at once charming and terrifying. Highly recommended.” —Henry Bankhead, Library Journal, Starred Review “Unnikrishnan’s debut novel shines a light on a little known world with compassion and keen insight. The Temporary People are invisible people—but Unnikrishnan brings them to us with compassion, intelligence, and heart. This is why novels matter.” —Susan Hans O’Connor, Penguin Bookshop (Sewickley, PA) “Deepak Unnikrishnan uses linguistic pyrotechnics to tell the story of forced transience in the Arabian Peninsula, where citizenship can never be earned no matter the commitment of blood, sweat, years of life, or brains. The accoutrements of migration—languages, body parts, passports, losses, wounds, communities of strangers—are packed and carried along with ordinary luggage, blurring the real and the unreal with exquisite skill. Unnikrishnan sets before us a feast of absurdity that captures the cruel realities around the borders we cross either by choice or by force. In doing so he has found what most writers miss: the sweet spot between simmering rage at a set of circumstances, and the circumstances themselves.” —Ru Freeman, author of On Sal Mal Lane “Deepak writes brilliant stories with a fresh, passionate energy. Every page feels as if it must have been written, as if the author had no choice. He writes about exile, immigration, deportation, security checks, rage, patience, about the homelessness of living in a foreign land, about historical events so strange that, under his hand, the events become tales, and he writes tales so precisely that they read like history. Important work. Work of the future. This man will not be stopped.” —Deb Olin Unferth, author of Revolution “From the strange Kafka-esque scenarios to the wholly original language, this book is amazing on so many different levels. Unlike anything I've ever read, Temporary People is a powerful work of short stories about foreign nationals who populate the new economy in the United Arab Emirates. With inventive language and darkly satirical plot lines, Unnikrishnan provides an important view of relentless nature of a global economy and its brutal consequences for human lives. Prepare to be wowed by the immensely talented new voice.” —Hilary Gustafson, Literati Bookstore (Ann Arbor, MI) “Absolutely preposterous! As a debut, author Unnikrishnan shares stories of laborers, brought to the United Arab Emirates to do menial and everyday jobs. These people have no rights, no fallback if they have problems or health issues in that land. The laborers in Temporary People are sewn back together when they fall, are abandoned in the desert if they become inconvenient, and are even grown from seeds. As a collection of short stories, this is fantastical, imaginative, funny, and even more so, scary, powerful, and ferocious.” —Becky Milner, Vintage Books (Vancouver WA)

Download or read book The Hidden Cost of Jewelry written by Jo Becker and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 97 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: I. Introduction -- II. Existing standards - and why they are not enough -- III. How jewelry companies can source responsibly -- IV. Company rankings and performance -- V. A call to action: next steps fro the jewelry industry -- Acknowledgments -- Annex.

Download or read book The Assets Perspective written by R. Cramer and published by Springer. This book was released on 2014-03-06 with total page 621 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The economy's struggles to overcome the lingering effects of the Great Recession presented unique but essential questions.The book considers a full range of data which considers how this recent experience has impacted households, providing a thorough and contemporary treatment of how the assets perspective has prompted changes within social policy.

Download or read book Subliminally Exposed written by Steven Dayan and published by Morgan James Publishing. This book was released on 2013-06-04 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The New York Times bestseller that explores the primitive world of human programming as it pertains to beauty, culture, and evolution. Beauty is raw, powerful, and often dangerous, but when refined, harnessed, and mastered, it can be incredibly influential. Just as there is a good reason why all humans find sugar to be sweet and a growling beast intimidating, there is an evolutionary logic to why our appearances allow us to communicate and manipulate each other at a subconscious level. Who you choose to mate, befriend, or work with often pivots on a few critical yet subliminal decisions made within a fraction of a second. The human brain has been evolving over 3.5 million years, and our thoughts, behaviors, and actions are rooted in a system that is evolutionary, adaptive, and unencumbered by political, social, or religious constraints. Evolution only cares about one thing: survival of our genes. Subliminally Exposed will reveal the how and why behind your actions and empower you to decode and translate others’ subconscious behaviors. Whether it is for political, employment, or relationship purposes, the knowledge and tools gained from the words in this book can be used for betterment or deceit. It is your choice. Regardless, be forewarned. The information you are about to read will affect every one of your relationships for better or worse in one way or another.

Download or read book Spon s Mechanical and Electrical Services Price Book 2020 written by AECOM and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2019-09-16 with total page 867 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Spon's Mechanical and Electrical Services Price Book 2020 continues to be the most comprehensive and best annual services engineering price book currently available, providing detailed pricing information across the full range of mechanical and electrical services, together with higher-level costs for a diverse range of systems and different building applications. Use the access code inside the front cover of the book to get set up with an ebook of this 2020 edition on the VitalSource® Bookshelf platform, available for access and use until the end of December 2020. A number of new engineering features have been added: This year the lighting section has been entirely overhauled to accurately represent the latest industry standards in light fittings The three exciting areas of development AECOM has this year identified in the MEP sector -- battery storage systems, exposed services and grid decarbonisation Along with new items including MVHRs, district heating HIUs, and air source heat pumps All the standard features you have come to expect from SPON'S MECHANICAL AND ELECTRICAL SERVICES PRICE BOOK are also included, considered essential for today’s services cost professional: detailed materials prices, labour constants, labour costs and measured work prices for mechanical and electrical works, from above ground drainage to automatic transfer switches, and circuit breakers to sprinkler systems an extensive Approximate Estimating section for quick, rule-of-thumb pricing of mechanical or electrical installations, together with elemental services costs for different types and standard of buildings full details of wage rates, daywork and cost indices on a national and Central London basis. an overhauled index and guidance notes updates, free of charge, twice a year – see inside for registration details. Updates are available online at www.pricebooks.co.uk

Download or read book Spon s Mechanical and Electrical Services Price Book 2023 written by AECOM AECOM and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2022-10-14 with total page 855 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Construction cost inflation is at its highest level for decades. Global supply chains have been tested to the max as coronavirus and the war in Ukraine disrupted materials supply and raised energy costs, at a time when UK trade policy was in the midst of significant change. It’s been a perfect inflationary storm and prices of some materials have soared. AECOM’s overall building cost index has reached record highs. Demand is currently holding up but project viability is coming under increasing pressure and headwinds are strengthening. The definitive M&E price book with updates to approximate estimating and new engineering features including the implications of recent changes to building regulations on non-domestic buildings. SPON'S MECHANICAL AND ELECTRICAL SERVICES PRICE BOOK 2023 continues to be the most comprehensive and best annual services engineering price book currently available, providing detailed pricing information across the full range of mechanical and electrical services, together with higher-level costs for a diverse range of systems and different building applications. Use the access code inside the front cover of the book to get set up with an ebook of this 2023 edition available for access and use until the end of December 2023. All the standard features you have come to expect from SPON'S are also included, considered essential for today’s services cost professional: detailed materials prices, labour constants, labour costs and measured work prices for mechanical and electrical works, from above ground drainage to automatic transfer switches, and circuit breakers to sprinkler systems an extensive Approximate Estimating section for quick, rule-of-thumb pricing of mechanical or electrical installations, together with elemental services costs for different types and standard of buildings full details of wage rates, daywork and cost indices on a national and Central London basis. an overhauled index and guidance notes updates, free of charge, twice a year – see inside for registration details. Updates are available online at www.pricebooks.co.uk

Download or read book Spon s Mechanical and Electrical Services Price Book 2024 written by AECOM AECOM and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2023-10-13 with total page 851 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Compiled by AECOM, the 2024 edition has been updated with the latest pricing information to help you manage your projects over the next 12 months through this challenging period of high inflation and financial uncertainty. It covers the full range of mechanical and electrical services, together with higher-level costs for a diverse range of systems and different building applications. All prices have been updated via comprehensive supplier engagement combined with AECOM’s market intelligence and a short-term inflationary forecast to ensure you have the most accurate cost data available. Activity descriptions and build ups have been updated to reflect changes to standard specifications, Building Regulation changes, emerging practices, and changing outputs All the standard features you have come to expect from SPON'S are also included, considered essential for today’s services cost professional: detailed materials prices, labour constants, labour costs and measured work prices for mechanical and electrical works, from above ground drainage to automatic transfer switches, and circuit breakers to sprinkler systems an extensive Approximate Estimating section for quick, rule-of-thumb pricing of mechanical or electrical installations, together with elemental services costs for different types and standard of buildings full details of wage rates, daywork and cost indices on a national and Central London basis an updated index and guidance notes Included within the inside front cover of every book is a VitalSource® eBook redemption code giving one user access to the content digitally until the end of December 2024.

Download or read book an an written by The Confraternity of Neoflagellants and published by punctum books. This book was released on 2021-06-30 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With the peristaltic gurglings of this gastēr-investigative procedural - a soooo welcomed addition to the ballooning corpus of slot-versatile bad eggs The Confraternity of Neoflagellants (CoN) - [users] and #influencers everywhere will be belly-joyed to hold hands with neomedieval mutter-matter that literally sticks and branches, available from punctum in both frictionless and grip-gettable boke-shaped formats. A game-changer in Brownian temp-controlled phoneme capture, ρan-ρan's writhing paginations are completely oxygen-soaked, overwriting the flavour profiles of 2013's thN Lng folk 2go with no-holds-barred argumentations on all voice-like and lung-adjacent functions. Rumoured by experts to be dead to the World(TM), CoN has clearly turned its ear canal arrays towards the jabbering OMFG feedback signals from their scores of naive listeners, scrapping all lenticular exegesis and content profiles to construct taped-together vernacular dwellings housing 'shrooming atmospheric awarenesses and pan-dimensional cross-talkers, making this anticipatory sequel a serious competitor across ambient markets, and a crowded kitchen in its own right. An utterly mondegreen-infested deep end may deter would-be study buddies from taking the plunge, but feet-wetted Dog Heads eager to sniff around for temporal folds and whiff past the stank of hastily proscribed future fogs ought to (c)k no further than the roll-upable-rim of ρan-ρan's bleeeeeding premodern lagoon. Arrange yerself cannonball-wise or lead with the #gut and you'll be kersplashing in no times. The Confraternity of Neoflagellants was founded in 2009 by Serjeant-At-Law Norman Hogg and joined by Keeper of the Wardrobe Neil Mulholland. It is a secular and equal opportunities confraternity bound by choreograph.

Download or read book Hidden Costs of Energy written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2010-05-26 with total page 506 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite the many benefits of energy, most of which are reflected in energy market prices, the production, distribution, and use of energy causes negative effects. Many of these negative effects are not reflected in energy market prices. When market failures like this occur, there may be a case for government interventions in the form of regulations, taxes, fees, tradable permits, or other instruments that will motivate recognition of these external or hidden costs. The Hidden Costs of Energy defines and evaluates key external costs and benefits that are associated with the production, distribution, and use of energy, but are not reflected in market prices. The damage estimates presented are substantial and reflect damages from air pollution associated with electricity generation, motor vehicle transportation, and heat generation. The book also considers other effects not quantified in dollar amounts, such as damages from climate change, effects of some air pollutants such as mercury, and risks to national security. While not a comprehensive guide to policy, this analysis indicates that major initiatives to further reduce other emissions, improve energy efficiency, or shift to a cleaner electricity generating mix could substantially reduce the damages of external effects. A first step in minimizing the adverse consequences of new energy technologies is to better understand these external effects and damages. The Hidden Costs of Energy will therefore be a vital informational tool for government policy makers, scientists, and economists in even the earliest stages of research and development on energy technologies.

Download or read book Strategies for Cotton in West and Central Africa written by Ilhem Baghdadli and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2007-01-01 with total page 112 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Based on comprehensive empirical studies, the paper identifies key reforms and defines strategies to enhance the competitiveness of cotton sectors in West and Central Africa. The report uses industrial organization principles to compare privatization options and design reforms to best implement sector reforms scheme

Download or read book Introduction to Health and Safety at Work written by and published by Routledge. This book was released on with total page 619 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Frontiers in Pension Finance written by Dirk Broeders and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2009-01-01 with total page 355 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this fresh and valuable volume, experts from across the world provide guidance on pension design, risk management, and governance that is urgently needed in this rapidly changing pension environment. Aging populations are putting pressure on pay-as-you-go pension systems and spurring a shift to prefunded plans. Greater prefunding requires efficient risk management and judicious regulation and supervision. This book provides state-of-the-art analyses of these issues and should be required reading for scholars, practitioners, and anyone interested in the future of pensions. Alicia H. Munnell, Boston College Carroll School of Management and Center for Retirement Research, US How to deliver adequate pension benefits at reasonable costs is a huge challenge confronting our ageing societies. This book delivers a comprehensive overview of the latest insights into pension finance, pension system design, pension governance and risk based supervision. It combines state-of-the-art analyses with innovative policy proposals to increase the efficiency and resilience of pension systems and to advance these systems contribution to global financial stability. Renowned pension experts offer cutting-edge guidance for future decision making and the development of best practices. This exciting exploration of the frontiers in pension finance highlights key aspects of securing long term retirement provisions. Frontiers in Pension Finance will be of interest to a wide-ranging audience, especially academic researchers, pension practitioners, supervisors and public sector policymakers.

Download or read book Noise Regulations and Type Certification Alternatives Civil Supersonic SST Aircraft written by and published by . This book was released on 1978 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Appendices and substantive comments written by United States. Federal Aviation Administration and published by . This book was released on 1978 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Final Environmental Impact Statement written by United States. Federal Aviation Administration and published by . This book was released on 1978 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: