USA Environmental Legislation : American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 Passes U.S. House of Representatives and Heads to the U.S. Senate

The United States - which is far behind Europe in environmental legislation, and which is learning hard energy lessons in the automotive industry - is moving forward on clean energy, as the U.S. House of Representatives on June 26, 2009 passed Barack Obama's "Clean Energy Bill", (H.R. 2998, printed June 27, 2009, also known as the "Waxman-Markey Bill", official short title "American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009", 1201 pages in the .pdf version) which now goes to the Senate, where, in this author's view, it will still be subject to some amendment, but will surely pass.

As written at WikiNews:

"The final vote was 219-212, with only 8 Republicans voting for the legislation, and 44 Democrats voting against it. The resolution addresses the "greenhouse effect," and calls for a 17% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, and an 83% reduction by 2050. In addition, the legislation will establish new requirements for utilities, and various incentives for "going green.""

The Wikipedia writes:

"The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (ACES) is an energy bill in the 111th United States Congress that would establish a variant of a cap-and-trade plan for greenhouse gases to address climate change. The bill was approved by the House of Representatives on June 26, 2009 by a vote of 219-212, but has not yet been approved by the Senate.^[1][2]

This vote was the "first time either house of Congress had approved a bill meant to curb the heat-trapping gases scientists have linked to climate change.....^[3]

Internationally, the House's passage of the ACES bill "established a marker for the United States when international negotiations on a new climate change treaty begin later this year."^[4]

Proponents and opponents of the bill tend to concentrate on the specific provisions of the bill, whereas the most important impact of the bill - if passed by both houses of Congress and signed by President Obama - will be its clear message to American corporations and inhabitants that they have to start to think and act realistically with respect to energy and the environment, as has been the case in the European Union already for a great number of years.

Those in America who oppose sensible legislation on energy and the environment need to be reminded - time and again- that the collapse of the American automotive industry is a direct cause of the stubborn failure by US institutions and citizens to accept the energy realities.

UPDATE:

John M. Broder writes at the New York Times in House Passes Bill to Address Threat of Climate Change:

"The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, who was in Washington on Friday to meet with Mr. Obama, strongly endorsed the bill even though it fell short of European goals for reducing the emissions of heat-trapping gases.

Mrs. Merkel, a longtime advocate of strong curbs on emissions, has been pushing the United States to take a leading role before the climate negotiations, set for December in Copenhagen."

Cybercrime and Cybersecurity : Cyberspace and Cyberwar : Russia for International Treaty : USA for Law Enforcement Cooperation : European Convention

Arms control for cyberspace?

In a "futuristic" June 27, 2009 article at the New York Times titled U.S. and Russia Differ on a Treaty for Cyberspace, John Markoff and Andrew E. Kramer point to the growing threat of cyberwar:

"Officials around the world recognize the need to deal with the growing threat of cyberwar. Many countries, including the United States, are developing weapons for it, like “logic bombs” that can be hidden in computers to halt them at crucial times or damage circuitry; “botnets” that can disable or spy on Web sites and networks; or microwave radiation devices that can burn out computer circuits miles away."

Markoff and Kramer write that the United States and Russia have differing views on achieving cybersecurity:

"The United States is trying to improve cybersecurity by building relationships among international law enforcement agencies. State Department officials hold out as a model the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime, which took effect in 2004 and has been signed by 22 nations, including the United States but not Russia or China.

But Russia objects that the European convention on cybercrime allows the police to open an investigation of suspected online crime originating in another country without first informing local authorities, infringing on traditional ideas of sovereignty. Vladimir V. Sokolov, deputy director of the Institute for Information Security Issues, a policy organization, noted that Russian authorities routinely cooperated with foreign police organizations when they were approached."

Read the entire article.

European Commission Puts Economies of Struggling Britain and Ireland in the Same Category as Latvia : German Economy may be on the Upswing

We remain worried about the national finances of Latvia and see the threat of devaluation as a strong concern, but now breathe a sigh of relief to see that the Latvian government is in good company.

(See Financial Times Alphaville and Latvia Economy Watch on the economic situation in Latvia).

The June 24, 2009 headline from Gary Duncan at The Times Online reads European Commission Puts Economies of Struggling Britain and Ireland in the Same Category as Latvia, as the governments of Britain and the Irish Republic are facing similar economic problems caused by overspending, the impact of the credit crisis and the extent of the current world recession.

The long-term proposed solution to the world's financial problems - and also the major bone of contention in Europe - is increased regulation of the financial industry. We agree that more regulation is necessary and indeed inescapable.

Hans-Jürgen Schlamp at Spiegel Online International writes that Europe is split over the financial crisis and that the United Kingdom and Ireland are resisting the push from continental European countries for more regulation of the financial sector:

"London and Dublin, in particular, are blocking anything that could create problems in their respective financial industries. This is understandable, given the fact that Great Britain and Ireland have very few other future-proof industrial sectors. But this path is immensely dangerous for Europe.

"We have absolutely no risk management today," says David Wright, deputy director general of the European Commission. According to Wright, there were no warning signals before the financial meltdown because "the necessary mechanisms simply do not exist." Wright believes that it is high time for change."

In fact, the UK and Ireland are in much same boat as Latvia and will have no choice but to adopt sounder and more restrictive financial policies in the future.

We need merely to read (via the Edward.Hugh.Blog) an older (2007) International Monetary Fund (IMF) statement on the Latvian economy - as a representative example - to see that the present problems have been a longer time in the making:

"Statement by IMF Mission to Latvia on 2007 Article IV Consultation Discussions
Press Release No. 07/87, May 4, 2007

The following statement was issued on April 27 in Riga by Ms. Rachel van Elkan, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission chief for Latvia:

"The IMF mission visited Riga during April 17-27 to hold the 2007 Article IV consultation discussions on economic prospects and policies....

Latvia, like other recent EU entrants, has benefited from an accession-related boost to income convergence. Closer integration with the rest of Europe in goods, financial, and labor markets, as well as through access to substantial EU grants, has helped create favorable investment opportunities and attract large inflows of foreign financing. Consequently, capital and technology stocks and consumption and living standards have risen. Employment opportunities—in Latvia and abroad—have allowed citizens to acquire new skills and work experience. As a result, Latvia has enjoyed very rapid convergence in income levels over the past decade.

Recently, however, fast credit and wage growth has caused the economy to diverge from a balanced and sustainable growth path, with domestic demand outstripping Latvia's supply capacity. As a result, overheating has intensified, bringing higher price and wage inflation, a sharply wider current account deficit, and greater external indebtedness. Rapid credit growth in euros has left large currency mismatches on the balance sheets of households and corporates and a boom in housing prices that has diverted resources from the tradable sector. A pervasive "buy now-pay later" mindset has settled in and is heightening systemic risk. These developments, if not tackled firmly, will thwart a recovery of export growth.

There is an urgent need for decisive action to unwind overheating pressures and narrow external imbalances by sharply curtailing domestic demand. Notwithstanding actions by the Bank of Latvia to raise risk awareness, recent pressure on the lats [the Latvian currency] signals growing investor impatience with the limited policy response so far. A comprehensive strategy is therefore needed to curb domestic spending and wage growth, and moderate real estate prices to rebalance incentives for investing in tradables sectors....

The authorities' recent anti-inflation plan is a significant first step, and signals their recognition of the severity of macroeconomic conditions. In our view, however, the high level of imbalances and vulnerabilities warrants more decisive and comprehensive action. We therefore urge the Government, FCMC, and the Bank of Latvia to demonstrate unwavering commitment to a policy that would generate an appreciable near-term adjustment in the current account. A substantial front-loaded fiscal adjustment is essential to begin to counter demand buoyancy while helping convince the private sector of the government's willingness to shoulder its share of the burden. A strong communication strategy is also needed to signal the need for credit and wage restraint by the private sector. The mission's main recommendations are detailed below.

Fiscal policy: Against the balanced budget targeted in the anti-inflation plan, we consider that a headline general government surplus of 2¼ percent of GDP in 2007 and 4 percent of GDP in 2008 is appropriate. This could be achieved by saving in full revenue overperformance, restraining current and capital expenditures, and abstaining from cuts in taxes, including the personal income tax. Introducing medium-term budgeting, anchored within a conservative revenue envelope, can help balance the need for expenditure restraint with improvements in public sector efficiency. To enhance fiscal transparency and sustainability, all large public investment projects should be evaluated and prioritized within a single unified framework

Credit and prudential policies: Sharply curtailing and improving the risk profile of new lending is essential to mitigating macroeconomic and financial stability risks. Rebalancing incentives governing credit growth is therefore essential. The mission supports the effective implementation of the credit-restraining measures in the anti-inflation plan, including fully documenting legal income to secure a loan, establishing a comprehensive register of all loans, and requiring a 10 percent minimum downpayment. We also welcome the recent reimposition of limits on banks' open positions in euros. Additional regulatory measures are also needed to slow credit growth and induce banks to internalize systemic risk in real estate and currency markets. The FCMC, working with the Bank of Latvia, should increase its emphasis on monitoring systemic risk through more frequent on-site inspections of large banks and ensuring that foreign banks tailor their credit-risk models to the Latvian context.

Real estate policies: Rebalancing the structure of the economy away from the nontradables sector, especially real estate, is essential to underpin needed current account adjustment. The mission welcomes the increase in real estate taxation envisaged in the anti-inflation plan, as well as the periodic reassessment of cadastral values, beginning in 2007. To be effective, however, enforcement of real-estate related taxation should be stepped up. To further relieve overheating in the construction sector, it will be necessary to significantly scale back government capital expenditure (planned at 5 percent of GDP for 2007).

Labor market policies: Efficient labor utilization is critical to expand aggregate supply and contain surging wage costs, which are contributing to overheating and undermining Latvia's competitiveness. The greater flexibility allowed in the use of fixed-term employment contracts introduced in the 2006 Amendment to the Labor Law is welcome, and further steps to facilitate mobility between jobs and regions are needed. The recent decision to allow unfettered labor market access to the newest EU members may help relieve bottlenecks, and wider temporary access should also be considered. Public sector wage agreements should not provide grounds—through demonstration effects—for increases in private wages in excess of productivity. Social partners should secure a broad consensus for appropriate wage restraint. Shifting to higher value-added products requires increasing employer involvement in setting education curricula, and prioritizing EU structural funds to developing human resources, entrepreneurship, and innovation in traditional and new export sectors."

IMF EXTERNAL RELATIONS DEPARTMENT
Public Affairs Media Relations
Phone: 202-623-7300 Phone: 202-623-7100
Fax: 202-623-6278 Fax: 202-623-6772"

By contrast, as written at Spiegel Online International, the German economy may be on the road to recovery, and as Germany goes, so - in the long term - goes Europe. But, as written in that article, there are no grounds for euphoria. National governments must get their finances in order, and that will take some time.

Hat tip to CaryGEE.

EU Election Results for the European Union Parliament : 27 Countries : 736 Members of Parliament (MEPs) : Representing 492 Million Citizens of Europe

Few in Europe know the name of their European Parliament MEP (Member of Parliament)? Those who do not know can view this EU directory, which at the time of this posting does not yet reflect the elections just held for the European Parliament.

The Germany Missions in the United States at Germany.info provide a superbly informative article - 27 Nations, One Election - on those elections, calling them "the biggest transnational elections in history". Take a look.

The BBC has a country by country analysis of the election results and we show below the fairly final but still officially provisional EU Election Results for all 27 Countries who elected 736 Members of Parliament (MEPs) representing 492 million European inhabitants (there are 375 million eligible voters):

Provisional 11 June 2009 at 11:26 CEST

		EPP	PES	ALDE	UEN	GREENS/ EFA	GUE/ NGL	IND/ DEM	Others	Total
	BE	6	5	5	0	3	0	0	3	22
	BG	6	4	5	0	0	0	0	2	17
	CZ	2	7	0	0	0	4	0	9	22
	DK	1	4	3	2	2	1	0	0	13
	DE	42	23	12	0	14	8	0	0	99
	EE	1	1	3	0	0	0	0	1	6
	IE	4	3	1	3	0	0	0	1	12
	EL	8	8	0	0	1	3	2	0	22
	ES	23	21	2	0	2	1	0	1	50
	FR	29	14	6	0	14	4	1	4	72
	IT	35	0	7	9	0	0	0	21	72
	CY	2	1	0	0	0	2	0	1	6
	LV	1	0	1	3	1	0	0	2	8
	LT	4	3	2	2	0	0	0	1	12
	LU	3	1	1	0	1	0	0	0	6
	HU	15	4	0	0	0	0	0	3	22
	MT	2	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	5
	NL	5	3	6	0	3	2	2	4	25
	AT	6	4	0	0	2	0	0	5	17
	PL	28	7	0	15	0	0	0	0	50
	PT	10	7	0	0	0	5	0	0	22
	RO	13	11	5	0	1	0	0	3	33
	SI	3	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	7
	SK	6	5	0	1	0	0	0	1	13
	FI	4	2	4	0	2	0	0	1	13
	SE	5	5	4	0	2	1	0	1	18
	UK	0	13	11	0	5	1	13	29	72
	EU total	264	161	80	35	53	32	18	93	736

Source: TNS opinion in cooperation with the European Parliament.

There are seven main political parties - plus others - represented in the European Parliament, with the provisional 2009 election results listed next to each party together with their 2004 election results:

• EPP [centre-right]: Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats) - 264 seats based on 35.9% of the vote in 2009 as opposed to 36.7% of the vote in 2004
• PES [centre-left]: Socialist Group in the European Parliament - 161 seats based on 21.9% of the vote in 2009 as opposed to 27.6% in 2004 (according to the European Voice that number increases to 182 as "The Socialist group in the European Parliament has formed an alliance with the Italian Democratic Party (DP), a move that increases the grouping's MEPs by 21, to 182.... The grouping will be known as the Alliance of Socialists and Democrats for Europe (ASDE)."
  
  
  
  
• ALDE : Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe - 80 seats based on 10.9% of the vote in 2009 as opposed to 12.7% in 2004
• GREENS/ EFA : Group of the Greens / European Free Alliance - 53 seats based on 7.2% of the vote in 2009 as opposed to 5.5% in 2004
• UEN : Union for Europe of the Nations Group - 35 seats based on 4.8% of the vote in 2009 as opposed to 5.6% in 2004
• GUE/ NGL : Confederal Group of the European United Left - Nordic Green Left - 32 seats based on 4.3% of the vote in 2009 as opposed to 5.2% in 2004
• IND/ DEM : Independence/Democracy Group - 18 seats based on 2.4% of the vote in 2009 as opposed to 2.8% in 2004
• Others (including the British National Party, the Czech ODS and British Tories) - 93 seats based on 12.6% of the vote in 2009 as opposed to 3.8% in 2004
  

As opposed to a voter turnout of 45.47% in 2004, the voter turnout in 2009 was a disappointing 43.2% EU-wide - also only 43% here in Germany. All major EU Parliament parties dropped in their percentage of votes and only the GREENS and OTHER parties gained.

Update to Previous CarTrawler Posting

Please note that I have made the following update to my previous posting about CarTrawler.

UPDATE (June 4, 2009)

I received a full apology by phone today from CarTrawler for the car rental booking circumstances previously described in this blog posting, together with sincere assurance that the matter would be righted. As I was told, nearly everything that could go wrong, had gone wrong. A full refund was offered.

In addition - and among other things - CarTrawler indicated that its customer service would be improved to eliminate what were described as regrettable but unintentional - and correctable - technological mistakes, especially as regards improved company response to justified customer complaints and concerns. Moreover, the misleading excess insurance issue is to be corrected.

Additional suggestions for improvement were made.

If all of that occurs, CarTrawler will be back on the right track to becoming an honest and reliable booking partner for low-priced car rental.

CarTrawler : An Alleged Car Rental Service to AVOID : CarTrawler is NOT a Full Car Rental Company and Potentially a Scam Costing YOUR money : Updated!

UPDATE (June 4, 2009)

I received a full apology by phone today from CarTrawler for the car rental booking circumstances previously described in this blog posting, together with sincere assurance that the matter would be righted. As I was told, nearly everything that could go wrong, had gone wrong. A full refund was offered.

In addition - and among other things - CarTrawler indicated that its customer service would be improved to eliminate what were described as regrettable but unintentional - and correctable - technological mistakes, especially as regards improved company response to justified customer complaints and concerns. Moreover, the misleading excess insurance issue is to be corrected.

Additional suggestions for improvement were made.

If all of that occurs, CarTrawler will be back on the right track to becoming an honest and reliable booking partner for low-priced car rental.

__________________________

ORIGINAL but now UPDATED Posting (see above)
__________________________


I made the great mistake recently of following a CarTrawler.com (Dublin) online link at the RyanAir (Dublin) website after booking a flight and hotel through the reputable and otherwise excellent cheap flyer RyanAir. I also booked a hotel through a RyanAir link - with very good success at a reduced price - and then tried to rent a car at a flight destination airport, thinking that it would also be a good deal and not questioning its reliability since the link appeared on the RyanAir website. That was a mistake.

As we have discovered since then, CarTrawler is NOT a RyanAir affiliate and NOT a good deal. Do yourself a favor and AVOID CARTRAWLER like the plague. CarTrawler may cost you money and you may still get no rental car.

We have informed Ryan Air, the Irish Department of Justice and the Irish police, the Garda Siochana, about our case. Here is our experience.

CarTrawler is NOT a real car rental company - but this is not clear to the potential customer from CarTrawler's website pages. Rather, CarTrawler is a "booking engine", apparently owned by ETrawler which is apparently owned by Argus Automobiles of Dublin. This booking engine is used at its online website pages and those of its affiliates (ETrawler has over 40 website domains under various car rental names) and it uses virtually the same manner of advertising presentation as real car rental companies. It advertises rental cars with photos and specifications at what appear to be very affordable prices, but these are not THEIR cars. Look out.

After getting a car booking from an online customer, CarTrawler contacts "real" car rental companies and tries to obtain the booked car for the customer at the booked date and location - and of course at even cheaper conditions so that they can make a profit at the booked low price. If CarTrawler can not find a real car rental company willing to rent a booked car satisfying the low-priced conditions CarTrawler has advertised, the potential customer - as in our case - has a serious problem.

Here is what happened to us.

1. ALERT:Your credit card is IMMEDIATELY debited at the time of the initial "booking" even though this booking is not considered "binding" by CarTrawler, see point 2 below. To our mind, this is already fraudulent. Your credit card is debited even if the actual car rental date is far in the future. This is totally contrary to the usual and expected practice at established "real" car rental companies who actually have cars to rent and who debit the credit card after rental of the car.

CarTrawler DOES NOT inform the customer clearly online about this debit practice beforehand. You have to read the fine print of their "booking conditions" and virtually no one does that and that is what such companies capitalize on to defraud their customers. We were certainly unaware of the practice at the time of our booking. Had we known of this debit practice, we would have left CarTrawler pages immediately. We in fact thought that CarTrawler was a real car rental company, given its online presentation. In our view that particular CarTrawler online presentation constitutes intentional "common law" fraud on the normal user.

One might in fact ask, how is it possible - legally - to debit a car rental in advance if the very car to be rented - at what may be an unknown price - is still being sought at the real car rental companies?

2. ALERT: If CarTrawler does not find the car that THEY advertised to the customer online at the advertised low "come-on" price at the date and location the customer wanted - as in our case, where we had booked a low-priced automatic shift - CarTrawler simply VOIDS the booking unilaterally. CarTrawler informs the customer that they do not regard the booking to be contractually binding until THEY accept it, that is, until they find the car as booked. You think you have booked a car - but you have not. To us, that is FRAUD and a view of contract that we do not find supported in contract law.

3. ALERT: You are - after the voiding of your booking - kept waiting for an allegedly "new booking" - and, we presume - more expensive booking - which may never occur. Here is what CarTrawler wrote to us one day after our booking and more than THREE WEEKS prior to the date for which we had booked a car:

"Thank you for your recent car rental request.

Unfortunately the vehicle you requested is not available with the selected supplier. We are however trying to place your request with an alternative supplier.

As your first choice is not available, the rental cost and vehicle type may vary from your original request . As availability reduces and popular locations sell out, we will offer you the best options available in the market. You will receive a new booking reference number shortly. Please disregard the old one as it is now void.

http://www.cartrawler.com/res/cancel.php

Thanks and Regards,

Contact Centre Team
CarTrawler
Tel: +353 (0)1 499 9600
Fax: +353 (0)1 499 9661
Email: mailto: reserve@cartrawler.com
Website: http://www.cartrawler.com"

CarTrawler did not contact us again (in spite of our emails and ultimate phone call to them) - until FOUR WEEKS later, i.e. after the date on which we needed a rental car. Imagine then our surprise - several days after the CarTrawler voiding of our booking - to see that CarTrawler had already debited the non-existent rental car to our credit card account on the same day that they voided our booking! CarTrawler now had our money and we had no car.

4. All the while, by the way, CarTrawler is collecting interest on the car rental amount - i.e. on YOUR money - which has been debited to the customer's credit card in advance of any actual car rental. If CarTrawler voids the customer's booking and no "new" booking - as suggested or not to the customer by CarTrawler - is agreed to by the customer, it is then up to the customer to try to get their money back. Good luck.

We managed to get the money booked back to our credit card account at our bank - but only after more than two weeks, and only because we took the costly time to inform our credit card company of the fraud and demanded an immediate reversal of the credit card debit for a car rental which never took place.

But just think that if CarTrawler does this to thousands of customers, they are making very good money on the interest payments on YOUR money alone, without ever delivering a booked rental car at all. And what number of customers, through lack of time or insufficient knowledge, are unable to recoup their money at all?

5. THE EXCESS INSURANCE SCAM. Furthermore, if the customer makes the mistake of selecting the option of "excess insurance" (i.e. choosing to eliminate the car rental insurance deductible) at the time of their initial booking process, the customer surely thinks that this is part of their initial and single car rental booking, but - this is not so at all. CarTrawler treats the X that the customer puts in front of "excess insurance" option as a separate contract with a London outfit called Insurance4carhire.com, a trading name of Towergate Underwriting Group Ltd., whose main business is - you guessed it - the car rental excess insurance business.

The underwriter for Insurance4carhire in the past has been AIG, which recently had to be bailed out in the United States by the Federal Reserve to avoid creation of a global credit crisis. The non-profit FBIC ranks AIG eighth of all "bad-faith insurers" in its review of nearly 4,000 insurance companies. We do not know if that relationship with AIG has been retained down to the present time, but a clear picture begins to form of what is going on here.

Of course, as one might expect from the previous discussion, Insurance4carhire.com ALSO debits the customer's credit card IMMEDIATELY at the time of initial car rental booking, far in advance of any actual car hire.

Consider that debited money as gone. Here is why.

If CarTrawler VOIDS the initial booking, Insurance4carhire.com, their insurance consort, still pockets the excess insurance premium since the excess insurance sold - this is all fixed in the fine print - is an insurance coverage of the "policy holder" and not of the specific "rental vehicle" for the period of time of the initial car booking. Here is what they write at their website:

"We insure the Policy Holder, not the rental vehicle. Excess is a voluntary insurance. Decline the car rental company’s Excess cover at the counter when you collect the car. If the car is damaged or stolen, the car rental company will charge your credit card for the Excess amount and you then claim for reimbursement on your Policy."

As a result, even if CarTrawler voids a car booking - as in our case - there is still good money being earned via the excess insurance option. The excess insurance sold in this manner is difficult to recoup because it is not sold for a specific car vehicle but rather for a given person for a specific period of time.

Hence, after CarTrawler has voided a customer's car rental booking, that customer is still stuck with the excess insurance, in spite of the fact that he no longer has any car rental at CarTrawler at all. You can not easily claim the insurance payment back, since it is contracted to you as a person, and not for your car. We view that manner of insurance to be clear common law fraud. The customer is being clearly misled and others are pocketing "free money".

If that customer happens to rent a car from a real car rental company for the period provided in the excess insurance policy, the customer allegedly retains the excess insurance coverage.

But note this: if that rental car is - for example - stolen or damaged during the period of excess insurance, the conditions of contract of Insurance4carhire.com provide that the customer first has to pay the deductible to the actual car rental company and only THEN try to recoup that amount from Insurance4carhire.com. Good luck.

It might be interesting for those law officials in the UK and Ireland responsible for investigating fraud to examine whether any money has EVER been paid under this fraudulently-appearing insurance.

In our law school days we used to equate this kind of misleading interlocking business scam with a "criminal conspiracy", but perhaps the laws of Ireland and the UK accept this kind of business thievery as legal today. Who knows.

Just imagine this process being repeated thousands of times per year and you have a money-making "golden goose" that is laying golden eggs around the clock without actually ever renting out a single rental car, but rather merely profiting through the process of offering cars at very low prices to the public - prices which may or may not actually be realizable.

Money is earned not only if a car is actually delivered to the customer as booked, but money is also earned if NO car is or can be actually delivered to the customer for the advertised and booked price. We have even read that customers have been charged for cancelling a booking which CarTrawler does not even regard as a binding "booking" on its side of the contract.

It is a great racket for those who are profiting by it, and surely misleadingly fraudulent, at least from our understanding of the common law. And we have not heard the end of this case yet. Upon returning from overseas where we rented a vehicle at the airport from Hertz for a lower price than offered to us initially by CarTrawler, we found the following email from CarTrawler in our mailbox, as if they had never received our phone call or our emails to them:

"Our bank has informed us that you are disputing your car rental....

Can you provide us with information as to why this is being disputed?
Your information would be greatly appreciated so we can improve our service.

Thanks and Regards,

The CarTrawler Team

Tel: +353 1 4999600
Fax: +353 01 4999661
Email: creditcardquery@cartrawler.com
Website: http://www.cartrawler.com"

Take a look at the CarTrawler "booking conditions" here. Those absurd conditions will keep anyone who reads them from ever booking a rental car through CarTrawler or any of the affiliates or companies which use its "booking engine". Those conditions are designed to hoodwink the customer. Clear common law fraud.

Frankly, law enforcement agencies in Ireland and the United Kingdom should get to work to remove these kinds of fraudulently misleading companies from the Internet.

We are not the only ones to register Complaints about CarTrawler. Take a look at:

TripAdvisor
ConsumerAffairs.com
ReviewCentre.com

The blog Bleep.ie even received a "takedown" notice because of its publication of criticism of CarTrawler in a comment. The blog owner, Tom Raftery, in Sevilla, Spain, is thus far resisting this chilling action and if there were a blogging award for a Freedom of Speech Champion this year, Tom would be our selection.

Bloggers unite! If you or anyone you know have had any problems with CarTrawler or any of the affiliated companies of ETrawler or Argus, make sure that bloggers they know put the stories up on the Internet. We have the power to get rid of these kinds of companies.

What is Democracy? Democracy is ... Voting has Begun : Cast Your Vote at YouTube in the Worldwide Democracy Video Challenge : 6 Geographic Regions

What is Democracy? Democracy is ...

VOTE NOW

As written at America.gov:

"Vote for the Video that Defines Democracy Best

The Democracy Video Challenge is an online video contest in which contestants submitted videos that explore the nature of democracy. People worldwide can select a winner by voting between May 15 and June 15 for the video that best captures the nature of democracy."

Richard Engel at the Democracy Video Challenge has opened the voting starting today.



Cast your vote at YouTube.

VOTE NOW

What is Democracy? : PUBLIC Online YouTube Voting in the Worldwide Democracy Video Challenge Final Begins May 15 and Runs to June 15

America.gov staff writer Tanya Brothen has an article on the Democracy Video Challenge, an online video contest which was launched at the United Nations on September 15, 2008 and for which online voting beings on May 15, running to June 15, 2009, i.e. voting begins TODAY. In Films Highlight Hundreds of Definitions of Democracy, Brothen wirtes:

"Filmmakers from more than 90 countries submitted about 900 videos, displaying a variety of opinion, vision and creativity." [900 videos represent 580 applicants]

There were 196 video semifinalists, viewed on May 7 at the Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum in Washington D.C and 21 finalists will be selected today, May 15, of which seven will receive prizes in the voting. See the contest rules. See also Facebook.

As Brothen informs us:

"Award-winning filmmaker and documentarian Michael Apted and Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto will oversee the competition’s selection of 18 finalist videos, to be announced May 15. They will select three films from each of six regions (Western Hemisphere, Europe, Middle East/North Africa, sub-Saharan Africa, South and Central Asia and East Asia/Pacific).

The public will select the winning videos by voting online from May 15 through June 15 at www.youtube.com/democracychallenge. The winners will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, New York and Hollywood, where they will spend time on television and film sets; meet with film professionals, democracy advocates and government officials; and attend special screenings of their videos."

There are actually 18 world geographic finalists plus three anonymous finalists, for a total of 21 finalists, as the Video Challenge Rules write as follows:

"Round 2: An independent panel of judges comprised of film experts and democracy and youth organizations will evaluate the semifinalists. They will choose three finalists from each of the six world geographic regions as defined by the U.S. Department of State (Western Hemisphere, East Asia Pacific, Europe, Africa, Near East, South & Central Asia) and three anonymous finalists for a total of twenty-one finalists, which will be revealed on the Contest site (www.youtube.com/democracychallenge) on or about May 1, 2009.

Round 3: The twenty-one finalist Videos will be posted on the Contest site in mid-May 2009, and the general public will have one month to vote for their favorite videos using YouTube’s rating system. One grand prize winner from each of the six world geographic regions and one anonymous winner will be announced on or about June 15, 2009."

The demvidchallenge is using Twitter, where one can keep up on what is happening. See http://twitter.com/demvidchallenge

Update of the Paul, Weiss Reference Guide to U.S., European (EU) & Global Legislative and Regulatory Measures to Deal with the Financial Credit Crisis

Paul, Weiss has just issued a comprehensive updated edition (May 6, 2009) of A Reference Guide to the Financial Crisis Rescue Efforts, such as are being taken via legislative and regulatory measures in the United States, Europe (European Union, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Ireland, The Netherlands, & Other European Countries) and also on a Coordinated Global basis. As written at the 124-page Guide:

"In view of the multifaceted and evolving nature of the U.S. government’s response to the financial crisis, we have developed this reference guide to the principal regulatory programs and initiatives that have been announced to date. The guide summarizes the U.S. Treasury programs implemented under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, the administration’s Financial Stability Plan and other key programs implemented by the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. The guide also summarizes the principal actions taken by European governments and the G-20 in response to the global credit crisis. This guide should be read in conjunction with the update alerts and other materials posted on our web site portal dedicated to the financial crisis."

View the full text of the PWFCRG.

France Defies European Union and Passes Controversial Anti-Piracy Three Strikes and You're Out Creation and Internet Law Against Illegal File-Sharing

The French National Assembly of the Fifth French Republic, the lower legislative chamber in the bicameral Parliament of France, has passed the "three strikes and you're out" anti-piracy "Creation and Internet Law", also called the "Three-Strikes Law" against illegal file-sharing and it is expected that the upper house, the French Senate, will also pass the law tomorrow.

As written at ZeroPaid.com:

"Today the French National Assembly formally passed the controversial “Creation and Internet” law by a narrow 296 to 233 margin.

The legislation, backed by President Nicolas Sarkozy, and surprisingly defeated in the same body last month, calls for the creation of the Haute Autorité pour la Diffusion des Oeuvres et la Protection des droits sur Internet (HADOPI), a new govt agency whose task it would be to sanction those accused of illegal file-sharing."

The law is controversial in the European Union because it directly defies efforts of the EU Parliament in recent weeks to make the Three Strikes Law illegal through telecom law amendments which make internet access a fundamental right of EU citizens. As reported by La Quadrature du Net:

" "A formidable campaign from the citizens put the issues of freedoms on the Internet at the center of the debates of the Telecoms Package. This is a victory by itself. It started with the declaration of commissioner Viviane Reding considering access to Internet as a fundamental right. The massive re-adoption of amendment 138/462 rather than the softer compromise negotiated by rapporteur Trautmann with the Council is an even stronger statement. These two elements alone confirm that the French ‘three strikes’ scheme, HADOPI, is dead already." explains Jérémie Zimmermann, co-founder of La Quadrature du Net."

It thus has all the makings of an upcoming confrontation between the French Parliament and the Parliament of the European Union.

The passage by the French Assembly had an immediate reaction in the United Kingdom, as reported by Nigel Kendall, Technology Editor at the Times Online, who writes that the UK is the latest country in Europe to formulate a strategy to combat illegal online file-sharing:

"A group representing the UK's creative industries today called for the UK government to intervene to prevent the spread of illegal file-sharing of copyrighted content such as music and film.

The group, a loose coalition that includes The British Phonographic Industry and the Film Distributors' Association, as well as trades unions such as the National Union of Journalists and the Musicians' Union, issued a joint statement following a meeting in London on May 12."

There is in the long term of course no question that the days of illegal fire-sharing are numbered, since large parts of the world economy are built on intellectual property rights which have to be defended. The French law is taking the logical approach by providing for the tracing of illegal file-sharers and a three-strikes and you are out policy toward them, leading to the cutting of their Internet connections. As written at the Hollywood Reporter:

"The "Creation and Internet" law, nicknamed the "Hadopi" because it involves the the creation of a Hadopi (High Authority for the Broadcast of Content and the Protection of Rights on the Internet) committee, authorizes the tracing of illegal downloaders through their IP addresses."

Once illegal downloaders are faced with the consequence that their Internet connections will be cut off, illegal file-sharing will drop quickly since the average citizen will not want to take that risk and will thus no longer engage in what he or she knows to be illegal file-sharing, but which currently has little risk of detection or penalties.

We presume that a compromise political and legal solution will be the recognition of Internet access as a fundamental right of EU citizens, provided that they do not engage in illegal activities via that very same Internet. We see no direct confrontation to be necessary here.

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Brandz Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands : Consumers are Angry with Governments, Institutions, and Economic Sectors but not Brands

The brandz.com BrandZ Top 100 ranking of brands by brand value was created by Millward Brown Optimor to identify the world's most valuable brands by dollar value. Their 2009 Press Release regarding this year's ranking is found below:

"BRANDZ™ TOP 100 MOST VALUABLE GLOBAL BRANDS NOW WORTH $2 TRILLION

Google is the world’s first $100 billion brand, number one for the third year running

New York, New York, 29th April 2009 — the fourth annual BrandZ™ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands ranking published today by Millward Brown Optimor reveals that brands sustain their value, despite the tough economic environment.

The BrandZ Top 100 ranking identifies the dollar value of brands. It does this by combining financial data with research on consumers and business-to-business users from BrandZ, the world’s largest brand equity study.

The value of the top 100 brands has held its value at $1.95 tn (a marginal increase of 1.7 percent). Google is number one with a value of $100 bn, Microsoft is number two at $76.2 bn, and Coca-Cola enters the top three for the first time at $67.6 bn....

There are 15 new brands entering the ranking this year. Pampers is the highest entrant at no. 31, followed by Nintendo (no.32) and VISA (no.36). Trends identified from this year’s rankings are:

Value — Brands that represent good value for money have done well, this is about quality as much as price, for example Wal-Mart (+19 percent), ALDI (+49 percent) and Auchan (+48 percent). H&M (+8 percent) is now the number one apparel brand.

Vice — People still reward themselves with little treats when money is tight. Brands such as McDonald’s (+34 percent), Marlboro (+33 percent) and Budweiser (+23 percent) have all done well.

At Home — Brands that can be experienced at home have shown strong growth. This includes home shopping: Amazon (+85 percent) and eBay (+16 percent); Coffee that can be prepared at home: Nespresso (+27 percent) and Nescafe (+23 percent); and gaming — Nintendo jumped into the ranking for the first time at no. 32.

Wireless — The increased popularity of using the internet on the move through devices such as the iPhone and BlackBerry has led to huge increases for the mobile operators category as a whole, driven by demand for data services. Vodafone enters the top 10 for the first time this year (+45 percent)....

About Millward Brown

Millward Brown (www.millwardbrown.com) is one of the world's leading research agencies and is expert in effective advertising, marketing communications, media and brand equity research. Through the use of an integrated suite of validated research solutions — both qualitative and quantitative — Millward Brown helps clients build strong brands and services. Millward Brown has more than 75 offices in 48 countries. Millward Brown Optimor focuses on helping clients maximize the returns on their brand and marketing investments. Millward Brown is part of Kantar, WPP's insight, information and consultancy group.

Contacts

Outside of North America:

Miquet Humphryes
miquet.humphryes@uk.millwardbrown.com
+44 1926 826179

U.S. and Canada:

Lauren Raisl
lauren.raisl@millwardbrown.com
212-548-7221"

See the full report, where there are also lists of the Top 15 by Brand Contribution (Emotion), Top 10 by Brand Momentum (short-term growth prospects), top 20 Risers (greatest year-to-year value increase) and Newcomers to the Top 100 list.

There are top 10 lists by region:
Asia, Europe (including the UK), United Kingdom, and North America.

Featured Top 10 lists are also found for the following economic sectors:
Apparel, Beer, Bottled Water, Cars, Coffee, Fast Food, Financial Institutions, Gaming Consoles, Insurance, Luxury, Mobile Operators, Motor Fuel, Personal Care, Retail, Soft Drinks, Spirits, and Technology.

But perhaps the most interesting and significant list of all is the last one in the report, 10 Key Take Outs, of which we quote Number Four:

"4 Stay Positive

Consumers are angry – with government, at large institutions, with entire sectors. But they are not angry at your brand. Brand strength is stable over time. It is disrupted only when something new enters the market or when the brand upsets the relationship with consumers. It takes a lot to make that happen. A recent Millward Brown study of the financial sector revealed that consumers are likely to aim their current displeasure at the sector or at certain high-profile individuals. The displeasure consumers feel, however, does not seem to dramatically alter their
experience with their individual brand."

Montblanc Trademark for Stationery Goods Not Protected against Mont Blanc Tobacco Products in Latvia : Latvian Supreme Court Senate Decision : EU

Class 46 summarizes a note written at the World Trademark Review by Valentina Sergeyeva of Strahlberg & Partners in Riga, Latvia, relating to a decision of the Senate of the Latvian Supreme Court concerning a "Mont Blanc" tobacco and cigarette trademark registration application by the Polish company Zaklady Tytoniowe w Lubline SA, which was opposed by Montblanc-Simplo GmbH, now owned by the luxury goods conglomerate Richemont, as holders of the famous MontBlanc pen and stationery trademark. Opposition to registration of the mark was dismissed on the grounds that there were already other goods named Mont Blanc (e.g. Mont Blanc car roof racks in Sweden, the UK, Ireland and Germany) and there was no reason to think that Latvian consumers would confuse marks which applied to completely different sets of products, i.e. stationery items vs. tobacco products and cigarettes.

See also MONT BLANC TOBACCO CO FRANCE LIMITED

Jānis Rozenfelds at Rozenfelds & Partners in his January 21, 2008 article at Mondaq titled Latvia: Court System In Latvia explains the current Latvian judicial system for those who are interested.

Happy Mother's Day with a Maywood Medley and Mother How Are You Today?

Mother How Are You Today? Medley by Maywood. Happy Mother's Day!



See more of MayWood.

OECD Snapshot Country Statistical Profiles for 2009 are NOW Available for its 30 Member Countries plus Six Large Non-Member Economies

Do NOT believe everything you read in the media. To fully understand this world, it pays to look at hard facts available online.

In this vein, one should now look at the Country Statistical Profiles for 2009 which have just become available from the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD). As written at the OECD:

• "The Country Statistical Profiles provide, for each of the 30 member countries, and, to the extent possible, for the 6 big non-member economies (Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Russian Federation and South Africa) and the accession countries Chile, Estonia, Israel and Slovenia, a broad selection of indicators, illustrating the demographic, social, economic and environmental developments. The user can easily compare each indicator for a country with those of other OECD countries."

Current country profiles are available for Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Brazil, Chile, China, Estonia, India, Indonesia, Israel, Russian Federation, Slovenia, and South Africa.

The OECD informs us that these statistics are a STAT EXTRACT for each country since:

• "[t]his statistical profile, updated yearly, is a snapshot of data selected from more than 40 statistical databases available on SourceOECD, our online library. The red i's in the second column provide links to the sources of the data, where more up-to-date data and longer time series can be found."

The OECD stats are quite a bit more soberly realistic than a lot of the sensational hype pandered in newspapers, radio and television.